- 1). Determine your planting location. Choose a location that gets a minimum of six hours of sunlight daily.
- 2). Grow mums in soil that drains well. Plant in raised beds if your yard has bad drainage. Thin out dense soil with compost to a depth of eight inches to one foot. Remove the mums from their nursery pots and break apart the soil around the roots, gently. Plant them approximately one inch deeper than they were in their original pots. Pat down the soil around the mums.
- 3). Water thoroughly after planting. Water weekly after original planting providing an inch of water per week. Do not over water as this could cause diseases in the plant. Watch for signs of wilting and increase water as needed.
- 4). Do not fertilize mums planted in the fall. Do fertilize spring planted mums. Use a high-phosphorus fertilizer for plants you intend to overwinter.
- 5). Prepare for overwintering after the first frost has occurred. Use shredded hardwood to mulch around the plants. Mound the hardwood up four inches around the plant to protect it. Remove dead blooms. Do not prune branches. Remove mulch once the weather becomes warm again to allow the new shoots to grow.
- 6). Divide your mums every two to three years. Divide after the last frost in the spring once new shoots have begun to appear. Remove the plant in tact from the ground. Use a large knife to remove outer parts of the plant and throw away the center. Replant the divided sections.
- 7). Pinch young plants and plants that do not already have the full dome look of the traditional mum. Pinch when you see buds. Pinch a minimum of half the buds at the top of the shoots. Pinch both shoots with buds and those without. Do this every three weeks from early spring until around July.
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