Ivor Mace (lates)
An RHS show judge and Associate of Honour, Ivor started growing chrysanthemums in 1972, was National Champion 22 times and has won 15 best exhibit awards.
It’s time to prepare the greenhouse for my plants. I line my greenhouse with lightweight polythene and I have shading material to stop sunshine striking the blooms.
I give the plants a thorough spraying with insecticide and fungicide to make sure no pests come in with the plants when I bring them in. My large exhibition plants will move into the greenhouse first, followed by the incurves and decoratives, which are normally about 10 days later, while the singles and anemone buds are housed towards the end of September. I’ve fed them this year with a teaspoon of Medwyn’s base fertiliser per week, changing to Medwyn’s high nitrogen base when buds arrive. You must be careful to stop feeding as soon as the bud is splitting the calyx. I have a Hanna Instruments conductivity meter with a probe that can be inserted into the pot and, providing the compost is really wet, you’ll get a true reading of the strength of the ions in the pot. I like a reading below 0.4ms. Higher readings prevent the uptake of water in hot weather. The result can be petal scorch. So do be careful not to overdo the feeding as your plants come near to showing colour.