ee 
WEST CHICAGO 
ILLINOIS 
Left, a new unit for injecting liquid fertilizers into 
your regular greenhouse watering lines. We've had 
only two months’ experience with it as we go to 
press. It does look encouraging, especially for me- 
dium and larger ‘sized places. It practically elim- 
+ inates all labor in feeding (you feed as you water); 
gives uniform, accurate distribution, too. It’s not in- 
expensive, but will pay off, in our opinion, on ranges 
of 50 to 100 thousand sq. ft. or more. More details in 
~ GROWER TALKS soon. In the photo: Jack McCluskie 
and Vic Ball. 
Still another method of handling the liquid fertilizer 
problem—the Delta Dispenser, right—as seen at 
Columbia Gardens, Cedarburg, Wisc. Fred Plaggeman, 
proprietor, in the photo. Fred reports the unit, tho 
not perfect, generally is satisfactory. He handles 
most of the feeding of his Mums and Carnations 
with it—thru surface type nozzles. Fred says, “’Be 
sure to mix the fertilizer first (in the washtub), then 
put it in the sphere—to keep solid particles out.” If 
she plugs, you have to remove all those dozens of 
bolts on the sphere to clean it! It is fully automatic, 
tho, and Fred likes it. Fred (and Irene!) are doing a 
particularly nice job on continuous Mum flowering 
for the Milwaukee market. 
a. Before benching cuttings, if nitrate and pot- 
ash are in the zero to low levels, we add around 
2 lbs. of 10-8-6 (Vigoro) per 100 ft., applied 
dry, worked into soil. It’s easy and cheap to 
apply dry before planting. 
b. As 4-6 inches of new growth has been made, 
we start regular applications of liquid fertilizer, 
mainly nitrate and potash. Amount and fre- 
quency depend on needs of plants, etc. Heavy 
growth setting buds in warm, bright weather 
needs a lot. Smaller plants in dark, cold weather 
want much less. Raised benches of loose soil 
with ample humus need much more feeding 
than ground beds of heavier soil. 
c. A Program 
e. Phosphate feeding 
The one shot a year (3 Ibs of 20% super phos- 
phate per 100 sq. ft. before steaming) is 
enough. It is so slowly available that, in this 
case, one heavy application yearly does the 
trick, 
f. How soil tests can help. 
After a little experience, you can set up a feed- 
ing program that will supply just about the 
amounts needed. However, as a check or mon- 
itor on your judgment, we recommend some 
regular soil testing schedule. Once a month, or 
even less often, will give you an idea as to how 
you are doing. 
Here are the levels in parts per million Spurway 
that we shoot for: 
What would be considered a fairly heavy liquid Good Growing rege 
feeding program, and how can it be applied? We Range he 
apply it with our regular 20-gallon insecticide Nitrates 20-40 ppm over 60 ppm 
sprayer. First a stock solution is made up of Phosphorus 3-5 ppm over 20 ppm — 
50 Ibs. 25-0-25 (Kapco) in 25 gallons of water. es 20-40 ppm over 40 ppm 
Stir till it dissolves. 1 quart of this stock solu- au oe eee Ae oy Se ak 
tion is poured into the 20-gallon sprayer tank. 
Tank is then filled with water. Remove insec- 
ticide nozzle, set pressure to maintain 80 Ibs. 
The 20 gallons will feed 200 square feet in 
about 5 minutes. 
An application of this kind is made every week 
or two on Mums in active, heavy growth, on 
raised benches well drained. Ground beds in 
midwinter need something less than this. 
#2 
6.4-7.0 pp 
b.. & 
A single layer of wire 
and cross string such as 
we use for supporting 
d. Other ways to apply it? most of our Mums. 
; After growth gets well 
Many growers use the Delta dispenser, others storied Won kanto 99 
construct cement tanks and pump nutrient solu- jaise the supportscult 
tions directly tothe bench. The Smith'Fertil-ade Sap be dens auickty— 
i 3 E aes y simply untying the & 
pump is quite satisfactory. Fertilizer can be ap- binder twine, and rais- 
plied dry, but it’s certainly more work. Some- 
how we do get better growth response from 
liquid feeding. 
ing the 1x1. 
We are currently experimenting with a pump 
that will inject liquid stock solutions into green- 
house water lines at about 1 gallon per 250 
gallons of water. Applied through the Hoseboye, 
it means fully automatic watering and feeding. 
Promising! Watch Grower Talks for details. 
