Ivor Mace (lates)
It’s time to think about rooting your cuttings, from now until the end of March. John has described the method he uses and I do things in much the same way.
I’ve just mixed my potting compost ready for use, once my cuttings have rooted. I like mixing my own compost using 60 per cent moss peat, 20 per cent sterilised loam and 20 per cent course grit. I add 56g (2oz) each of ground limestone, calcified seaweed, Medwyn’s Base Fertiliser with trace elements and Microlife organic fertiliser with beneficial fungi. These go into a bushel (8 gallons) of compost. However, if you’re not growing for showing, you can get good results using a good quality multi-purpose compost with 20 per cent grit or Perlite added to it. Besides growing large exhibition chrysanthemums, incurves, decoratives, singles and anemones, I also like to grow a few charm chrysanthemums. These are bushy and need no stopping, they simply divide every few inches and get bigger and bigger until the days shorten enough for them to set buds. There are early varieties known as cushion mums and late-flowering varieties known as charms. I overwinter my charm stools along with my other types in my greenhouse, which was kept frost-free until Christmas and since then at 10C (50F). Now I have lovely fresh shoots that I can take as cuttings. A charm rooted in early February can grow to 1.2m (4ft) across, while a mid-March cutting will make 75-90cm (2¾-3ft) across. Charms will bloom in an unheated greenhouse or anywhere as long as you can keep the rain off them when flowering.