A detailed guide to planting and growing peonies, a must-read for flower growers

Before planting peonies, choose a site with high, dry terrain and good drainage, requiring deep, loose, fertile sandy loam. When planting in areas with heavier salinity and alkalinity, the soil needs to be replaced; when planting in lower-lying areas, build a raised platform, and there should be sufficient clean irrigation water. Peonies dislike continuous cropping. In field cultivation, crop rotation is generally done once every 3 to 4 years, otherwise growth weakens and pests and diseases become severe. When rotation cannot be carried out on schedule due to land limitations, deep plowing should be done 1-2 months before planting. The depth is 60 to 100 cm, and for every 666.7 sq m, 1500 to 2000 kg of decomposed manure or 200 to 250 kg of cake fertilizer can be applied. Remember that undecomposed raw fertilizer must not be used.

1

Planting time: Whether for seedling plants or division plants, field planting in Heze is from late August (End of Heat) to late September (Autumn Equinox), and in Yangzhou from late September (Autumn Equinox) to early November (Start of Winter). It is generally done together with division.

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Planting spacing: For ornamental garden cultivation, a plant-to-row spacing of 1 m x 1 m can be used, and the planting points can be arranged in a "pinwheel shape," which allows the land to be used evenly and reasonably and helps the plants grow symmetrically, but field operations are sometimes inconvenient. For ease of field management and observation records, the "square" arrangement with horizontal and vertical rows is often used. For the size of the planting hole, the depth is about 35 cm and the top diameter is 18 cm. The hole should be dug narrower at the top and wider at the bottom. For ornamental cultivation and propagation, thick roots are not removed; for medicinal cultivation, rooted seedlings after root removal are used (the practice in Dongyang, Zhejiang), with the hole about 25 cm deep. If the rootless peony crown is planted directly, the depth can be even shallower.

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Planting method: Apply decomposed manure or cake fertilizer at the bottom of the hole. Mix it evenly with the subsoil. Before planting, treat the peony seedlings with a mixture of thiophanate-methyl at 700 times dilution plus isofenphos-methyl at 1000 times dilution to prevent pests and diseases. Hold the peony seedling by hand and place the roots loosely in the hole. When the soil is filled to half the hole, shake and lift the seedling so that the roots and soil are tightly combined. The height to which the seedling is lifted should be based on the buds being level with the ground surface. After watering, the planting hole sinks, which is exactly the suitable planting depth. If planted too deep, the buds do not easily emerge from the soil, and even if they emerge, growth and development are not vigorous; if planted too shallow, the rhizome is exposed above the ground and is prone to death from sun exposure in summer. Finally, fill the soil until the hole is full, tamp it firm, and pile about 10 cm of soil on top to prevent cold and preserve moisture, which also serves as a marker and protection. Depending on soil moisture, if the soil is moist, it may not be necessary to water after planting; generally, it should be watered immediately after planting.

Peonies are mainly cultivated by traditional propagation methods, including division, sowing, cuttings, layering and other methods, among which division is the easiest and is widely used. The sowing method is only used to breed new varieties, produce rootstocks for grafting tree peonies, and for medicinal material production. The rapid propagation of ornamental varieties is an urgent issue to be solved, and hope has long been placed on tissue culture. Much work has been done both in China and abroad, and although progress has been made so far, there is still a considerable distance from practical application.

Planting methods for peonies

1.

Cutting method

Choose a nursery site with higher terrain and good drainage for the cutting bed. After loosening the bed soil, spread a 15 cm thick layer of river sand, and disinfect the river sand with 0.5% potassium permanganate. Vermiculite or perlite can also be used as the cutting medium. Build a shade shed 1.5 m high over the bed. According to experience from Changchun and other places, taking cuttings in mid-July gives the best results. The cuttings are 10 to 15 cm long. They have two nodes; keep one compound leaf with a few leaflets; the lower compound leaf is cut off together with the petiole. After quickly dipping in a 500 x 10 to 1000 x 10 naphthaleneacetic acid or indoleacetic acid solution, insert the cuttings, about 5 cm deep, with spacing such that the leaves do not overlap. After insertion, water thoroughly, then cover with a plastic shed. Observations show that the best rooting results occur when the medium temperature is 28 to 30°C and humidity is 50%. Keep the temperature inside the cutting shed at 20 to 25°C and humidity at 80% to 90%, and roots can form 20 to 30 days after insertion, along with dormant buds. After rooting, reduce misting and watering, and gradually remove the plastic shed and shade shed. Cutting seedlings grow slowly and need to be covered with soil in the bed to overwinter, then moved to open ground for planting the following spring.

