A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 Mum problem

I recently planted some mums outdoors. I live in Delaware and the time of planting was the beginning of October. Temperatures have been in the 60-70 during the day and 50's at night. After a week of planting the mums started dying. I took them out of the planting site to see if diferent soil would help and noticed a lot of ants at the root level. Is this a probable cause of the problem and how do you combat this? Thanks.

Hi Tobydude, I don't think the ants would hurt, however did you rough up the roots a little at planting time and did you keep them watered? I find when new mums are planted they need water every day during the hot fall days..........Wayne

When ants dig their tunnels, that has a tendency to dry the soil out, so keeping up with the watering would be a good idea. It might even deter the ants somewhat.

Thanks Wayner and Obywan for the reply. Actually, I think the answer to the problem was water. When we planted the mums we had a bit of a dry spell with strong winds. Even though, the plants were watered, I think the dry wind was too much for them. We since repotted the plants on pots in a more covered location instead of the open ground. It helps also that we have had a lot of rain and some falls on the plants. They are doing well now. Thanks.