A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems peony problem...

I just planted my first garden and my new peony plant isnt blooming. I planted it last monday and watered it. Friday night I watered it again...maybe too much because on Sunday I noticed the buds were black and a few small black spots were on the leaves. I removed the buds and the leaves with black spots, also I removed the mulch to let the very moist soil dry out a bit. I bought the peony from a well known nursery. What should I do to save my peony??? I really want it to bloom this year! Please help

As far as I know Peonies never bloom the first year, you will have to wait for them to bloom next spring. Then they will bloom every year after that. There are a lot of perrenials like that.

do the buds feel like paper?

they were smaller than peas and hard

that happened to my peony one year and it was thrips. They suck the stuff right out of the blooms. Try some spray that will kill thrips.

how do you get rid of thrips without pestisides bc my veggie garden is very close to my peony and julia child rose??? dish soap?

keep checking because someone will have an answer for you.

Now that i might have thrips I need to spray all my other veggies and my rose....what should I use? Gardening isnt easy

There are some instances where peonies WILL bloom their first year - though I have to admit I've only heard of a handful gardeners who were this lucky. Peonies that are planted too deeply will not flower, but will send up lush foliage every year. The general rule for peonies is to wait 3-4 years before expecting your first flowers, and 5-6 years for a steady count of blooms herein after. This is just generally - of course you can never fully predict mother nature!

If you had buds the age of the plant isn't at issue. Depth of planting when you transplanted could be. Also if you disturbed the roots when you transplanted that could have done it. Peonies don't like their roots messed with at all. What did you put in the planting hole? They like bone meal or a rooting hormone to assist with the transplant shock.

I'm assuming that you transplanted a plant rather than just a rhysome.

I put miricale grow all purpose fertilizer mixed with the soil...i think i did plant it too deep so i dug up some of the top soil...i dont think i have thrips i think i just planted it too deep and thats why the buds turned black and some of the leaves had black spots

I hope you are right. Peonies are great plants I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.