Wednesday, March 27, 2013

2013 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Divisions

I am happy to report that 5 of the 6 Peony 'Bartzella' root divisions that I planted last fall, in the 2012 Peony Experiments - Intersectional Divisions, have come up! Even one of the divisions with no roots sprouted. I didn't apply any rooting hormone or fertilizer, and I gave them very little supplemental water. Mother Nature did her thing! Some of the peony divisions even have multiple stems sprouting from the base! The only one that didn't sprout at all was the division that had no roots and the stem was old wood. The other division that had no roots came up, and that one had new wood. So it seems that the intersectional peony divisions can generate roots when there aren't any, if the division is a new stem. So get out there and start dividing your peonies! Fill up your yard, and then fill up your friends and neighbors yards too! :-) Share the love!
Peony 'Bartzella' Division
with Small Roots Sprouting
Peony 'Bartzella' Division
with Tiny Roots Sprouting
Peony 'Bartzella' Division with
No Roots Sprouting (New Wood)
Peony 'Bartzella' Division with
No Roots Not Sprouting (Old Wood)

5 comments:

  1. I really doubt that they have roots yet at this point. Whenever I've dealt with itoh peonies, they generally start forming roots once the red sprouts start turning greener, and really opening up their leaves.

    They usually don't form tuberous roots until the main stem turns kind of woody or late summer/fall.

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  2. Steve,

    I'm pretty sure they have some kind of roots. I could tell before they came up that the one that is not growing had not developed any roots. I kind of tugged at all of the divisions a bit just to 'kick the tires' and see which ones might be doing well. I can dig that one up if you're interested to see.

    Thanks,

    Adriana

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    Replies
    1. If yours has roots already, it may be due to your warmer winters where underground growth is made possible.

      I did pretty much the same exact thing with my keiko itoh peony, and none of them have roots yet however I'm just starting to get sprouts come up first. Perhaps roots will form in a couple more weeks.


      I'm thinking about adding the misaka itoh peony, but I'm not finding any good sources or deals on that one. Hopefully the garden centers will have it available soon.

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    2. Steve,

      I dug around it yesterday, and yes it has lots of roots. I didn't want to totally disturb it, but I did get a couple of pictures if you'd like to see one.

      It sounds like you are referring to renamed Monrovia peony plants. I haven't bought any of theirs, as I find them to be quite expense. Did you find them for a good price somewhere?

      I have a price list spreadsheet I've been working on with all of the available Intersectional Peonies for 2013. I'll be posting that soon. If you know of some other sources that I'm not aware of, I'd love to know about them.

      Thanks,

      Adriana

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  3. I did pay around $75 for that keiko itoh peony because it looked good. It's about a year later now, and I have a lot of divisions on it so it's not that bad.

    I did go around asking for price quotes from eBay sellers, and if you buy directly from them as opposed to through eBay, they usually cut you a deal since they won't have to pay 15% to eBay which typically eats into around 1/2 their gross profit depending on where there supply is coming from.

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