Autumn is a wonderful time to replant plants, including indoor plants. If you replant in the fall, the flowers will be provided with good conditions for growth and flowering, because some indoor plants bloom even in the winter cold. When plants are transplanted into new soil rich in microelements, they grow better and become stronger.
However, not all flowers are recommended to be replanted in the autumn. Which plants need to be replanted in autumn, and which are best left until spring? Below you can find tips and tricks for replanting indoor flowers.
What flowers are best to replant in the fall?
Transplantation is not always well tolerated by plants, and therefore it is important to know which of them need to be replanted and when. Plants blooming in winter will have time to get used to the new place, which is a big plus. Flowers such as chlorophytum and asparagus, for example, are replanted even in winter. But there are plants for which autumn replanting is contraindicated.
What plants are replanted and pruned in the fall?
In late August-early September and until the coldest weather, it is good to replant bulbous and small-bulbous plants if they were planted in the ground. It also makes sense to transplant flowers that “migrated” to us from the tropics. Then they will quickly take root.
It is worth paying special attention to young seedlings of large plants up to two years old, for example, palm trees. They definitely need replanting to get the nutrients they need.
Usually the following are replanted in the fall: ficus, hibiscus, phlox, daylilies, bush asters, irises, oleander, dracaena.
List of flowers that are replanted in autumn, with explanations
Alocasia, which is an excellent ornamental plant, has superficial deep roots. She prefers tall, narrow containers and it is very important to ensure that the soil does not become soggy.
Gloxinia is replanted in the fall, as it goes into a dormant period in winter. Autumn replanting will give it the opportunity to gain strength and delight with abundant flowering.
At what time are summer-blooming perennials transplanted?
This is just about my delphiniums, lilies, and perennial flax. When is it better to replant them: in spring or autumn? Think. that in the fall.
But this applies to my climate - Kuzbass, Western Siberia.
In autumn, because in spring the ground thaws for a long time to the entire depth of the roots.
Our spring is short, autumn is usually early. Already in August it is cool, especially at night. Can be replanted.
If I postpone this event to the spring, I will wait a long time for the ground to thaw so that it can be dug to the bayonet and deeper. After all, you need to dig up the entire root. Meanwhile, many perennials wake up as soon as their upper feeding roots warm up.
But it is better to replant a plant that has just woken up.
Spring, tarragon wakes up, photo by the author
Then there are still few leaves, there is almost no evaporation, it is easier for the root, the plant takes root faster.
This spring I tried to replant a young currant bush: the shovel doesn’t stick into the ground yet, but the buds are already green. Somehow I cut down the ground with frost and moved it. Now I replant only in the fall, starting in August.
In autumn: after all, with a spring transplant, flowering will begin later than usual or not at all
Due to transplantation, the plant not only needs to wake up in the spring, but then also endure stress due to damage to the roots and take root in a new place.
What if after a short spring a hot summer begins?
You will have to shade it and water it often. Not every gardener has this opportunity.
Autumn transplantation of perennials should not be late
It is necessary to plant in such a way that the plant has time to take root well before the cold weather. Then in the spring it will wake up as if nothing had happened and bloom at the usual time.
Delphiniums were transplanted on August 25, photo by the author
This will not happen if you replant just before the cold weather. The root will sleep in the cooled soil and only in the spring it will begin to gain a foothold in a new place, restore damaged roots, and grow new ones. That is, to do what he could have done last fall.
The above-ground part will wake up later than usual and bloom late too.
And in the spring you can replant perennials that bloom in summer
Especially in the southern regions. Spring is early there, the ground thaws while we still have snow. And autumn is late; in August and September there is still heat and drought.
I didn’t live myself, I don’t know. I draw such conclusions from the comments of southerners.
How to do a transplant?
It is better to replant plants in two stages: first prepare the flowers, and then carry out the replanting itself.
First stage. Preparing for transplant
To begin, the plants are removed from the pots. To do this, they are watered abundantly. Some time later, the pot is turned over and knocked on the bottom so that the plant separates. You can first separate the soil from the pot using a knife.
Then you should tackle the root system. Small roots are untangled, rotten parts are cut off and sprinkled with crushed charcoal. The bulbs must be handled very carefully. If they are damaged, the plant may die.
Now we need to take care of the container. A new pot is usually bought a little larger and deeper than the previous one, three to four centimeters, but no more. If it significantly exceeds the previous capacity, there will be a strong risk of rotting of the root system. In this case, more drainage is poured than usual.
Features of transplanting plants with different measles systems
Perennial plants with a shallow root system or fibrous roots that do not go deep underground are easy to dig up and replant. Even the loss of some part in this case will not harm, since this is how the culture reproduces. The above fully applies to violets, pyrethrum and cornflower, rudbeckia and echinacea, numerous species of ornamental and spicy plants belonging to the Lamiaceae family, for example, monarda, oregano, lofant, lemon balm and mint.
