Tree peony, unlike its grassy relatives, tolerates winter. The height of its bush reaches three meters, and the diameter of the flowers is twenty five centimeters. The plant is not capricious and with proper care can live on your site up to fifty years.
How to plant a tree peony
Tree peonies are planted in early spring or closer to autumn. The best period is considered to be autumn, since in the spring frosts are still possible, the soil is not sufficiently heated and the air also. In any case, for planting is to choose a warm and dry day.
After planting the plant will need a lot of space. The site should be selected closed from the wind and slightly shaded from the sun. It is undesirable to plant a flower near large trees or shrubs with a highly branched root system. When planting a tree peony, it is necessary to take into account the location of groundwater, since the peony root system does not tolerate excess moisture.
Heavy soil before planting must be diluted with sand and saturate with fertilizer. The depth of treatment is 70 cm. Loose, fertile and not acidic soil is shown to peonies. In the sandy soils add humus and peat, in the clay - sand and humus, sour lime dolomite flour. Compliance with the rules of agricultural technology for tree peony is the key to the development of a strong and healthy plant.
A landing well is dug two weeks before the immediate landing. Its shape should be tapered down, depth - up to seventy centimeters. The bottom of the hole should be covered with a drainage (expanded clay, coarse gravel, broken brick) with a layer of 20 cm. Put the prepared mixture onto the drainage: a layer of soil, peat, humus, potassium sulphide 200 g, superphosphate 400 g, bone meal 400 g, copper sulphide 40 g Mix the mixture thoroughly, overlay a layer of clean, fertile soil.
Now let's figure out how to choose peony seedlings when buying. A suitable seedling on the stem has two or three strong buds, as well as several adventitious roots, at least five centimeters long. The root system of a good sapling in volume is not inferior to the crown.
Just before the landing, in the previously prepared hole, the fossa is broken, and a hill is formed at the bottom. The seedling should be lowered on a hill, straightened its roots and pour plenty of water. When moisture settles, sprinkle the roots with soil, leaving their neck in line with the surface.
Some nuances of tree peony care
In addition to observing the rules of planting, proper care of tree peony is also required. Here everything is exactly the same as with grassy species - the main thing is timeliness.
Watering and loosening the soil
Twice a month it is necessary to pour about seven liters of water under a bush. In the absence of precipitation and intense heat, water the plant more often as the soil dries. After watering the soil must be thoroughly loosened, saturating it with oxygen. Try to walk over the entire surface above the roots, without going more than five centimeters. At the same time remove the weeds.
Feed and fertilizer
Tree peonies need enhanced nutrition with potassium and nitrogen. In the period of growth make the ground nitrogen, during the formation of buds - potassium and phosphorus. When the peony blooms to potassium and phosphorus, add nitrogen compounds again. Nitrogen needs to be added, but do not overfeed the plant, as this can provoke decay.
Important!WITHtry to keep timefeeding for irrigation, so as not to burn the roots.At the end of flowering, the peduncles need to be cut, and just before the rest period, feed the peony with the mixture wood ash (300 g) and bone meal (200 g) under the bush.
Trimming peony
The described plant does not like frequent removal of branches. Pruning a tree peony in the fall is not recommended, as abundant flowering gives buds on last year's shoots. Forming trimmings are done in the spring before the buds start. This should be done every few years. All other procedures relate only to pruning damaged and weak shoots, branches growing inside the bush. Weak branches should be cut to fifteen centimeters, young shoots sometimes remove some of the buds so as not to weaken their development.
Important! If it has been a year with sharp temperature drops and the plant is severely frozen, pruning can help with its restoration, almost to the ground level.
Shelter for the winter
Tree pion frost is not terrible but early thaws can damage. During warming, the plant wakes up and grows, and when cold returns, it dies.
Therefore, the question: "Should a tree peony be covered for the winter?" - very relevant. To preserve the health and ornamental appearance of the plant it is better to take care of it. At the end of October, gather the branches in a pile and tie them, after cover the perennial circle with peat mulch. Close to the cold weather, cover the bush with the materials at hand: pieces of bark, spruce branches or jute bags.
