How and when to prune Montauk daisies

Nippon daisies or also known as Montauk daisies are perennial herbaceous plants that are characterized by their beautiful flowers that begin to bloom in late summer. They generally reach up to one meter in height and are highly sought after to form flower beds. In this post we will see how you should pruning Montauk daisies, if you want to enjoy the best flowering you must know how and when to prune correctly.

1. Caring your Nippon daisies

Pruning your Nippon daisies is a very important point, but that will not be enough for them to develop healthy, strong and with good flowering. There are several more points, and we will develop them briefly below:

• Soil: they are not very demanding on the soil, they adapt to almost any soil. In any case, it is good that they have good drainage capacity.

• Sun: they need many hours of sun a day. Therefore, when you go to plant them, look for the best illuminated place in your garden.

• Temperature: although they are very resistant plants to a wide range of temperatures (even small frosts), the ideal is temperatures between 15 ° and 25 ° C.

• Irrigation: they need a good amount of water, but they do not like water-saturated soils. That is why it is better to water frequently (every 2 or 3 days) with little water.

• Fertilizer: They like to be fertilized periodically during the growing season, that is, from spring to fall. In general, you can use any universal fertilizer for garden plants.

• Planting: the ideal time to plant your daisies is in early spring. They develop quickly so in a few weeks you will begin to enjoy the first flowers.

• Pruning: it is a fundamental point for your Nippon daisies to have a good flowering. We will see how to carry it out in the following sections.

2. What tools you need to prune

Daisy stems are quite slender, so pruning can be done with simple hand-held pruning shears. In fact, even a well-sharpened knife can be sufficient for the task.

Once the pruning is finished you will have to collect the waste, so a rake and a wheelbarrow will also be useful. In the event that there are some diseased plants or plants attacked by a pest, try to dispose of these wastes properly. Do not place it near other plants or you will spread the problem within your garden.

2.1 How to care for and disinfect your tools

Although you do not need many tools to prune Nippon daisies, it is good to know how to care for and disinfect them. The first point will allow you to extend the life of your tools, and the second to avoid a possible spread of diseases from one plant to another.

Let’s start by quickly reviewing the care:

• Use the right tool for a job and avoid twisting or straining it.

• Clean and oil tools regularly by wiping an oily cloth on blades and other surfaces.

• Keep cutting edges sharp by regularly using an oilstone.

• Wooden handles should be varnished or regularly treated with linseed oil to keep them from cracking or splintering.

I personally know three simple methods to disinfect your tools, and they are the following:

• Method 1: rub the scissors blades with a cloth dipped in alcohol (ethanol). After cleaning, allow the tool to sit for a couple of minutes for maximum disinfection efficiency.

• Method 2: prepare a mixture 1/9 of chlorine and water (one part of chlorine and 9 of water). Then soak the scissors for half an hour in that mixture. After those 30 minutes you can start pruning.

• Method 3: this third method is effective but from my point of view not so recommended. Here what you should do is pass the blade for a few seconds through a flame. This will disinfect but also burn the blade.

3. How and when to prune Montauk daisies

We have already reviewed some of the most important care and what are the tools you need that you need. It’s time for us to dive right into the main topic of this post, pruning Montauk daisy.

Pruning of these plants can be done at two different times. One during the growing season (spring-summer) and the other in the dormant season (fall-winter). Since each of these prunings are different, we will discuss each one separately.

3.1 Pruning Montauk daisies in spring

The pruning tasks that are carried out in spring and summer are what they seek is to favor the growth of your Japanese daisies. We can summarize these tasks below:

• Cut dead flowers: once the flowers begin to wilt, it is convenient to cut them. Doing so will prevent the plant from expending energy to produce seeds, which will help produce more flowers.

• Eliminate dead foliage: No one likes to see plants with dry or yellowish stems or leaves. It is good that throughout the season you make periodic checks of the foliage, removing everything dead, yellowish or diseased.

• Trim all the stems: after the first flowering you should prune all the stems, leaving them about 10 cm. Before pruning, be careful not to cut buds with flower buds, which will be the second flowering. Also cut the stems of dead flowers to improve the aesthetics of the plant.

• Repeat the pruning cycle: Montauk daisies grow very fast, so two or three weeks after the previous pruning you will have a new flowering. You can repeat the above tasks as many times as you like during the growing season, to make your daisies look more beautiful.

3.2 Pruning Montauk daisies in fall

Performing pruning tasks during the spring and summer will not free you from fall / winter prunings, these are very necessary. The tasks that you will have to carry out in these months are the following:

• Autumn pruning: when the last flowering has already dried, which usually happens in the first weeks of autumn, the tops of all the plants must be cut. This cut should be approximately half its height, that is, in 1 m plants leave them 50 cm. In this way you will prevent them from producing seeds and you will use their energy to improve their foliage.

• Eliminate dead plants: in a flower bed there will always be some dead plants, it is best to cut them at ground level.

• Winter pruning: in winter we will perform the last pruning on your Montauk daisies, which will be the strongest. You should never forget this pruning as it will allow them to grow much stronger in spring. Take your hand scissors and trim all the foliage at a height of 3-6 cm from the ground.

Once this task is finished, it only remains to wait for the heat of spring to arrive to enjoy the beautiful flowers of your Japanese daisies again.

4. Growing and pruning Montauk daisies

To finish we have selected a video (Growing Wisdom channel) in which you can review some of the necessary care for Montauk daisies, including pruning. It will help you quickly and easily review what was studied in this publication.

More information:

• Montauk Daisy CULTURE UPDATE – www.syngentaflowers-us.com

• How to Grow Nippon Daisies – thespruce.com

• Everything You Need to Know About Nippon Daisies – marthastewart.com

Cover image property of Wikipedia