National Chrysanthemum Society - Earlies in Pots

Growing Earlies in Pots
by John Chiswell
(Originally Published in NCS Yearbook, 1991)

First a little insight into why I started to grow earlies in pots. I have a very small garden compared with my main rivals in the chrysanthemum world. My garden is approximately 30 feet square which allows me to grow 240 plants in the ground and 50 pots in the space vacated by my temporary cold frame, plus I have a friendly neighbour who allows me to stand 50 pots in his garden not directly planted into the ground. I therefore used to grow 240 earlies and 100 pots of lates, mostly Japs, with which I had a reasonable amount of success, winning the 6 Jap class in London, and the best Jap and the 15 Jap class at Weston-super-Mare.

1984 was when I decided to change from a mixture of earlies and lates to all earlies. At the National in 1983 I saw a fantastic vase of Rebecca Walker gain Seedling of the Year and I learned from Arnold Fitton that they were grown 2 up in an 8 inch pot with very little feed. I decided to buy Rebecca Walker and grow it in pots the next season. I also had problems with growing Doreen Hall, always producing large rough flowers with very little form. So Rebecca Walker and Doreen Hall were among the first cultivars I tried in pots and I have now settled into the following programme.

Cultivar 'Doreen Hall'

All stools are heat treated in early November, being completely immersed in hot water for 5 minutes at 50-52°C before being chilled, allowed to dry off for 24 hours and boxed up in 2 parts sterilised molehills, 2 parts Irish moss peat and 1 part Perlite. The stools are then not watered until late December when they are put on the propagator to induce cuttings. It should be noted that after heat treatment there is no growth whatsoever until the boxes of stools are put on the propagator

Rooting starts in mid-January in equal parts of mole-hills, Irish moss peat and Perlite, no fertiliser, in vac-pack 24s i.e. 24 cuttings to a full size seed tray.

I used to root in Levington but found that the cuttings needed more water and consequently made more top growth and I am not looking for top-growth at this stage. Cuttings are rooted on an open propagator and normally take 12 to 14 days to root, when they are moved to shelving placed near the glass in the roof of the greenhouse and only watered when absolutely necessary which will probably mean one watering in the three weeks they are waiting for the next move. Towards the end of February they are given a good watering and boxed up 12 to a seed tray in a mixture of 2 parts mole-hills, 2 parts peat 1 part Perlite and no fertiliser. The mixture should be damp but not wet and the plants are not watered unless they are nearly dying, until the next move which takes place mid-March. It is at this stage that the plants to be grown in pots are treated differently from the ones to be grown in the ground. The plants for the ground are potted up in size 13K Optipots, 5¹/4 inch square pots, 5¹/4 inches deep.

Plants that will be grown right through in pots are moved into a normal 5 inch plastic pot, the reason being that I want a restricted root and riper plant for the pots. The mixture for this move is 7 parts mole-hills, 3 parts Irish peat, 1 part Perlite with 4 ounces Vitax Q4 to the bushel. Weather permitting, all cultivars except the Chessington family and Bill Wade are moved into the cold frame. Chessingtons and Bill Wade are kept in the greenhouse. I find that I don't get the usual loss of the lower leaves if I keep them in the warmer conditions of the greenhouse.

I grow only large cultivars so the majority of my plants are stopped in April while they are in the frame and it is worth noting that if you intend to try some plants in pots you need to adjust your

Cultivar 'Bill Wade'

stopping dates as pot grown plants are harder and riper if grown correctly and therefore flower later by approximately 7 to 10 days, so you will need to stop earlier if aiming at a particular show.

I have now acquired the use of another neighbour's garden on which I can grow in the ground and also stand pots so I now grow 420 in the ground and 130 in pots.

Final potting starts mid-May after finishing planting out in the ground, the mixture being 7 parts of mole-hills, 3 parts Irish peat, 1 part Perlite and 8 ounces Vitax Q4 per bushel. I am sure the molehills are an important ingredient for quality blooms and I am lucky to have access to 5,000 acres of pastureland on the Mendip Hills where the soil is of a heavy, red, greasy clay and the moles sift it beautifully. I collect approximately 2 tonnes in January and February before the grass gets too long.

Cultivar 'Gingernut'

All final pots I use are clay and are cleaned and soaked for 24 hours before potting. Damping cultivars such as Rebecca Walker, Cottingham and Charles Tandy are grown in 8 or 9 inch pots, whereas Doreen Hall, Purple Doreen Hall and Bill Wade are grown in 10 inch pots. One piece of crock is placed in the bottom and the soil rammed fairly firm, the pot being filled to within three inches of the top leaving room for a top dressing later on. Once potted the plants are put back in the cold frame for about 2 weeks before being stood out in their summer quarters. All plants are grown 2 up, the breaks being reduced to two as soon as they can be safely tied in.

It is very important that during the first month after final potting the plants are treated very hard and again only watered when absolutely necessary. Whereas the rule for growing lates is that if the plants are down at night leave until morning and if still down then water, with my earlies in pots if they are down in the morning I leave for another day before giving water as the ripening of the plant must take place before mid June. As soon as the buds are near I water at least every two days and generally every day and on no account do I allow the plants to flag.

It is at this time a collar is fitted to the top of the pot and the only feed is given. This feed is a top dressing of two handfuls of Levington per pot covered by one handful of beech leaves to act as a mulch. The small amount of feed in the Levington is the only feed the pots will get.

At calyx spilt the buds are sprayed with Tumblebug and double bud bagged with 6 inch bags, the date of calyx split being recorded on the bag, after 5 days the bud bag is removed, the bud straightened if necessary, re-sprayed and the bud bag replaced, after a further 5 days the bug bag is replaced by a large bag, the bud being carefully checked and, if necessary, again re-sprayed.

The pots are moved under the covers as soon as the large bags have been put on. The harder cultivars such as Bill Wade and Doreen Hall are kept under the covers until ready to cut, but the softer ones such as Rebecca Walker have the large bag removed after 10 days and are moved into a heavily shaded greenhouse which has fans and an extractor fan to keep the temperature down. All through the flowering period the pots are watered every day, each pot being given approximately half a pint of water daily. I grow 40 pots of Rebecca Walker, 5 batches of 8 plants, stopping a batch each week from early April through to early May, this ensures 2 or 3 vases of 5 each show day throughout the season.

Cultivar 'Yellow Gingernut'

One point I would make is that although I grow in clay pots a close friend of mine, Terry Gooding, grows in black plastic florist's buckets and has had a lot of success particularly with Ginger Nut and Yellow Ginger Nut, growing them for a number of years to a very high standard, again the key to success being a ripe plant early on.

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