{f(t ASE: cin cyan earnest serail pean oe 
Wa ann 72359 
With production costs gradually increasing and returns diminishing, it behooves the producer to eliminate 
costs where possible. With this in mind, many growers of carnations are eliminating the time taken in 
producing young plants. This has been done with amazing success by direct benching of rooted cuttings. 
This method does away with either one or two transplanting processes, depending upon the method used. 
Several months of preliminary growing are eliminated through properly timed propagation. The key to 
the success story of direct benching of rooted cuttings is that plants grown this way are never retarded 
in growth, have less chance of disease infection, and break more freely and grow faster. 
The problem that occurs from using direct benching is the time the plants occupy the bench before pro- 
duction starts. Some growers feel that planting rooted cuttings in January or February will give them 
high quality flowers for June and July production. This allows them to start removing their other old 
plants in June. This procedure would allow the plants to remain in the benches eighteen months before 
replanting. It would also give good production the year around. 
Instead of the usual procedure of midwinter propagation, heavy cuttings are rooted as needed, timed so 
that they are ready to plant direct in the bench as soon as it is cleared of a previous crop and the soil 
readied for planting. The cuttings must be vigorous, plump and free from disease — the kind that 
can best be secured from strong, healthy mother block stock plants, For direct benching, strong top 
cuttings are superior to heel cuttings. 
Direct benching of rooted cuttings has proven best when planting from January to June, The optimum 
time is naturally in March, April and May. However, in California direct planting has been successful 
any month of the year. Never plant the cutting any deeper than it was in the propagating media, 
When planting the Sim varieties, we suggest that you plant approximately 20 per cent closer. This group 
of varieties does not grow as bushy as many other varieties, We feel that it is better to plant more across 
the bench but keep the rows eight inches apart. 
Ms 
Modified Direct Benching 
Variety White Littlefield. 
SSO 
ea paar 
