I love fall and loading up my porches with mums. Today I am sharing my tip for how to keep your mums alive longer so that you can enjoy them year after year.
Watch How To Keep Mums Alive Longer
My Tip To Keep Your Mums Alive Longer
If you are displaying your mums in the full sun, make sure that you water your mums everyday. However, you do not want to get the blooms wet since this promotes mold on your mum. Instead of watering with a hose that might wet your blooms, water your mums roots.
First grab a 5 gallon bucket and fill it with water
Or use a RubberMaid tote or anything that will hold water and you can fit a plant into.
With your mum still in the pot, submerge the plant down into the water and hold it there for a few seconds. You need to hold the plant in place until the soil is heavy enough for the plant to stay upright in the container.
Allow your mum to soak for 30 minutes to an hour. This allows the roots to soak up the water and last for the entire season.
After your mum has soaked and the soil is moist but not soaked, display it in your favorite pot. If you are displaying your mum in full sun be sure to water your mums every day or when the soil is dry.
Repeat this process every time your mum needs watering and you will have beautiful mums to enjoy the entire season.
What To Do With Mums After The Fall Season
A lot of people tell you to throw your mums away after the fall season because they die. If you water your mums this way and keep your mums moist all season, then you can either plant them in your yard or a pot to enjoy year after year.
I planted these mums last year and they surprised me with blooms this year.
Since these mums are in a pot, I use my water globe to keep the mums watered and looking great all season.
When Is The Best Time To Buy Mums
When you purchase mums, always buy them with buds instead of blooms. This will insure that you will get the most blooms out of your mum. If the plant has a lot of blooms, you will not have color for very long. If you are like me, you would like for these mums to last at least up to Thanksgiving.
Every time I buy a new mum, I bring it home and water it this way. I leave the mums in their grow pots and I always pop them into beautiful pots and display them for fall.
I found these beautiful pots on the clearance rack at Walmart. They have just the right amount of texture for fall and remind me of a woven basket. When the fall season is over, I am going to display faux stems in these pots and display them inside my home.
Where Is The Best Place To Buy Mums
If you have followed me for very long, then you already know that I am a thrifty shopper and I love to take discarded and forgotten items and make them beautiful again. You can see some unloved items that I made beautiful again here and here.
Saving money while gardening is no exception for me, in fact I wrote a post titled 5 Gardening Tips To Save You Money and I show you some of my favorite tips to save money. If you follow those tips, you can save some money in the garden.
One of the tips that I discuss in my 5 gardening tips to save you money, is to shop the clearance rack for flowers.
In the past, I have found some really good deals on flowers that have been on the clearance rack. This is a super way to get lots of flowers for a fraction of the cost.
Recently I found this mum on the clearance rack for $2.00. I knew if I used my tip for watering this mum, I would have a healthy mum that would last the whole season.
How Do I Know Which Clearance Flowers To Buy
So now that you have discovered the clearance rack and found that the flowers are significantly lower in price, you have also noticed that the flowers look unhealthy. You ask yourself,
“How do I know which flowers to buy so that I am not wasting money?”
When looking for clearance flowers, search for varieties that can easily be dead headed to promote new blooms. Dead heading just means that you pinch the bloom off right past the leaf and it promotes new growth. This takes a little time but you will have flowers that bloom longer if you keep up with this task.
Most of the time, clearance flowers need some water and some TLC, if you are willing to take the extra time then clearance rack flowers may be right for you.
How Often Do You Water Mums
If you are displaying your mums in full sun, then you need to water your mums every day. When mums are in pots they tend to dry out even faster. Use my tip to water your mums since wetting the blooms can cause the blooms to rot and if this happens, your mum will not last very long
Always check the soil and the mum will let you know if it needs water. Mums do not like to be soaking wet so if the soil is dry, water it.
Will You Try This Tip To Keep Your Mums Alive Longer?
I would love to know if you have ever tried this tip to keep your mums alive longer. If so, did it work for you? Also if you have any other tips for caring for mums, I would love to hear them.
Your friend,
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