Bring Your Chrysanthemums Back Next Year With THIS Simple Trick (SAVE YOUR FLOWERS!), by Cook Well on YouTube. 9 min 14 s.
- Video length
- 9 min 14 s
- Time to do it
- 1 hour
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
After the first frost blackens the flowers, cut chrysanthemum stems back to about 10 cm and move the pots to a cool, frost-free shed or garage.
Water only enough to stop the compost drying out completely. Chrysanthemums resting over winter rot quickly in soggy soil, so check them every two or three weeks.
Leave faded hydrangea heads on the shrub. Pile straw, bark or dry leaves around the base to insulate the roots, and cover the plant with fleece during hard frosts.
Lift geraniums before the first frost, shake the soil off the roots and let them dry for a day. Pack the bare-root plants loosely into cardboard boxes.
Check the boxes every few weeks. Throw out any soft or mouldy stems and keep the boxes somewhere cool, dark and dry until spring planting.
For the pest spray, dilute half a cup of vinegar with water, then add 10 drops of lavender essential oil, 2 cinnamon sticks and folded squares of foil.
Crush one aspirin tablet and dissolve it in 10 fl oz of water. Spray the leaves to push geraniums into more flower.
Feed plants with 10 g of fresh yeast and 1 tbsp of powdered eggshells dissolved in 5 litres of water.
Mix a few teaspoons of natural lager into 1.5 litres of water and use it as a growth feed.
Tips and common mistakes
Test any homemade spray on one leaf and wait a day before treating the whole plant.
Label every bottle clearly and never store mixes in old drinks bottles.
Let tap water stand overnight before mixing, so chlorine does not build up in the spray.
Keep the vinegar spray away from your eyes and skip it in strong midday sun.
Questions
When should I move potted chrysanthemums inside?
Once flowering has finished and before the first hard frost. A cool, frost-free shed or unheated garage suits them better than a warm living room.
Can geraniums really stay in cardboard boxes all winter?
Yes. Bare-root geraniums keep for months in a cool, dark, dry place as long as you check them regularly and remove any stems that go soft.
Do the homemade feeds replace plant food?
They are mild, low-cost top-ups rather than a full feed. Use them alongside your normal feeding routine for hungry plants.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
