Pompons, we safely flower up to Oct. 10-15 
in these houses without artificial heat. In 
fact, the past season, we cut flowers up to 
that date, in outdoor beds with no glass 
protection. But this was between two large 
houses which did protect them some. 
EARLY FLOWERING 
The history of commercial floriculture 
doesn’t relate a more valuable discovery 
than the early flowering of Mums thru 
shade. It is due to their “short day” na¬ 
ture which means setting of buds with the 
shortening days of Fall. If the days con¬ 
tinued long, they would not set. This is 
proven by treating them with lights to de¬ 
lay flowering, a procedure of some value 
that will be touched on. Briefly, shading 
consists of shortening daylight hours by 
applying some material about 5 o’clock in 
the evening and leaving it on until 7 o’clock 
the following morning. The degree of 
darkness required doesn’t have to be total 
—about what is known as dusk in the eve¬ 
ning. In fact, it is practically impossible 
to create total darkness at 5 or 6 o’clock. 
But if any considerable amount of light, 
such as an opening would permit, should 
stream in, the affected area will set up 
correspondingly later. A black sateen cloth 
furnished by a number of firms is largely 
used and gives general satisfaction. 
However, there is some saving in the 
use of other material such as a light 
grade of Kraft paper supplied us by 
The Sisalkraft Co., 205 W. Wacker 
Drive, Chicago, Ill., we have found does 
very well, especially for the top of beds. 
This costs 10c per sq. yd. made up to 
any width desired and is good for at 
least 2-3 yrs. Only possible objection we 
can suggest to its use is that it doesn’t 
permit air to pass thru it as does cloth, 
creating a more smothering effect on the 
plants than does the more porous cloth. 
However, the shade produced is more dense. 
But we believe the paper has the best of 
the argument for the price difference is 
considerable. In large houses, the entire 
area, walks and all, are covered in about 
18 ft. sections by unrolling the paper that 
is attached to a round pole. For the sides 
of beds, cloth works better and is sus¬ 
pended from a wire with rings that enable 
it to be pushed back when not in use. Wire 
is stretched over the beds to support the 
shading material. In building the support¬ 
ing framework, we find a height of 5 to 6 
ft. for Mums about right and 3V2 to 4 for 
Pompons. Also, if houses are not too wide 
or high, either cloth or paper can be ap¬ 
plied right over the glass. We should also 
state that if a night or two happens to be 
missed, no appreciable difference in flower¬ 
ing will be noted. Also, to avoid atmos¬ 
pheric moisture, don’t spray overhead or 
water late in the afternoon. In fact, to 
prevent the spread of rot, it is sometimes 
advisable to remove the shading material 
after dark, for the sake of air circulation, 
returning it before daylight. Keeping the 
beds covered close thruout the night sets 
up a state of close humidity that favors the 
spread of rot or disease. Next season we 
will try the suggestion of starting the 
shade at about 3 o’clock instead of 6, mak¬ 
ing the morning shade unnecessary. This 
change would permit the complete rolling 
back of the shading material after dark 
and not replacing it in the morning, giving 
the plants full air circulation all night. A 
somewhat better grade of cloth might be 
required to produce the necessary degree 
of darkness at 3 o’clock than would be 
needed at 6. Otherwise this change in 
hours or time of shade should make no 
difference. 
With large Mums, a few days over 3 
weeks is required from start of shading 
to bud formation. For Pompons, enuf ad¬ 
ditional time must be allowed for getting 
some lateral buds set in addition to the 
terminal ones; fully 10 days extra time is 
usually needed to accomplish this. With 
October flowering varieties in both Mums 
and Pompons, about 60 days can be figured 
on from the start of shading until ready to 
cut. ALSO, THE LATER A VARIETY 
IS, THE MORE TIME IS REQUIRED. 
Earlier than Sept. 15, few Mums are 
wanted; even at this date they are some¬ 
times softened by heat and unless a va¬ 
riety is naturally somewhat hard, it is in¬ 
clined to spot or rot; sometimes losses 
from this are serious. To flower Sept. 15, 
means that shading should begin July 15. 
Several shading dates should be used to 
avoid having the entire crop at one time. 
VARIETIES FOR EARLY SHADING 
This catalog indicates such with an S as a 
prefix. 
Shading for early flowers is confined al¬ 
most entirely to getting Oct. varieties in 
from mid-Sept. to early Oct. The choicer 
Nov. varieties can also be flowered in Oct. 
and we sometimes do this to some ad¬ 
vantage by using the cloth that has set the 
earliest crop. An example of this is Gladys 
Pearson that we start shading Aug. 25 
with cloth that was used on the first shad¬ 
ing July 5 to Aug. 5 or 10. This treatment 
of Gladys Pearson gets it in by around 
Nov. 1, nearly a month ahead of its normal 
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