hardy mums - need alot of help please

i am not much of a flower person, not for lack of trying, but rather that the deer seem to eat whatever flowers and bulbs i plant.
i went to my local sams club and just could not believe the size of these mums and i had to get some. they were $16.00 dollars each. i bought these two and have them in containers for the moment as my dw is hosting a bbq for her school class of, get this, 1958. they had a reunion last year and now she is having them up here. she wants me to leave the mums in the containers and place them on either side of my front step.
also, i understand that the deer to not bother them.

here is what i need to know

can they be planted in the ground around the last few days of september.
can i use the mix i normally use for my containers (mg potting soil for containers) and put that in the hole i dig for the plants.

the little tag that came with them states do not fertilizer after august and tgrim after the winter

i have no idea what to do, what fertilizer to use and how much (the plants are pretty big) when to fertilize
and do know when or how to trim them back.

would appreciate all the help i can get. thanks alot.

p.s. if it is to late to put them in the ground what can i do with the containers??

sams club sells these every year at this time (beginning of september) and next year i want to buy a bunch cause i have a great place to put them

FOr this year I would just dig a hole and put them in...Then come spring...if you are lucky enough for them to come back............fertilize.......Probably the soil they are in now has some kind of fertilizer in it......Hope this helps......

thanks

I would put alot of mulch over them in the winter too. that way they'll have some protection.
shelly

If they are indeed hardy, put them in the ground, frost will kill back the flowers and stems. I just cut them to ground level for the winter. Then in the spring you will see them emerge. I wouldn't fertilize them until about the end of May (that's for here) or when they are approximately 4-6 inches high. Then next summer, keep pinching the tops of the stems, to prevent them from flowering too soon. I pinch mine through July. Then just stand back and watch them bloom. I just use the fertilizer that I use on all my annuals. Mostly MG. I raised field mums for several years. It was a lot of work pinching them back, now they have chemicals that you spray for that.

I always leave the old dry stems standing until spring. I think it gives the crown of the dormant plant a little more protection. I get very good return on mums, about 90% I'd say. Also, pinching them got to be so annoying that I now use the electric grass shears and just whack the tops a couple times in the early summer. Works great, although the plants are a little funny looking for the first couple of days after the trim.

leaving the stems for the winter is now recommended - put some leaves over and around them, but don't mulch the crown too heavily as it can cause it to hold moisture and develope crown rot. You can easily start chrysanthemums from cuttings, just take the stems you trim off and stick them in the ground and pop a glass jar or clear plastic pop bottle over them.

thank you all for your expert advice.

kathleen - when you say, "put some leaves over and around them" what do you mean.?? the stems of the flowers are very tall, as you can see in the picture. by the crown, i guess your talking about that area where all the stems grow out of, right? told ya i didn't know much about flowers.
let me know.

Yes to the crown. Use the stems as a basket so to speak to hold the leaves. They need mulch, but not heavy mulch, referring back to the crown.

I find that dried mum stems just naturally get full of dried leaves no matter what I do. We have a LOT of maple trees, so leaves end up everywhere.

sylvi74 - thanks much

I saw those huge mums at Sam's too - but I resisted!! Plunk them in the ground. I leave my stems in tact as they collect leaves that way. I haven't lost many at all = and they do increase in size!! I didn't chop mine this summer and need to remember to do it next year= have some that crashed!!

sarv48 - thanks for your advice

Ditto let the dead stalk intact for the winter. It will collect leaves for protection. dixie

For a bunch of Mums, buy from a regular nursery in the spring. They will be only $2 - $5 each , I am guessing. I don't know if you can buy them in NY, but the brand, "Mums from Minnesota" are grown near here & are hardy to zone 3.
I wouldn't trust any of the fall sold mums to be hardy.
They sell them around here, too. I expect lots of people looking for mums next spring, telling me their's didn't make it through the winter.
I just looked at the company's web site, they are now selling retail online. Prices are very reasonable. Look:
www.mumsfromminnesota.com
Bernie

The problem I've had with fall planted mums I believe is that they don't develope enough roots in the new spot. Some of those porus mediums used by growers allows a lot of cold air around the roots. This just a theory, but when I plant in spring I get good hardiness. When I plant in fall I shake off a bit of soil and loosen the root ball to kind of force it to root in its new home.

I agree with Bernie, you can save a lot of $, get better hardiness, and grow tiny ones into big bushels by fall.

Herbie, the other piece of advice I would offer is to NOT mulch them too heavily until the ground is frozen. I had three fall planted mums come back this year, and they are HUGE. I didn't really do anything in particular except mulch after the freeze. Good luck. They are such cheerful flowers this time of year.

Edited for spelling.

This message was edited Sep 21, 2005 7:20 PM

I planted some white mums in Dec. a couple of years ago at the apartment we rented when we first moved to Amelia Island .... after Christmas they died back and I completely forgot about them but we drove past there last year and they had sprouted out again. The house was vacant so I know they'd had no care at all. Couldn't believe it... but in N. FL (zone 8-9) they wouldn't be getting the cold that they get up north, even though we do get below 32 often.

thanks so much for all your advice. i am going to try my hardest to get these into the ground in a few days. weather here in upstate ny is still in the 80's

i like the website country gardens. i am going to buy from them next season
will folow all the advice you have all given me.
thanks
frank