whats happening to my peonies?!

[ESMcLane]

I bought & planted 2 peonies a couple of years ago from the same place & planted them right near each other.

A few weeks ago, I transplanted the peony (the small one to the left) to where it is now.

As you can see, there is a huge difference in size between the 2 peonies. What happened to the one on the left? they both get the same amount of sunlight & water. It looks so malnourished


[img]https://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/Bales9er/Peonies001.jpg[/img]

[img]https://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac247/Bales9er/Peonies004.jpg[/img]

[applestar]

Well, when I moved my peony -- and it was a 10 yr old plant mind you -- it had HUGE and I mean HUGE tubers of root system. Also, I moved my peony while it was dormant.

If you didn't manage to get all the tubers, then a good portion of the sugars stored in the roots were lost to the plant, resulting in -- as you said -- malnourished plant.

If you transplanted after the plant had leafed out, then it might have suffered a severe shock.

[ESMcLane]

so how do I make it better? will fertilizing it help?

[MaineDesigner]

The only remedy is time. Unless it is an emergency peonies should only be moved or divided in the fall. They hate disturbance. Peonies don't generally need or respond well to heavy fertilizing. You might try a small amount of an organic fertilizer like Espoma Plant-tone in September but I would not fertilize before then.
Also how much sun does the smaller peony get?

[ESMcLane]

thanks green thumb- it gets full sun...