Table of Contents
- When We Ship our Mums
- What you will receive
- What to do when you receive your Mums
- Identifying Pests/Disease
- How To Plant
- Caring for your Mums
- Pest Control
- Harvesting Your Mums
- Overwintering
- Varieties We Offer
- FAQ's
When We Ship:
We will begin shipping our mums in late Winter through the Spring in 2025. Dates of when your plants will ship will be specified in the product name. If you live in a colder region, we recommend that you choose a ship date that later in the Spring.
What you will receive:
Each plug is approximately 3-4 inches tall from the bottom of the roots to the tip of the leaves. This may seem small but you will find that mums are fast and vigorous growers!
Mums are easily propagated from cuttings and you will get a lot more plants from these cuttings if you pot them up and allow them to grow out a little more.
Each variety selection comes with 3 rooted cuttings. We do require a minimum of 12 total plants.
These Heirloom Chrysanthemums are perfect to add to your garden for Fall blooms! We have selected these heirloom varieties because they are our absolute favorites as cut flowers that give you both unparalleled beauty and strong stems!
Watch video at bottom of page for more details.
What to do when you receive your Mums:
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Repot and Quarantine
Repot your plants as soon as they are received and give them a good drink of water. We fertilize our seedlings regularly to ensure your plants are strong and healthy. Upon arrival, they will be ready for more food and want room to grow. Repotting with a good soil mix, organic fertilizer, and compost will ensure they’re off to a great start in their new home.
It is very important to keep new plants separated until you’re able to inspect and treat them for any disease or pests. All farms have some pest and disease pressure but pathogens and intensity vary based on crop, farm, and location. You don’t want to contaminate any of your existing plants with something new. Keeping them separated until you’re able to evaluate their health will prevent this. We recommend treating with an organic fungicide and pesticide from the recommended list even if no issues are present. This is something we always do when receiving new plants from anyone! After evaluating for several days, you can determine if they are healthy enough to join your other plants.
Stress of transport may cause yellowing in some lower leaves. This is common and does not determine unhealthy plants and yellow leaves can be removed without issue.
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Check For Pests and Disease
Inspect all new plants for pests and disease. Knowing what to look for will determine what you should treat with.
Like every organic greenhouse grower, we do deal with aphids and fungus gnats. They are unavoidable pests and are just a part of growing organically indoors. Controlling populations with the most eco-friendly yet effective approach possible is the best reality we or any grower can achieve and we provide detailed solutions below for your reference.
That said, we aim to provide you with sanitized plants and we do treat them with organic pesticides and fungicides the day before shipping to give you a clean slate. If you find an issue with your plants after inspection, please contact us withing 48 hours of reception and provide photos.
Identifying Pests and Disease:
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Aphids
- Aphids are the most common insect you’re likely to encounter while growing mums. They are slow moving, soft bodied, and come in many colors including green, brown, and black. They like to live in new tender growth and the underside of leaves. Look in these areas on your plant while inspecting. They should not be on your new cuttings, but if you find some while plants are small enough, wash them all off in the sink to completely eliminate them.
- When plants are bigger, they are easily managed using organic products and regular treatment. Aphids can become a problem if left untreated. They multiply quickly in greenhouses and grow rooms.
- To learn more about Aphids, Click Here.
- What 3 Porch Uses:
- Pyganic
- Venerate
- Insecticidal Soap
- Azadirachtin
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Fungus Gnats
- Fungus Gnats are small dark flies that enjoy moist areas. They are weak flyers and lay eggs in wet media. While common, chronically wet conditions in a greenhouse or soil can allow populations to establish. Large populations will affect growth, as the larvae will steal nutrients from the plant's roots.
- The best treatment for fungus gnats is letting the soil dry in between waterings but there are a few predatory insects, like nematodes, and organic products, like BTI, that can be effective management tools.
- To learn more about Fungus Gnats, Click Here.
- What 3 Porches uses:
- BTI, such as Gnatrol or Aquabac
- Stratiolaelaps scimitus (predatory mite)
- Insecticidal soap
- Beneficial nematodes
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Powdery Mildew
- Powdery mildew is a white mildew that grows on the leaves and stems of a plant. It looks like flour was spilled on the plant and can be wiped off with touch.
- It is common on dahlias and chrysanthemums. It will begin in dense foliage during humid weather.
- The best way to prevent powdery mildew is to have plenty of airflow and ventilation. While powdery spores are all around us, they cannot establish unless they have the right conditions. Powdery mildew is rarely life threatening to plants but can slow growth and production substantially if left untreated.
- Clean plants regularly by removing old growth and dense foliage. This allows airflow into your plants.