Did you know? In China, there are tree peony nurseries that are protected by law. There, under the supervision of experts, half a century of peonies grow.
Tree Peony Transplant
A tree peony transplant is a lot of stress. The plant may be sick for several years and difficult to recover, so when performing the procedure, be careful with the root system: you need to dig it very carefully, along with a clod of soil. After that, gently rinse the roots, inspect and remove dry and diseased, and cut too long. Place the slices should be treated with a weak solution of manganese and sprinkle with coal dust.
How to independently propagate the tree peony
Most often tree peony propagated vegetatively different ways. Consider each of them in more detail.
Interesting! An ancient legend says that the peony is named after the healer Peane. This doctor put on his feet not only people, but also gods. For a long time, peonies were bred solely because of their healing properties, and in ancient Greece the plant was called the “flower of twenty ailments”.
Division of rhizome
For the division of rhizomes, suitable three- or five-year-old plants with strong branches (at least seven) are suitable. The optimal time for this procedure is August-September. The selected shrub is carefully dug, cleaned from the sticking earth and washed. The branches are cut to ten centimeters, the roots are dried for about three hours in the shade.
The prepared plant is divided with a sharp knife into several seedlings with two or three buds. The cut sites are powdered with charcoal dust and treated with a fungicide. For less injury you can stretch the rhizome, without cutting with a knife, but after that it will need to be dipped in a clay mash.
Cuttings
Perennials bloom from June to August. Plants with semi-woody shoots and formed buds are selected. The shoots are cut obliquely under the kidney, the leaf plates are shortened by two thirds. Place the cut dipped in the root growth stimulator and planted in boxes with prepared soil, deepening the buds in the ground.
The land is prepared from sand and peat one to one, sprinkled with sand on top. The boxes are covered with foil and keep the soil moist until autumn. In October, the strengthened cuttings are planted in a greenhouse and left there until spring. Cutting is not a very convenient way, as it is propagated, thus, the plants bloom only in the fifth year.
Layering
The reproduction of tree peony by layings is carried out in May, before its flowering period. The strongest shoot of the bush is pressed to the ground and an incision is made at the point of contact with the soil. For better rooting, the incision is treated with root growth stimulants and a spacer is installed. Place the cut sprinkled with a layer of soil - 15 cm.
The second option (considered less productive): without bending down to the ground, the incision is wrapped with polyethylene and covered with pitch. In both cases, you need to monitor the soil moisture. New roots appear by the beginning of September.
Inoculation
Propagation by vaccination is the most time consuming process. The rootstock of grassy peonies about fifteen centimeters long is suitable as a stock. Privoem should be a stalk, cut from the escape of the current year and having two peepholes. The rootstock roots are kept in a cool room for up to three weeks, then a wedge cut is made in the root segment, also cutting the lower part.
Both cuts should fit together perfectly. Sections are connected, wrapped with polyethylene and smeared with brew. During the month, while the seedling grows together, it should be in the box peppered with damp sawdust. The box is put in a cool place.
If at the time of splicing you decided to plant the plant in the greenhouse, then it is necessary to dig it in the ground, leaving a graft above the soil surface.
How to deal with dangerous pests and diseases
Tree peony, unlike a grassy relative, is not susceptible to diseases and pest invasion. Rare peony diseases such as gray rot and brown spot appear mainly on weakened transplant bushes. Its signs are brown plaque on the leaves and branches. The affected areas need to be removed and burned; the plant must be treated with a 6% solution of copper sulphate. The appearance of brown spot warned by spraying Bordeaux fluid.
Pions are pests. caterpillars and honey agaric growing dangerously close to the roots of the plant. And from the first, and from the second should get rid of. Mushrooms along with spores are dug out, and they are saved from butterflies by spraying with special solutions. Put bird feeders in the garden in the winter, and in the spring, and in the summer, these feathered orderlies will destroy all harmful creeping fraternities. If you notice ants on the buds, you should not take measures to destroy them. Peony ants are not dangerous - they only need nectar.
Frost-resistant and perennial peonies are different. unpretentious and not capricious in the care. With the right actions during planting and careful care, these flowers will delight you for a long time.