2.

Root cutting method

Use the broken roots from autumn division of peonies, cut them into 5 to 10 cm root segments, and insert them into a deeply plowed and leveled furrow 10 to 15 cm deep, cover with 5 to 10 cm of fine soil, and water thoroughly.

3.

Layering method

In spring, pass the young shoots that have just emerged from the buds through the drainage hole of a flower pot into a pot with a diameter of 15 to 20 cm, gradually fill with soil as they grow, and keep the pot soil moist. By summer they can root, and before winter cut off the stem below the pot, forming a potted peony.

4.

Modern tissue culture method

Plant tissue culture, namely plant aseptic culture technology, is based on the theory that plant cells are totipotent. It uses isolated peony organs, tissues or cells (such as roots, stems, leaves, etc.) under aseptic conditions and suitable artificial medium, light, temperature and other conditions to induce callus, adventitious buds and adventitious roots, and finally form a complete plant with the same heredity as the mother plant. This technology is also called cloning technology, achieves the purpose of rapid propagation, and has broad application value.

The cultivation methods for peonies mainly revolve around the following four steps, and it is hoped this can help flower lovers with the daily care of peonies.

1.

Temperature

Peony is a typical temperate plant, fond of warmth and tolerant of cold, with a relatively wide ecological adaptation range. In northern China it can be cultivated in the open field and has strong cold resistance. In the Nenjiang County area of northern Heilongjiang, where the annual growth period is only 120 days and the extreme minimum temperature is -46.5°C, it can still grow and bloom normally and overwinter in the open field. In summer it prefers a cool climate, but it is also quite heat tolerant. For example, in Bozhou, Anhui Province, where the extreme maximum summer temperature reaches 42.1°C, it can also pass the summer safely.

2.

Light

Only with sufficient light during the growing period can peonies grow luxuriantly and have brilliant flower colors; however, they can also grow and develop normally under light shade, and during the flowering period light shade can appropriately lower temperature and increase humidity, protecting them from strong sunlight scorching and thereby extending the ornamental period. But if shaded too much, it will cause spindly growth, weak growth, and failure to bloom or sparse flowering.

Peony is a long-day plant. It differentiates flower buds in the short-day seasons of autumn and winter, and blooms under long days in spring. Both flower bud development and flowering must proceed under long days. If the photoperiod is too short (8 to 9 hours), it will lead to delayed flower bud development, accelerated leaf growth, poor flowering, and even failure to bloom. 

3.

Soil

Peony is a deep-rooted plant, so it requires deep soil, and it also has thick fleshy roots, making loose, well-drained sandy loam suitable. It grows poorly in clay and sandy soil. High soil water content and poor drainage easily cause root rot. Neutral or slightly acidic soil is suitable, and saline-alkaline land is not suitable for planting. It grows better in fertile soil, but note that the nitrogen content must not be too high, to prevent spindly growth of branches and leaves. During the growing period, phosphorus and potassium fertilizer can be appropriately increased to promote robust growth of branches and leaves and beautiful flowering. Peony dislikes continuous cropping. In traditional concentrated peony production areas, continuous planting of peonies in the same plot for many years is a very common phenomenon, which has caused serious losses, not only severe pests and diseases, but also reduced yield and quality, and even large-scale death. Therefore, a scientific and reasonable crop rotation system must be implemented. 

4.

Water

Peony prefers high, open terrain and a relatively dry environment, and does not need frequent irrigation. Because peony has fleshy roots, it is especially intolerant of waterlogging. Water accumulation for 6 to 10 hours often causes root rot. Low-lying and humid areas are not suitable as peony production areas in China. Every flood is almost devastating to peonies. Only peonies in high, open places that were not submerged remained.

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