Chrysanthemums

Never grown chrysanthemum so I’m going to ask a stupid question! Sorry   . Why plants? Are plants better than seeds for starting chrysanthemum?

A bit like apples are unlikely to be much good from seeds I think.

I splashed out on an offer earlier in the year and bought five different coloured Beppee Chrysanthemum plants. One is in full flower and the others are just coming into flower. I mainly bought them because I know I can propagate cuttings next year so they are self perpetuating.

They are all in 8/9" pots on the decking and are doing well. My question is, do I need to take them out of the pots to propagate cuttings? In the past I have overwintered chrysanth 'stools' in boxes with varying degrees of success.The accepted norm is to dig up plant, shake off soil and put into boxes with a covering of compost?
I think I would prefer to leave them in their individual pots and cut the stem down to 6 inches. I can't see the point in breaking the roots and allowing fungus to get at stools?
I have no frost free shed or frost free greenhouse so wonder if storing the potted plants in my spare bedroom until spring would be ok?

I intend to store some of the chrysants that I have in their pots, like you Vinny my hut is not frost free, so the ones that will be out the pots will be stored in polystyrene boxes and covered with dry compost, the others will be in the pots and stored under a bench with a covering of fleece

I didn’t realise chrysanthemums were like dahlias and needed so much looking after. Do all varieties need tucking up for the winter or just the showy ones? My crazy daisys I grew from seed this year are flowering now. Do I need to put them in the tunnel for winter? They’re only in small pots at the moment.

This is an expert's (from Cheshire) advice on overwintering, advising seed trays in a cold greenhouse is fine.

https://chrysanthemumsdirect.co.uk/acata...tment.html

My main threat to overwintering is slugs. They have killed many of mine in the spring eating all the new shoots as they form when left in the ground. I now dig them up but even in a greenhouse on shelving slugs can sometimes attack.

If you take them out of the puts and bed them down in some fresh compost (I use John Innes no 1), you will get stronger shoots to use as cuttings next Spring.

Talking of crysanths, I like the dwarf clumpy bedding ones that form a cushion. Can you grow those from seed or they artificially/chemically dwarfed?
All crysanths I've grown have gone to heaven on a mule then fallen over.

If you take them out of the puts and bed them down in some fresh compost (I use John Innes no 1), you will get stronger shoots to use as cuttings next Spring.

Why is that Martin?

There's fertilizer in the compost for the stools to use to get going. I guess you could just add feed to the pots, and that would be as good? I'm not sure what dosage you'd want, but the time to do it would be in late winter when starting the plants into growth.

Let me have a read of my old Chrysanthemum book and see if it enlightens...

OK, so my "old Chrysanthemum book" is:

CHRYSANTHEMUMS
for Amateur and Market Grower
by
F.W.ALLERTON

first published in mcmxlix, which is a while back, but I don't expect much has changed in the last 162 years...

   

I note that wherever the plants are, FW says to wait till January to do anything.

   

Personally, I follow FW pretty closely here, although I've never resorted to hot water eelworm treatment. I think the tip to bury the stools half an inch deeper is great, the cuttings with white on the bottom do seem to root a lot quicker.

   

This answers Vinny's question: "The removal of old, exhausted soil from the stools and the substitution of a rooting medium... has a considerable influence on the number and quality of the cuttings produced. Casual treatment at this stage may well be reflected in second-rate results throughout the season..."

Having said that, see this picture:

   

I guess there was more than one way to do things, even back then!