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The Florists^ Review 



35 



SWEET PEAS SX7BN0RMAI.. 



My sweet peas will not grow. I built 

 a house and planted sweet peas out of 

 2%-inch pots about September, 1919, 

 and they grew quite well and I cut good 

 flowers from them next spring. After 

 the peas I set geraniums in 4-inch pots 

 on the bed. Then I fertilized with pig 

 manure and planted asters, wMch did 

 fairly well. After digging the ground, 

 I again planted peas this fall. They 

 were about five inches high in 2 1^ -inch 

 pots and they did not gtowf A few died 

 and two or three grew a little. The 

 rest are the same height as when they 

 were planted. The soil could not be so 

 poor that they could not grow. Can 

 you tell me what fertilizer or chemicals 

 to use in order to remedy this? 



V. R.— Pa. 



It is evident that your soil is dis- 

 tasteful to sweet peas. It may be sour, 

 or pig manure may not be to their 

 liking. I have used cow, sheep and 

 horse manure, well rotted, and all are 

 good, but I prefer manure from cows. 

 The soil should be thoroughly trenched 

 before sweet peas are planted, and if 

 it could stand and be sun-baked a few 

 days before planting, all the better. If 

 you have facilities for sterilizing your 

 soil by steam, you should surely do so 

 when the house is empty again. This 

 in a large degree rejuvenates the soil. 

 Now. regarding how to improve your 

 present crop, this is not a season to feed 

 much, but I should keep the soil sur- 

 face well stirred. Have a temperature 

 of 46 to 48 degrees until buds show 

 color; then advance it to 50 to 52 de- 

 grees. If the plants show signs of real 

 starvation, give a top-dressing of pul- 

 verized sheep manure, later scratching 

 the soil before watering. C. W. 



YELLOW LEAVES ON PEAS. 



In my greenhouse I have a row of 

 sweet peas that since the end of Decem- 

 ber have withered and the leaves have 

 turned yellow. They had buds on them. 

 I cannot imagine what caused the trou- 

 ble. Do you think it could be coal gas? 

 I noticed one day that the house was 

 full of it; so I opened the door. I have 

 also been watering with sheep manure. 

 Do you think cither of these would 

 cause it? I have other stock in the 

 house and another row of peas, and all 

 these are unhurt. What should I do? 

 Pull up and plant again? If so, when 

 would the new plants bloom? 



G. H. R.— Va. 



It is ordinarily hazardous to diag- 

 nose trouble of this nature without ex- 

 amining affected specimens. Either 

 the coal gas or the sheep manure is re- 

 sponsible. It is probably the former. 

 Coal gas even in small ' quantities is 



deadly to plant life and the effect would 

 be immediate. Sheep manure, espe- 

 cially the pulverized lorm, is rich in 

 ammonia and for peas should be used 

 sparingly, if at all, during the winter 

 months, as it promotes soft growth and 

 in this state buds will not hold. Possi- 

 bly an overdose of this manure was 

 watered into the soil when too dry, 

 which, however, would tend to burn 

 rather than to turn the foliage yellow. 

 Ammonia rising from the fresh sheep 

 manure would have the same effect. 

 With these remarks to work on, you 

 will probably be able to figure out the 

 cause of the trouble. For the latitude 

 of Virginia it is late to sow winter peas 

 to as good advantage as the late- 

 blooming type, which if sown at this 

 time should come into bloom in early 

 June under glass. G. J. B. 



SWEET PEA TROUBLES. 



I am sending under separate cover 

 some sweet peas. There is something 

 wrong with them. They are in ground 

 benches and were planted about the 

 middle of July. They came up nicely 

 and were doing well when about two 

 feet high. Then they began to turn 

 yellow at the edges of the leaves and a 



brownish gray substance seemed to 

 cover the stem, but they have kept 

 growing and are now ten feet high in 

 some parts. The vines are strong and 

 healthy in appearance at the top, but 

 at the bottom are slender and seem al- 

 most lifeless. They are not blooming 

 well. Last winter in the same house 

 we had the finest peas I ever saw. Can 

 you suggest something that will help 

 me? T. 8. T.— Kan. 



There are several probable causes for 

 the condition of your sweet peas. Pos- 

 sibly you are growing them in the same 

 soil as last year without growing an- 

 other crop to make a rotation. Sweet 

 peas can be grown for years in the 

 same soil if some other flower or veg- 

 etable crop follows them. The soil be- 

 comes what is known as "sweet pea 

 sick" if one crop only is grown. If 

 you have facilities for steam steriliza- 

 tion of the soil once a year, or even 

 once every two years, you could clean 

 out all weed seeds and fungoid affec- 

 tions in the soil. 



Again, it is necessary for thorough 

 success with sweet peas under glass to 

 manure liberally, preferably with well 

 decayed farmyard manure, and dig this 

 in well, the deeper the better, before 

 planting each crop. Sweet peas are 

 strong feeders. From your description 

 one would judge that your plants find 

 a deficiency of food in the soil, or they 

 would be in better condition. Cold 

 drafts through careless ventilation will 

 produce mildew, a whitish mold, on the 

 stems and foliage. Dusting with pow- 

 dered sulphur or painting a little of this 

 substance on the heating pipes is the 

 best cure for this. A night temperature 

 of 45 degrees until the buds show is 

 better than a higher one. Advance this 

 to 50 degrees as the flowers start to 

 open and hold between 50 and 52 de- 

 grees as nearly as possible. C. W. 



CARNATIONS GROWN TOO WARM. 



I am enclosing a sample of pink and 

 red carnations, and, if possible, wish to 

 find out what ails them. The reds 

 grow a 3-foot or 4-foot stalk, rather 

 weak, and about half of the buds do not 

 open more than halfway, after which 

 they dry or burn up. The pinks are 

 drying up and all blooms are split be- 

 fore half open. Both are growing on 

 the same bench. Some whites in the 

 same house have a nice, healthy growth, 

 but a number of these also split open. 

 The soil appears to be in good condition. 

 T used bone meal fertilizer monthlv until 

 December 1, and before Christmas I 

 gave the soil a dressing of lime. I have 

 been fumigating them weekly with nico- 

 tine. V. C. G.— N. D. 



The sample carnation plants were in- 

 fested with thrips or rod spider, and 

 had the appearance of having been 

 grown extremely warm. You are giving 

 the plants altogether too much bone 

 meal. If the soil was properly pre- 



pared before planting, they would need 

 no additional feeding before January 

 1. I would suggest that you let the 

 plants grow more naturally from now on 

 until they have used up some of the 

 material you put into the soil. Maintain 

 an even night temperature of 48 to 50 

 degrees and on cloudy days from 54 to 56 

 degrees, with a rise of about 6 to 8 de- 

 grees on bright, warm days when venti- 

 lation can be given. M. P. 



LOOKS LIKE CHANGED LABELS. 



Can you tell me what is wrong with 

 my White Wonder carnations? They 

 are gradually changing to a pink. At 

 first I noticed now and then a bloom 

 with -just a pink tinge, but now the pink 

 has become more prominent. Match- 

 less, joining White Wonder on one side, 

 remains white as snow. Enchantress, on 

 the other side, is natural. All plants ap- 

 pear to be healthy and producing plenty 

 of good blooms. 



The White Wonder plants are the 

 largest and finest in the house and show 



