16 



The Florists' Review 



Fbbbdabt 17, 1921 



tained than if rich, composted soil had 

 been used exclusively. If the plants get 

 crowded in the flats before they can be 

 planted in the open gr^nd, a second 

 transplanting should be given them, for 

 it will be discovered that if the young 

 plants become checked in growth from 

 crowding or from any other cause, they 

 bej^in to form flower buds and the 

 growth is stopped. 



Care Needed in Watering. 



The flat or pan should be filled only 

 two-thirds full with the soil for seed 

 sowing and then bo watered thoroughly, 

 after which the filling is completed with 

 moist soil. The water-laden bottom 

 layer will afford moisture for the germi- 

 nating seed. A newspaper spread over 

 the pans or flats will reduce the evapo- 

 ration, but care must be taken to re- 

 move it as soon as the first seedlings 

 break the surface of the soil. During 

 all the early stages of growth frequent 

 sprinkling should be avoided. The 

 plants should be watered thoroughly 

 and then the water withheld until the 

 surface is dry. The plants should bo 

 watered in the morning, on a sunny day 

 if possible, so that they can dry off be- 

 fore night. If plants are wet for so 

 long a period as the night, fungous dis- 

 eases find favorable conditions for 

 growth. Stirring the surface of the soil 

 between the rows or plants will promote 

 aeration and tend to keep the soil sweet. 

 Too frequent sprinkling compacts the 

 surface and forms a crust that excludes 

 air. 



Hardening the Plants. 



The plants from seed sown in Febru- 

 ary or March will be large enough to 

 plant in the garden or field as soon as 

 the soil can be prepared in April. In 



ened, the plants may be toughened so 

 that they can withstand outdoor condi- 

 tions. The greenhouse-started plants 

 are rather soft and tender, but if the 

 weather is sunny and cool, with no ex- 

 tremely severe weather at night, the 

 hardening process should not require 

 more than ten days. 



Keeping the plants a little on the dry 

 side aids in giving them a firmer tex- 

 ture. Eemoving the sash, exposing the 

 plants fully to the sun and wind, ac- 

 customs the plants to the conditions of 

 the open ground. The aster is in no sense 

 a tender annual, since, if properly hard- 

 ened, it can safely endure hard frosts, 

 even those severe enough to freeze the 

 soil. Such weather conditions would de- 

 stroy aster plants fresh from a hotbed 

 or greenhouse, and lighter frosts would 

 check them so that they would be 

 worthless. 



Feeding. 



Early asters have a short growing 

 season and the conditions should be 

 made as favorable as possible for their 

 rapid growth. The soil should be a rich 

 loam and the preparation thorough. 

 Since planting is done early, no fresh 

 stable manure can be applied in the 

 spring. Heavy applications made the 

 previous year, and a garden crop grown, 

 will fit the soil for asters to follow. The 

 cultivation of the garden crops will 

 thoroughly incorporate the manure with 

 the soil. When it is thought desirable to 

 add fertilizer in the spring for the 

 asters, use thoroughly rotted manure or 

 stimulate the plants by judicious appli- 

 cations of commercial fertilizer. If 

 thoroughly rotted manure is not avail- 

 able, broadcast 200 pounds of a 4-8 fer- 

 tilizer on an area of 50x100 feet. This 

 should be applied after plowing or disk- 



A Field of Early Comet Asters in Oregon. 



some sections severe weather may still 

 be expected, which would be detri- 

 mental to plants taken directly from 

 the hotbed or greenhouse. It will be 

 necessary to accustom the plans gradu- 

 ally to outdoor conditions by placing 

 the flats in which the transplanted 

 plants are growing in a coldframo. 

 Here the plants can be covered with 

 sash at night and during unpleasant 

 weather. By raising the sash on pleas- 

 ant days until it may be taken off alto- 

 gether, except when a freeze is throat- 



ing and harrowed in. The time to apply 

 is shortly before planting. Fifty pounds 

 of good unleached wood ashes will sup- 

 ply , the potash for this area. Some 

 growers may prefer a complete fertilizer 

 combining the above. Nitrate of soda 

 should usually be avoided, for it may 

 render the plants susceptible to disease. 

 Lime is beneficial and may be used lib- 

 erally before planting and dusted 

 around the plants during their growth. 

 Lime has a beneficial effect in making 

 other plant food available, and it keeps 



the soil sweet, a quality not usually 

 characteristic of long-cultivated soils. 



Distance for Planting. 



Some growers plant Queen of the 

 Market and similar varieties in beds 

 with six rows to a bed, setting the 

 plants twelve inches apart each way. 

 The seventh row lengthwise of the area 

 is left for a walk. Hand cultivators are 

 relied upon in cultivating plants set so 

 close together. Such methods enable 

 the grower to utilize fully small areas 

 of good soil in growing early asters, 

 which require better culture than do the 

 late types. If this is too close for the 

 method of culture one can giye the 

 asters, they may be set with the rows 

 as much as fifteen to twenty inches 

 apart, and the plants twelve to fifteen 

 inches apart in the row. This will make 

 the beds wider, unless every fifth or 

 sixth row is left for a walk. 



It is best to use a trowel in planting, 

 for plants set with a dibble do not start 

 so strongly or so quickly as those more 

 carefully set with a trowel. The elimi- 

 nation of delays or checks is important. 



Growing in Greenhouse. 



Asters cannot be forced in the usual 

 sense of that term. However, it is possi- 

 ble to grow fine asters in greenhouses 

 by allowing them to grow naturally, and 

 to flower at the usual time. Houses that 

 are too low for other summer crops may 

 be used for asters. The soil should be 

 liberally mixed with old manure. Four 

 or five inches of soil on a greenhouse 

 bench usually give better results than 

 solid beds. The plants are set nine 

 inches apart, and are pinched when they 

 have seven or eight full leaves. These 

 plants will produce from six to ten fine 

 blooms. The soil should be kept sweet 

 by dusting freely with air-slaked lime, 

 which is carried down into the soil by 

 copious waterings. The first application 

 should be made as soon as the plants 

 are well started, and should be repeated 

 every other week. The plants should be 

 frequently syringed in hot weather, but 

 the foliage should be dry overnight. If 

 syringing is done in rainy, cloudy 

 weather it may prove fatal by making 

 the plans susceptible to the rust. Dis- 

 budding can be more easily looked after 

 when the plants are on benches, and 

 thus good flowers can be produced. At- 

 tention to this can be given during 

 rainy weather. 



The varieties suitable for this work 

 are the Non-lateral Branching, the Im- 

 perial Giant, Purity, Giant Daybreak, 

 and Semple's Late Branching. These 

 begin August 15 and continue until 

 about October 15, or until chrysanthe- 

 mums come in heavily. The best colors 

 are white and shell-pink. Some markets 

 take lavender and blue asters. Others 

 do not want lavender, blue or violet 

 asters, no matter how fine the flowers 

 may be. The Victorias and Truffaut's 

 Prize do well. The Comet and Os- 

 trich Plume types are hard to handle 

 successfully and are not so well adapted 

 to commercial culture. 



The advantages of growing asters in 

 greenhouses are that the blooms are less 

 likely to be damaged by insects, and the 

 grower does not suffer financial loss 

 from the rains and storms. The stems 

 are usually longer and, with the high 

 quality of the flowers, the returns are 

 usually satisfactory. In fact, some 

 growers have said their returns equaled 

 most greenhouse crops of the winter 

 months. The average grower is satisfied 