It is best to replant such plants in the fall, when they are clearly visible, and the dried above-ground part can be trimmed without regret, and damaged or rotten rhizomes can be removed. Large clumps are divided so that the resulting parts take root after planting and produce new shoots.
Do the same with irises, peonies, lilies of the valley, and bergenia. The roots of these plants differ in appearance, but if there are potential growth points, the divisions will soon sprout independently.
The most difficult thing is to replant perennial crops with a taproot system. Examples include Persian poppies and dicentras, lupins, delphiniums and aquilegias, which are extremely sensitive to root damage, but do not grow as much as their counterparts with fibrous rhizomes. Therefore, it is better not to disturb such crops unnecessarily, but only carefully separate the daughter plants that form at the base of the rosette.
How is transplantation different from transshipment?
In addition to transplantation, there is another way to move plants from one container to another. It is called transshipment. How does it differ from a transplant and in what cases is it needed? Transshipment is usually done for:
- rapidly growing young plants;
- large plants, when the risk of their death during transplantation is too great;
- suffering from the destruction of a clod of earth.
When transshipping, only change the smaller pot to a larger one, without replacing the soil. The roots are removed from the pot along with a lump of earth, but are not cleared of soil. The entire lump is placed in a new pot and only a little soil is added on top to make the flowers more spacious.
Unlike replanting, transshipment can be done for any indoor plants. This is especially true for those flowers that “fall asleep” in winter. It is better to move them from cramped containers to more spacious ones. Replanting in the usual way, if there is no need, such flowers are not necessary. And transshipment will only give advantages: the roots are not disturbed and there is an opportunity for growth and development.
Perennial annuals for autumn replanting
1-2 weeks before the onset of frost, you can begin planting perennials, which will delight you with flowering next year in the summer months.
This time is optimal for planting lilies and daylilies: lily bulbs are replanted every 2-3 years, while daylilies can grow in one place for up to 5 years
In the second half of September, they begin to divide and transplant delphinium, phlox, rudbeckia, and aquilegia. You can sow seeds in the ground: chamomile, flax, lavender, lavatera, calendula, cornflower, cloves.
Regardless of which perennial you choose, it is advisable to prepare the soil for planting it in advance: dig it up and fertilize it, adding vitamins, microelements and, if necessary, antibiotics. The planting depth will depend on the type of plant and the mechanical composition of the soil.
Contraindications for transplantation
There are not many contraindications to transplantation, but they should be taken into account.
- Problems due to the fact that the plant is too large . For example, a ficus will grow up to two meters. Replanting such a plant is problematic. Therefore, instead of replanting, they do the following: remove the top layer of soil and replace it with a new one. So the plant does not need to be replanted, and it receives nutrients from the new soil.
- Transplant timing. Under no circumstances should you replant plants if they have not yet bloomed. Firstly, all the flowers will dry out and fall off, and secondly, the flower will take a long time to recover and become sick.
- Too delicate root system . There are indoor plants with fragile roots that are easily damaged when transplanted. Then it is better to transship so as not to disturb the root system. It is better not to touch the roots of plants such as begonias, fittonias, ferns, and some types of palm trees. They are carefully removed from the pots without cleaning the roots.
Why is it best to plant perennials in the fall?
Planting perennial flowers in the fall is an opportunity to get the gorgeous result of a rich flowering flower bed with relatively little material and labor costs. The reason for this is that plants planted in the fall are easier to adapt to and harden off during the cold winter months. With the onset of spring, having gone through the process of getting used to new conditions and having grown stronger, perennials are ready to direct all their efforts to intensive growth and abundant flowering.
Aconita, clematis and adonis are beautifully flowering perennials that show themselves in all their glory precisely during autumn planting: after wintering in the ground, they take root better, grow and delight with flowering
Another, no less significant reason for planting perennial flowers in the fall is the opportunity for the gardener to devote more time to this process: soberly assess his desires and capabilities, more carefully consider advantageous color combinations, and also prepare the soil and planting material. In addition, soil warmed up after summer sun rays is easier to dig. Soil moistened by seasonal rains will not require watering after planting.
In order to enjoy the flowering of perennials the very next year after planting, you need to choose express varieties for autumn planting. Planning to plant a garden with beautiful flowers in the spring, in an effort to fill empty flower beds, gardeners feverishly buy everything, not always thinking about the expediency of such purchases. Therefore, it is more advisable to fill the flower beds even before the onset of cold weather, so that with the arrival of spring you can already admire their beauty.
It’s too late to replant: what to do
If winter is early, this is not a reason to despair. There are chances to save the flowers, and they are quite high. Whenever possible, it is enough to dig up planting material on the site. Having dug in, the seedlings are covered for the winter.
If the soil is very frozen, you should do the following:
- sprinkle the seedlings with peat and store them in the refrigerator;
- store seedlings in sawdust in a cellar or basement;
- Place the seedlings in a box and place them on a cold windowsill.
Sometimes circumstances force you to act against the rules. But common sense should always be present in decision making. If all the deadlines have passed, but the weather permits, you just need to plant the plants.
