
Some growers order cuttings for delivery as early as 
January, planning to use the plants for propagating in the 
spring. The plan is OK but you must keep such cuttings 
under additional light until mid-March. Failure to do so 
will usually result in the plants going to worthless buds— 
and yielding no cuttings. Use 60 watt bulbs with reflectors 
at 6 ft. intervals 3 ft. above plants. Up to February 15 
light from 12:00 midnight to 4 A.M. February 15 to 
March 15 light from midnight to 2:30 A.M. 
BENCHING DATES 
Successful Mum crops may be benched anywhere from 
late April to September. Benching may be delayed by 
carrying the cuttings along in plant bands—or even plant- 
ing out to the field till the space is clear for them. This 
careful fitting of crops together into a tight rotation cuts 
waste space and makes greenhouses pay. 
You may bench rooted cuttings June 15 for mid-season 
BETTER MUMS Ggoe 
varieties flowered at their normal dates. This date may be 
extended in proportion for late season sorts. Mums to be 
black cloth shaded must be benched in early May—at least 
six weeks growth is needed before shading is started. If 
your bench is not clear in time for the above schedule, 
plant the cuttings off into 21/4 inch plant bands or pots. 
If, a month or six weeks later, the space is still not ready, 
you can run them out to the field. We carried a house of 
late Mums and Pomps outdoors in this way this season 
until August 26. They suffered almost no check when 
benched in spite of their size—because the soil ball in the 
bands cushioned the root shock of replanting. 
The critically important point in all this is: don’t let 
them get hardened in pots or bands. That’s one sure way 
to ruin a crop, increase its susceptibility to disease, etc. 
If the plants have obviously filled the bands, by all means 
plant them out in the field (band and all) where they 
may continue an unchecked growth. Keep them watered. 
Better still, where your space plans permit, bench rooted 
cuttings directly where they are to flower. You'll be sur- 
prised at the rapid growth, especially if kept wet enough. 
Furthermore, you save the cost of the intermediate han- 
dlings. And they can’t get pot bound! 
A GOOD MUM SOIL 
No certain “type” soil is needed for Mums. A good 
garden soil—one that does good Carnations or Peas—will 
be fine. The really important points: 
1. It must be sterilized, either with steam or hot water. 
To the extent of our trials, no chemicals can be relied 
upon for control of soil borne diseases and weeds. Propa- 
gating specialists go to great expense to supply cuttings 
cultured against verticillium and carefully kept clean of 
* 
FOR FLORISTS 

foliar nematode, septoria leaf spot, etc. Why not go a 
step farther and use sterilized soil? Often the savings in 
weeding (at today’s labor costs) will pay your sterilizing 
costs. Use sterilized soil (180 degrees for 30 minutes) 
in potting or banding. We have yet to see the first lot 
of Munis hit by verticillium, or any disease, where clean 
cuttings were used. and soil sterilizing was carried out. 
It pays. 
2. It must not contain excess plant food—or any salts. 
Every year we get a soil sample or two from a grower 
complaining of Mums that “won’t grow.” Tests show 
great excesses of nitrogen, and other salts. The usual story: 
The grower had a very hard water supply, built up an 
accumulation of hard water salts in his soil thru long 
years of watering. As these salts began to throttle growth, 
he turned to Vigoro, which of course only aggravated the 
trouble. 
If in doubt, have soil tests made. If excess salts are very 
severe, better change soil. If not too bad, water the soil 
very heavily daily to wash the harmful material out. 
Working chopped straw into the soil will help. Steaming 
soil, by the way, especially in summer, may temporarily 
aggravate the high nitrate problem. 
3. It should have organic matter. A wheelbarrow of 
manure per 100 sq. ft. is good. Peat moss if available 
locally and cheap seems to be much to the Chrysanthemum’s 
liking. Some growers “‘top dress’’ with it after benching 
—a mulch, really. Organic matter helps keep moisture 
uniform, acts as a buffer in avoiding extremes in nutrients, 
acidity, etc. : 
4. It must contain reasonable amounts of nitrates, and 
the other plant foods. Proper levels may be best described 
as somewhere between “low” and “high” on the soil test- 
ing system you are using. 
ON PLANTING DISTANCES 
Standard spacing for Pompons is 6x8 inches, for big 
Mums 8x8 inches with the standard two flowers per 
plant. It pays to look your crops over at flowering date 
to see which could have been run a little closer. There’s 
a lot of difference in the way varieties grow. Also, later 
flowering sorts, especially if grown on ground beds, will 
need more room. Adapting your spacings in this way is 
one of those fine points which, added together, mean profits. 
These spacings are based on flowering three shoots per 
plant on Pomps. Better trim out all over that to concen- 
trate the plant on the three to be cut. Mums, by the way, 
are gtown anywhere from one to four flowers per plant, 
depending on what size flower you can sell. At least 
part of a retail grower's Mums grown three per plant 
might pay a lot better than the usual two. What can you 
sell ? 
