24 



The Florists' Review 



OcTOBiB 28, 1920 



EVER HEAB OF THIS? 



What is the trouble with our bronze 

 pompon mum, Mrs. Beul The flowers 

 are all coming pure white this year, 

 with not a trace of bronze color in them. 

 Cultural methods have been the same as 

 other years. This has never showed up 

 before. H. & W.— N. Y. 



Our guess is that the stock has be- 

 come mixed and that a little later a 

 batch of supposedly white pompons 

 wUl come bronze. The writer herewith 

 oflferB tliree fingers from his private 

 stock of hooch for an authenticated in- 

 ' stance of a whole batch of any variety 

 ■of chrysanthemum turning white at one 

 time; they don't sport so sportily. 



OHRYSAHTHEMUM MIDGE. 



I am sending some Smith's Advance 

 chrysanthemum foliage, which for two 

 weeks has been infested with some insect 

 similar to a spider, but it has no black 

 spots and crawls slowly. Is it the midge f 

 If 80, kindly tell us the treatment for 

 it. H. F. W.— Mass. 



The sample of chrysanthemum was so 

 badly rotted that it was impossible to 

 tell much about it, but I could not find 

 any traces of midge. I would suggest 

 that you write to the bureau of en- 

 tomology. United States Department of 

 Agfriculture, for bulletin No. 833, which 

 gives a description of the chrysanthe- 

 mum midge together with a summary of 

 t^he means of controlling it. M. P. 



CODDUNO MUMS. 



I am sending you a chrysanthemum 

 plant. The plants were good, clean 

 plants when they were bedded. About 

 a month ago they commenced to bleach 

 out and the lower leaves began to die. 

 For fertilizer I have used liquid sheep 

 manure once, a little bone dust a little 

 later on and a little lime to sweeten 

 the ground. I have sprayed with nico- 

 tine once in two weeks and used whale- 

 oil soap, with the Evans sprayer, twice 

 A week. I have some pot mums which 

 are acting in the same way. All are 

 Bonnaffons. Can you tell me what the 

 trouble is and how to stop itt 



B. B. C— Kan. 



The leaves on the chrysanthemum 

 plant showed signs of being burned. It 

 is my opinion that you are coddling 

 your mums too much, as well as carry- 

 ing the spraying to the extreme. I 

 should suggest that you drop the spray- 

 ing with the whale-oil soap and let 

 the nicotine spraying take care of keep- 

 ing down the insects.' It would be well 

 also to omit the liquid sheep manure, 

 bone meal and lime for the time being, 

 watering only with clear water until 

 the buds are about the size of a pea; 

 then give the plants a watering with 

 weak liquid cow manure about once a 

 week. Treat the pot mums the same 

 way. Allow them to grow more natur- 

 ally and they will come out all right. 



POTTING OHBTSANTHEMUMS. 



Not having room in my greenhouse, I 

 planted 500 2^4 -inch chrysanthemums in 

 the field May 10. I have kept them 

 watered all summer and they are from 

 two to three feet high. I desire to know 

 whether I can plant them in 5-inch and 

 6-inch pots successfully, as I can take 

 better care of them in pots than I can 

 if I bench them, as my bench room is 

 limited. When should I take them up! 

 Should I lift the soil with them? Please 

 give me any other information which 

 may help regarding them. 



M. L. B.— Okla. 



become sour before the roots have time 

 to get a good hold of it. A light over 

 head syringing two or three times a day 

 will prevent the plants from wilting and 

 will hasten their recovery from the pot 

 ting. They can remain outdoors after 

 potting as long as the weather remainr 

 fine, but at the approach of the time 

 when fall rains and freezing weather are 

 due, they should be brought into the 

 greenhouse. M. P. 



SPIDER AND THRIPS ON MUMS 



I am sending some diseased chrysan 

 themum leaves. Please give me the 

 name of this disease and the treatment 

 which it should have. I have been 

 spraying it for red spider, but begin 

 to think that it must be chrysanthemum 

 midge. G. B. W.— O. 



These chrysanthemum plants should 

 be carefully lifted, so that a ball of 

 earth remains attached to the roots, 

 and potted into 6-inch, 7-inch or 8-inch 

 pots, according to the size of the 

 plants. Place a few broken pot shreds in 

 the bottom of each pot to serve as drain- 

 age and pot them firmly. After potting 

 stake the plants so that they will 

 be supported and prevent the 

 branches from getting broken. 

 Water the plants well and set 

 in a partly shaded place, until the roots 

 commence to take hold of the soil, after 

 which they should be given full sunlight. 



The plants must be carefully watered 

 after potting, so that the soil does not 



The chrysanthemum leaves were 

 badly infested with red spider and 

 thrips. The best method of cleaning 

 these up is to syringe the plants thor- 

 oughly in the morning of bright days, 

 letting the full force from the hose 

 strike the parts of the foliage under- 

 neath. Then, when the nights get cool 

 enough for a little fire heat, dust a lit- 

 tle sulphur on one of the steam pipes. 

 The regular sprayings with the nicotine 

 extracts throughout the plants' grow- 

 ing season, together with the daily 

 syringings, are usually enough to keep 

 the chrysanthemum plants clean. The 

 great trouble with many growers i» 

 that, instead of attending to the spray- 

 ing regularly as a preventive against 

 the insects, they let the plants become 

 so badly infested that considerable 

 damage is done and it is a difficult mat- 

 ter to clean out the pests. 11. P. 



CLUBROOT OF CARNATIONS. 



I am sending you another box of car- 

 nations and Jerusalem cherries, dis- 

 eased with clubroot, I think. I have 

 thousands of plants on my farm just 

 like the ones I am sending you under 

 separate cover. R. B. S. — Va. 



The trouble is due to some weed grow- 

 ing on the land that creates bacteria 

 which aflFect the roots of these plants, 

 causing clubroot. . I would suggest that, 

 if there is any weed that is particularly 

 common in your locality, yon take par- 

 ticular pains to clear it out of the plant- 

 ing ground. 



Another possible cause might be the 

 excessive use of a manure containing 

 cottonseed meal. M. P. 



HOW TO ROOT LADDIE. 



What is the best way to root cuttings 

 of Carnation Laddie f Although I have 

 had success in this work with other va- 

 rieties, I am having difficulty with this 

 one. T." J.— Ore. 



most of the other varieties. You will 

 find that, by handling the cuttings about 

 the same as you would Pink Delight, 

 you will get the best results. Take fairly 

 good-sized cuttings and give them a 

 little more bottom "heat than you give 

 other varieties. Some growers advo- 

 cate liberal watering during the first 

 three weeks, but the best course is to 

 water a trifle less, rather than more, than 

 other sorts. The coarseness of your sand 

 will probably be a big factor in deter- 

 mining the amount of water that should 

 be given. Coarse sand needs more water 

 to keep the cuttings fresh. A. F. J. B. 



FAIRY RING DISEASE. 



I am sending a few leaves of some dis 

 eased carnation plants and I should like 

 to know what the trouble is and how 1 

 could get rid of it. It was first noticed 

 last winter, but since that time it ha» 

 spread and now covers several benches. 



G. T.— Ore. 



Laddie is more difficult to root than 



We have never seen more perfect 

 specimens of the fairy ring disease. If 

 your plants are badly affected, you will 

 have a stiff fight ahead of you. Thi? 

 disease is usually brought on by too 

 much humidity and from this you will 

 get your cue as to the proper treatment. 



