Getting your chrysanths ready to exhibit
It’s all about prepping and preening plants to make sure you get the best blooms for the shows
John Peace (early chrysanths)
By now all of the early-flowering plants are in bud and starting to show colour. If you’re growing in the ground under a frame or tunnel you should be putting covers on, whether that be polythene or plastic corrugated sheeting. If growing in pots, move the plants into the greenhouse. In the greenhouse the plants will benefit from a coat of glasshouse shading paint to protect them from the harsh sun. Continue to keep the plot and pots free of weeds and keep the plants well watered – don’t let them dry out. Remember no feed now that they’re showing colour, just water. Make sure that your plants are secured to the canes, to prevent any snapping off. Watch out for earwigs as they can do a lot of damage, eating into the petals. I pour a little paraffin down the holes of the canes, because this is where they usually hide. Your blooms will be ready for show, when the centre of the bloom is the size of a 10p piece and has been in colour for four weeks. Give the flowers you’re planning to cut a good water either the night before you cut or on the morning and cut in the afternoon. This makes them well charged with water beforehand.
The National Chrysanthemum Society holds its show on September 8 and 9 at Bingley Hall, Stafford. Either enter and bring some blooms to the show or just pop along to view the thousands of blooms which will be on display. It’s also a good opportunity to meet with fellow growers who will be happy to share hints and tips, including Ivor and myself.
Ivor Mace (late chrysanths)
Now’s the time to secure buds – that is, removing sideshoots and buds, leaving only the central bud. I do the large exhibition types first, then decoratives and incurves about 10 days later, followed by singles, fantasies and anemones in early September. The more petals the type has, the earlier you need to secure the bud.
If you’re growing in pots, by now the
nitrogen will be running out. This is the time when we need maximum growth to fill out the plants and enlarge the leaves under the developing buds. I change my feeding to a higher nitrogen feed. I use Medwyn’s high nitrogen base fertiliser with trace elements at a teaspoonful per week. Personally I don’t like to continue this for more than a couple of weeks. I then go over to a soluble feed, using Solufeed 4-1-2 and 2-1-4 mixed together to get 3-1-3 – that’s 3 parts nitrogen, 1 part phosphate and 3 parts potassium.
When I potted the plants into final pots in May I left a 5cm (2in) space at the top of the pot. This is 2½cm (1in) for watering and 2½cm (1in) to allow me to apply a top dressing of final potting compost. This will achieve three things: firstly it allows plants to develop more new roots; secondly to cover the bases of sucker growth, which I continually pinch back to provide the source of next year’s cuttings; and lastly it will help to give the plants a boost and fill out the top leaves under the buds.
Continue to give an insecticide and fungicide spray every two or three weeks. Remember, it’s far easier to keep plants pest free than it is to clear an infestation. Once the plants show colour it’s very difficult to clear plants of pests without damaging the blooms.