The Simple Trick That Will Save Your Fall Mums from Fading Too Soon

Published on September 24, 2025

After buying potted mums to add a touch of vibrant fall color to your porch or front steps, sometimes these quintessential fall flowers quickly start looking sad instead of vibrant. And they'll wilt, even though you're watering them frequently. What's going on?

The secret to long-lasting mums isn’t how often you water, but how you water them. And there's a simple trick for keeping your potted mums hydrated and healthy. All you need to do is set the pot of mums in a bucket of water and let it soak. This is a plant-watering technique known as bottom-watering. Here's how to properly soak your mums to keep them looking their best all season long.

The Trouble with Potted Mums

When you buy mums from a garden center or nursery in the fall, they’ve likely been growing in their plastic pots for months. By the time they get to you, the plants are usually root-bound. This means the roots have filled the pot, with little to no soil left to hold water.

An additional problem is that mums might be in a peat-based potting mix. If that peat moss completely dries out, it starts repelling water instead of absorbing it. Then when you water those dry, root-bound mums, the water just runs off the peat moss, down the inside of the pots, and out the drainage hole. It never gets through the dense mass of roots and does not hydrate the plant. As a result, your mums wilt, their leaves turn crispy, and the buds don’t open. Eventually, the plant dies.

The Solution: A Deep Soak

Soaking mums in a bucket of water saturates the root ball of the plant and allows the roots to send water up into the leaves, stems, and blooms of the plant. Bottom-watering is a simple technique you can use on any stressed potted plant to revive it.

So before you put the potted mums you bought on your front porch, give them a spa treatment that will make them stronger. A simple hour-long soak in a sink or bucket of water is the single best thing you can do to keep your mums vibrant and lovely through autumn.

How to Soak Mums

Follow these simple steps to ensure your mums receive the full benefit of soaking.

1. Prepare a soaking spot. In a bucket, tub, or sink that’s wider and deeper than your mum’s pot, add 4 to 5 inches of room-temperature water.
2. Set potted mums in the water. Remove any decorative foil or paper around the container before soaking.
3. Let it soak for at least 30 minutes. It takes time for dried out peat moss to rehydrate and for the roots to take up an adequate amount of water. But don’t leave the plant in the water for more than a few hours, or you risk root rot. A clear sign that it’s time to take the pot out of the water is when the entire pot and the soil feel much heavier than before; that means the potting mix has soaked up plenty of water.
4. Leave to drain for a few minutes. After soaking, excess water drips out of the drainage holes. If you placed the pot on a saucer, make sure to empty it once it has stopped draining. If you want to repot the mum into another container, now’s the time.

Benefits of Soaking Mums

Giving potted mums a soak soon after you bring them home will result in several immediate and long-term benefits. Repeat the process if your potted mum manages to dry out completely again.

• More blooms. A fully hydrated chrysanthemum supports existing flowers longer and has the energy to open new buds.
• Deep watering. The entire root system gets water, not just the outer edges.
• Easier future watering. Once you’ve rehydrated dried-out peat moss, it will absorb water more easily from subsequent waterings.