Fall Mums budding now! What do I do!?

Hi!

I live in zone 5B and some of our fall mums have buds on them and are trying to bloom...

If I want them to bloom in fall should I pinch off the blooms, or will it keep blooming through fall?

I would suggest letting them bloom, and then cutting them back by about 1/3. They should put out another flush of bloom in the Fall.

Pinch the buds off. Keep them pinched through mid- to late July and the mums will bush out.
We do it every year

Mine were starting to bud also. I pinched them back a couple of inches and hope they do well.

Sounds like mums get treated differently down South.

i think so too themoonhowl lol. the mums around here were blooming up until Beryl's rain knocked them down.
PinkyKarla, i think - personally anyway - that the mums that grow in the colder zones should be pinched back just in case your growing season is too short for plenty of fall blooms following a spring bloom. however, you can try letting them bloom then cutting off the spent blooms right away. the mums in New York (7b) they usually are left to bloom in fall.

I sometimes forget about the vast difference in our growing seasons...My Mums have already bloomed and been cut back, and I have noticed a few buds forming already. Guess i will have 3 flushes of bloom this year due to such a mild winter.

CZP...sorry your mums got squashed...but glad that was the worst to happen. 2 storms down....fingers crossed the rest stay far out in the Atlantic.

Moon

Here in the north, mums will die back in the winter and must be kept mulched and well drained. We have better success in containers since our wet winters can keep their feet to wet.
In the spring they'll slowly start to come back but most people want them to wait and bloom in the fall. This is why we pinch them back and it also allows for bushier plants.

Yardener, mine die back here too, but this year we had some winter days with temps in the 70's. It created quite a stir with all the plants, causing some to break dormancy too early and get nipped when the temp dropped again. I need to remember the shorter grow period you all have up North. I do know that mid July is the latest they should be pinched back to ensure Fall blooming.

Our mild winter had us in a worry with snop drops blooming in December, crocus' in full bloom in January and seeing a little green popping up at the base of our mums.
It was an interesting winter and we felt like we were way down in Dixie. Now I'm waiting to see how it will effect our summer.
The battle for weed of the year so far is chickweed, lambsquarter (yum) and marestail. I've got marestail taking over ground that I've never seen it in before.

creeping beggarweed is absolutely the most annoying weed ever!

Here it is chamber bitters, alligator weed and pigweed. With many guest cameos of course...grin