- To learn more about Powdery Mildew, Click Here.
- What 3 Porch Uses:
- Oxidate
- Serenade
- Bi-Carbonate
**3 Porch Tip: Rotate these sprays to not build up resistance. For heavy pressure, treat with oxidate and follow up with serenade. Target the foliage when treating.
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Rot
- Rot is a general term for root and stem infections in plants. There are many pathogens that cause similar behavior such as fusarium, botrytis, and pythium.
- While they have similar symptoms, it is nearly impossible to know without testing the infected plant what specific pathogen you have. Regardless, the treatment for plant diseases is generally the same.
- Cultural methods like good cleaning and sanitation are important. Do not handle new or infected plants and then handle your existing ones.
- Remove all plant debris from grow areas.
- Clean tools like shears, trays, hands, and gloves after working with new or infected plants.
- To learn more about disease identification, Click Here.
- What 3 porch Uses:
- Oxidate
- Serenade
- Bi-Carbonate
**3 Porch Tip: For soil borne disease, heavily water the soil with the fungicide. For foliar diseases, spray the leaves.
How to Plant:
Once plants have adjusted to your climate, you can plant them in a sunny part of the garden or in high tunnels for Fall flower production. Flowering plants will need protection from frost once blooming so find your planting site with that in mind.
Prepare well-drained soil with an all-purpose fertilizer and compost according to what your soil test recommends. Mums should be spaced 1 to 1.5 feet apart depending on the size of the plant when planting out. Be sure to supply the plants with plenty of water until they get established in your garden. Once established, water as needed.
Caring for your Mums:
Once your mum plants are established and begin growing, we recommend cutting the plants back multiple times to increase the plant's stem count. When the plants get to 6"-9" tall, cut them in half. Do this 2-3 times if time allows. Plants can be cut back as late as mid June for most regions and up to early July in southern regions. Cutting back encourages bushier plants with more flowers. If left unpinched, plants can become very tall and unruly. Most varieties do get very tall even after cutting them back/pinching so we highly recommend adding horticulture netting. We use a brand named Hortonova. The netting will help protect the stems from bending or breaking.
Mums are moderate feeders. If a slow release fertilizer is used at planting, you will likely not need to add additional fertilizer. Address your soil fertility as you see fit.
Maintain a pest control program...see below for our routine. Aphids LOOVE mums as much as they love your spring ranunculus. Have a plan in place!
Be prepared ahead of time for frost protection so weather does not sneak up on you. We use frost cloth to cover our plants when needed. We highly recommend frost cloth no matter your zone! If you're caught off guard....you can always cover with a tarp and throw a shop light, heat lamp, or space heater underneath to add heat and protect the blooms. Supporting the frost cloth or tarp so that it doesn't sit directly on the flowers is recommended as well.
Pest Control:
At 3 Porch, we will spray weekly with a mix of Insecticidal Soap, Venerate, Serenade, and Carb-O-Nator. Sometimes we’ll rotate out soap for azadirachtin, or Grow Safe. This approach keeps aphids and powdery mildew in check.
Here is the critical part…. right before flowers start to bloom, we’ll do a very intensive spray with Pyganic to kill every single aphid possible. If you spray with Pyganic every week, aphids will develop a resistance (not good), so we reserve this tool for one or two heavy sprays right before bloom. This gives us almost zero aphids on our bouquets. After that heavy Pyganic spray, we rotate back to the original mix for the next few weeks until harvests are finished. Pyganic will ruin flower petals. Azadirachtin will too. Our earlier mentioned soap based mix is safe to use on open flowers. Avoid spraying anything in full sun on hot days if possible.
Reminder to always follow the label for application rates and PPE.
Harvesting:
Expect flowering to begin in mid to late October and continue through November. Harvest when flowers are mostly open. Mums do not continue to open much after harvesting. As with any flower you harvest, make sure to cut during cool parts of the day. Place stems in clean water in clean vessels. Protect blooming plants from frost in the Fall as they are usually in full flower during frost conditions.
Overwintering:
In order to overwinter these varieties, plants will need to be protected from deep freezes. We highly recommend digging them up and storing them in pots in a greenhouse, garage, or other space protected from cold winter temperatures.
We've had lots of questions whether you can keep your mums in the ground over the winter. Some people in zones 8a and higher have had luck with heavy mulching and overwintering in the ground. It is possible, but not guaranteed to mulch and leave in place in milder winter climates, but do so at your own risk! We still recommend digging these up and protecting them from winter temps no matter what zone you are in.
**3 Porch Tip: if you have limited winter storage space, we recommend potting up one 'mother' plant of each of your varieties and use that to take cuttings off of for your next season!
