NOTES ON MUM CULTURE 
By Geo. J. Ball 
Treatment of this subject might be di¬ 
vided into two main phases, first, produc¬ 
ing uniformly good stock, for unless this 
is done Mums or any other crop will not 
be profitable: second, studying production 
costs. Chances are if this isnT done, they 
won’t leave a margin, without which we 
just can’t carry on. This makes the eco¬ 
nomic factor important. 
Many points enter into the production 
of good stock, but the three fundamental 
ones are clean, fairly enriched soil, timely 
planting, and using unchecked stock. 
Plenty further details, of course, but in 
analyzing failures these fundamentals 
most frequently seem responsible. Proper 
care of stock plants is the first concern 
of the grower. If stock plants are plenti¬ 
ful and full of runners, the cleanest start 
is to use the runners for stock, discarding 
the old plant. Even if grown in Fla. or 
Calif., Mums insist on at least a brief rest 
during mid-winter. For this reason the 
greenhouse grower plants his young stock 
in a cold house; with the coming of longer 
days they naturally wake up. If stock is 
infected with midge it must be sprayed 
or fumigated regularly and persistently 
with most any of the commercial materials 
recommended for aphis. To do this effec¬ 
tively is costly work, but unless the infes¬ 
tation is cleaned up before cuttings are 
taken, chances are it will pay well to burn 
every stock plant, at least that is the ver¬ 
dict of growers who keep cost records. 
The ideal time to take cuttings is a month 
to six weeks before ready to plant. For 
several reasons it is best to plant rooted 
cuttings direct. Not only is the extra 
labor and space required for the early 
propagation avoided, but unchecked rooted 
cuttings will start off and continue to grow 
freer than the more or less checked early 
start. The ideal start is to have all rooted 
cuttings on hand the day you are ready to 
plant. 
For stock to be shaded for early flower¬ 
ing, we get our planting done from May 
1 to 10, tho the cold house pictured on 
front cover was planted April 21, which 
is better to lengthen stems on rather short 
stemmed varieties like Major Bowes. For 
growing naturally, without shading, late 
May or early June is, in our latitude, early 
enuf for rooted cutting planting. We fail 
to see how it is possible to make a profit 
on July planting. Neither do we generally 
find it pays to grow planting stock in the 
field and plant late July-August because 
of the tendency of such stock to come 
blind, and the extra labor connected with 
it. Growth in the shallow soil of a raised 
bed is better controlled and tends to be¬ 
come harder than in a deep ground bed; 
but if such beds are well drained and if 
the lower soil is examined occasionally 
and not kept too wet, they will produce 
practically as good commercial Mums as 
will a raised bed. 
While it doesn’t 
make any material 
difference what 
type of soil is used 
for Mums, or most 
crops, a very heavy 
or light or sandy 
one should be 
avoided, or correct¬ 
ed thru the use of 
decayed manure or 
organic matter, the 
material that all 
good soils are 
largely composed 
of. But what about 
this fundamentally 
correct statement 
in the light of soil¬ 
less culture ? While 
this revolutionary 
method quite up- 
One of our cold houses showing cloth used on roof. This material is waterproofed 
canvas, cost around 16c per sq. yd. and is used for early flowering shade, after 
which it is left in position to be used for protecting the crop in flower from rain 
and frost. The sash bars used in this cold house are spaced 2 ft. and are only for 
supporting the rather heavy cloth. If we were to put up another, we would use 
pipe frame construction, believing it would pay because of being more rigid. 
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