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Midsummer mum tips: Pinch now for more later

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 8, 2020

Pinching back mums promotes more flowers and more compact, bushier growth. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Favorite fall flower benefits from July attention

A pinch in time makes more mums.

Chrysanthemums are a favorite flower of fall. While mum plants are very tough, a little attention now will lead to many more brilliant-hued blooms in October and November.

Mums are divided into two categories: Garden and Exhibition. Usually grouped in the genus Dendranthema , the Garden varieties include cushion mums and florists’ staples with lots and lots of flowers per plant. Exhibition mums tend to be more stingy with just one flower or cluster per stem.

Left to grow without interruption, Exhibition mums often will form one long, winding main stem that just keeps getting longer and lankier. That usually leads to one bloom or flower cluster at the tip – no matter how long or tall the plant. To get more flowers, they must be pinched.

Usually, mum cuttings are first “pinched” when they grow to about 8 inches tall to keep the plant lower to the ground and to create a bushier look.

This lanky crysanthemum needs

to be pinched.

Taller young plants benefit from being pinched, too. Otherwise, their long main stems start to snake around for lack of support.

By pinching back that terminal bud, the mum will sprout lateral buds lower down on the stem. Those side buds will create more flowers – perfect for fall bouquets.

For a more compact and fuller bush in the garden, pinch back the laterals, too, after they’ve grown out 6 to 8 inches.

Some new Dendranthema mum varieties such as Igloo mums develop that mound look without pinching. Those mums start blooming in midsummer. After that first flush of flowers, cut the plants back by half. They’ll produce a second wave of flowers in fall.

Other keys to memorable mums:

* Mums like good drainage and consistently moist soil. Water deeply once a week plus more in hot weather. Newly planted mums or first-year cuttings need water two or three times a week. During triple-digit temperatures (such as Sacramento’s forecast for the next several days), they may need extra irrigation every day – especially if grown in containers.

* Mums appreciate mulch. It maintains that crucial soil moisture. Their favorite: Crumbled dried leaves.

* Fertilize once now in early or mid-July and again in mid-August, then cut off the plant food. Mums prefer fertilizer with more phosphorus (such as 5-10-5) to promote flower production and strong roots.

* Mums need full sun (at least six hours a day) to bloom. If your mums refuse to flower, they may be getting too much shade.

For more on mums, check out the website of the National Chrysanthemum Society, www.mums.org .

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fall flowers gardening Sacramento pinching chrysanthemums summer gardens summer weather summer flowers

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Food in My Back Yard Series

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

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Garden Checklist for week of May 11

Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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