Pansy Care

I was going to write an article on pansy care and then remembered reading this several years ago - these guys summed things up pretty well.
Simple care keeps pansies beautiful during winter
By Paul Thomas
and Gary Wade
University of Georgia
Colorful pansy beds take a bit of
time. But a few simple tasks can
keep them looking great and bloom-
ing for months whenever the weather
permits.
When the temperature drops be-
low 25 degrees Fahrenheit, pansy
foliage will wilt and turn gray-green.
This is normal.
On a winter day, the soil on the
south-facing slope of a pansy bed
can be 45 degrees while that on the
northern side, 10 feet away, is frozen
solid down to the root ball.
In that case, the roots can’t absorb
water from the frozen soil, so the
plants on the north side of the bed
dehydrate and die. Frozen soils and
drying winds can spell disaster for
pansies.
One of the best ways to save pan-
sies from freeze injury is to apply
pine straw 2 to 4 inches thick over
the entire bed during extreme cold.
This helps trap heat in the soil,
prevents it from freezing and greatly
reduces exposure to cold, drying
wind. As a rule, do this only when
you expect the temperature to drop
below 20 degrees for a long time and
expect dry, cold winds to blow. Al-
ways do it whenever the soil may
freeze solid.
Carefully rake the pine straw off
when the cold weather passes.
times even in single-digit cold with-
out protection.
Fertilize pansies in late Decem-
ber, late January and late February.
But don’t use granular products.
When the soil drops below 50 de-
grees, pansy roots don’t take up the
nitrogen commonly used in granular
fertilizers.
Instead, use a liquid fertilizer
containing at least half its nitrogen in
nitrate form.
Apply “pansy-vinca special,” a
high-nitrate, pansy-formula, 15-2-20
fertilizer, every 14 days through
March 15. It works great for begin-
ners and professionals alike. Just add
it to a watering can full of water and
water the bed thoroughly.
Potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate
and even magnesium nitrate can
provide good results in the winter,
too.
How often you should fertilize
pansies depends on the plants’ vigor.
Consult the label for recommended
rates.
When you’re feeding over the top
of the plants, apply enough liquid not
only to wet the foliage but to saturate
the root zone 4 to 6 inches deep, too.
By March 15, soil temperatures
should let you begin using granular
fertilizers again. Using 200 parts per
million of 20-20-20 or a slow-release
granular fertilizer, as you would for
summer annuals, should work well
for pansies for the rest of the spring.
Check the pH, too. Take a soil
sample in early spring to test the soil
and 5.8. A pH above 5.8 can lead to
boron and iron deficiency and maybe
to more black root rot.
If the pH gets above 5.8, drench
the bed with 1 to 3 pounds per 100
gallons of either iron sulfate or alu-
minum sulfate. When you do this,
lightly rinse the pansies afterward to
prevent any foliage injury. Do this
every 10 days until the pH drops and
stays between 5.4 and 5.8.
Too much soil moisture reduces
oxygen and root growth. Try to keep
pansies’ soil slightly on the dry side
of moist to harden growth before
very cold weather.
Finally, keep the bed clean and
free of decomposing flowers and
leaves.
Make frequent deadheading (re-
moving spent blossoms) and cleaning
a top priority. This prevents insect
and disease problems while making
the color display more striking. Bi-
weekly deadheading is essential for a
professional color display.
Trim lanky pansy stems from time
to time, too, to encourage branching,
compact growth and improved flow-
ering.
If you do these things consis-
tently, your pansy beds will rival
those you see at the entrances of
corporate buildings and botanical
gardens.
(Paul Thomas and Gary Wade
are Cooperative Extension horticul- turists with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environ- mental Sciences.)