BETTER CARNATIONS 
CUTTINGS 
It takes good carnation cuttings to 
make good carnation plants. Freedom — 
from disease, plump vigorous growth : 
and trueness to type are three abso- 
lute essentials of a good cutting. 
FROM FLOWERING PLANTS 
The most common procedure is to take 
cuttings from flowering plants. Where — 
extreme care is exercised in selecting 
cuttings, varieties can be maintained 
reasonably free from disease and up 
to the original standards of the variety. | 
More often, though, selection is not 
practiced to the required degree, and 
varieties deteriorate and sooner or 
In selecting: (1) avoid grassy growth; (2) choose vigorous, plump shoots; (3) avoid diseased plants; (4) 
take cuttings from plants bearing flowers of good color, form and fullness. 
MOTHER BLOCKS 
Mother blocks are a more satisfactory source of good cuttings than are flowering plants. Consistent 
users of the mother block system feel that the advantages outweigh disadvantages. The method is 
used extensively by the better propagation specialists. Mother blocks are grown for the sole purpose 
of producing cuttings. Potential flowering shoots are pinched back to force more shoots for cuttings, 
although one shoot per plant may be allowed to flower early in the season to verify the plant for flower 
type and color. Since each plant in the mother block will produce numerous future cuttings, extra care 
is taken to select and maintain clean, vigorous and true-to-type stock in the mother block. Plants going 
into the mother blocks are kept under glass at all times, never going to the field. 
The apparent disadvantage of the mother block system is that the bench space occupied does not pro- 
duce flowers for cutting. However, over a period of time this is more than offset by the production from 
the flowering plants that are propagated from the vigorous healthy cuttings taken from the mother 
block plants. 
CULTURED CUTTINGS 
Laboratory methods are used in some instances to produce “cultured cuttings.” The results have been 
good in controlling two major diseases, fusarium wilt and bacterial wilt. Culturing is a job for a specialist, 
and not for every grower. In the procedure usually followed, culturing is used to procure clean mother 
stock or foundation stock, rather than laboratory culturing of all cuttings that will be benched. Addi- 
tional laboratory methods are in development stages for similarly procuring virus-free foundation stock. 
Cultured stock, free of certain diseases, can be recontaminated or reinfected. Culturing does not develop 
resistance. 
DISEASE FREE CUTTINGS 
A recent and promising development in assuring clean stock to start with is the program to grow prop- 
agating stock, never contaminated, under isolated conditions. An example of this is the Yoder Bros. 
collection of new varieties. From the start young seedlings of potential new varieties are grown entirely 
apart from carnation contaminating sources. Since the carnation diseases, including viruses, are not 
transmitted by seed, it is possible thus to start with a clean slate. Maintaining clean stock from that point 
on is dependent on complete isolation and rigid sanitary and preventive controls. Disease free cuttings 
obtained thus are not necessarily disease resistant, hence the individual grower receiving these will wisely 
institute the best control methods available to him in order to keep such stock as clean as possible for 
as long as possible. With the development of assured sources of disease-free cuttings, individual growers 
will probably turn more and more to the specialists for annual renewal of their stock. 
