AUGUST Tips

CULTURAL TIPS FOR LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS

Buds will be appearing on Late -flowering incurves,  Fairweather Family will be the

earliest to be taken. Colour will show four weeks after bud selection.

Remove any spare laterals, leaving one spare just incase any gets broken,

look for even laterals and even buds before removing any. Bloom bags will help to keep

the weather off the buds and blooms until housing.

Top the pots up to encourage basal growth, pinch back basel growth to about two pair

of leaves above soil level. This will to promote more energy to the plant and encourage

cuttings for next year.  

Late Sprays 

Your late sprays should be in your final pots by now, keep on feeding them on half strength

High nitrogen fertiliser until you are ready to black out at the end of the month.   

August and September on Late Sprays

By Glen and Miriam Spencer

 BLACKING OUT

The blacking out it is not as bad as it seems. Make a frame from some inch by half inch laths make sure the uprights are about four feet in height so to make room for the rapid growth during blacking out. 

During the blacking out period cover the sides of the frame with black polythene making sure there is no light penetration when completed, before you cover the top drape a layer of close woven black cloth over the frame this helps to keep some of the condensation and high humidity away.

The high temperature and humidity during blacking out could cause an attack of Mildew and Leaf Miner this does not look good on the show bench so I suggest you spray with a fungicide and also a spray for Leaf Miner before starting to black out.

DAY LENGTH CONTROL

The plants have to be in darkness for fourteen hours nightly from six o'clock in the evening to eight o'clock in the morning for at least sixteen days. During this time we keep a thermostatically controlled heater set at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

So if you require a flower say the Rynoon or any of its sports for the shows at the beginning of November

You have to count back nine weeks from your first show so blacking out has to commence on the 31st August

Then your Sprays should be ready for the shows that take place in our area. 

At the conclusion of blacking out the plants are removed from the blacking out area and given more space and light, also keep turning every pot a quarter turn each day to keep the plants flowering evenly.

Do what you can to avoid large fluctuations of temperatures a temperature of about 55 degrees Fahrenheit at night during the day ventilation to keep that temperature.

Now is the time for disbudding your spray, first take out the centre bud at the top of the plant which should leave three or four buds to develop,

as the buds develop at every leaf axle you may find a cluster of buds this time leave the

centre bud and take out the surrounding ones careful not to damage the centre one then your flowers should develop evenly down the stem 

keep feeding quarter strength nitrogen liquid feed until colour is showing

When your sprays have flowered all the way down the stem they are ready for showing

Cutting for the shows

Stems should be at least thirty inches in length, to keep them fresh put the bottom of the stems in boiling water for one minute and then in to cold water this helps them to take up water When staging they should look the same at the front as at the back.