Can someone give me any advice on when and if you should fertilize peonies. I did read that you should fertilize peonies when they start to sprout I read somewhere else this should be done in fall. ? Can anyone provide some clarity on this and some real life experience on the topic, if available. What's the best fertilizer to use? I have some garden lime and a tomato fertilizer (2-5-3). Should I go out of my way and purchase some fertilizer particular for blooms? Is it necessary to even fertilize? Thanks in advance.

This Spring I applied some organic bulb food on most of my established peonies. You spread it away from the crown. I didn't use very much and this is the first time I have done this.

Ok thank you for your response. I think I will just forgo the fertilizer for the time being

I started using BulbTone on my peonies after seeing Karen's here and knew she used it. Started with a fall application and did again in spring, the flowers did seem to be larger than prior years. I don't see why your tomato fertilizer wouldn't work, the numbers seem good.

Bulbtone really works for my herbaceous peonies particularly lactifloras and hybrid peonies. I have tried others but those did not work as well. Even Rosetone which is made by the same company as Bulbtone did not work as well as Bulbtone. Tree peonies may need a different formula than Bulbtone. For tree peonies, I would follow the fertilizer and amendment application per Cricket Hill website. Itohs seem to be less finicky and respond to any company's fertilizer and formula.

@lizinelizabeth thank you. I think I will try the tomatoes fertilizer. I don't want to hurt the peonies but I think it will be fine. I will purchase the bulb tone and try that for fall. Thank you @kousa I don't have any tree peonies (yet) but I'm happy to have this information now. I have one itoh and about 7 herbaceous with some others arriving in fall. I will try the bulb tone on them for fall. I very much appreciate all the help and advice I've received from everyone here. Thank you.