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Caring for Gerbera daisies

Jessica Damiano | Garden Detective
July 17, 2008

I have a lot of Gerbera daisies that came back from last year. This spring, I took everything out of my flower garden. The daisies had come back thick and full, but when I replanted them, some of them broke into smaller bundles. They had plenty of roots, so I placed them around my garden. I also bought five new ones. They were all doing fine until three days after planting. They all began drooping, and the leaves are now turning brown. Some of the plants had big pretty blooms, but when this started, the blooms just fell over. I've been babying them like crazy. I'm just hoping they don't die. I read that they like a slow-release fertilizer, so I bought some Osmacoat and added that. I've been watering regularly. Any ideas? -- Stacey Walsh

Prime blooming time is the worst time to dig up and move any plant, but Gerbera daisies are particularly temperamental about this - and pretty much everything else.

It sounds like yours might have been planted too deeply.

Most plants need to be replanted at the same depth they were in their pots (or elsewhere in the garden). It's especially important to adhere to this when moving Gerberas because they branch out at the soil line.

Jessica Damiano Jessica Damiano Bio | E-mail | Recent columns

Check that the crowns (where the stems meet the roots) are slightly above the soil line and adjust as necessary. If they're planted too deeply, the crown might be rotting.

Copyright © 2009, Newsday Inc.

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