CARNATIONS AND THEIR CULTIVATION.

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 14, 30 August 1928, Page 2

CARNATIONS AND THEIR CULTIVATION.

(Continued from last week).

If you grow imported carnations in the manner described you will be delighted to see the. plants sending up from 6 to 10 main flowering stems in the springy and these will grow to a height of from 2ft 6in. to 3ft., according to the variety, and with stems nearly 3/Bths of an inch thick at the base.

Disbudding should commence when the side* buds project sufficiently to nip them off easily. A safe plan is to leave the top or crown ftud and the two lowest buds on the .stem. This will ensure an immense bloom for show with a fine long stem, while the lower blooms will often measure fully 3£ inhces across, according to variety.

Many of the new varieties offered by Douglas have such strong wire-like stems that tieing up is very easy as against the old sorts, but if the plants are. exposed to strong winds while the steins are in the soft stage some support should be given, otherwise it is not by any means necessary; many of my plants produce straight stems without support of any kind.

After going to the expense or importing and the trouble of growing in the way outlined it would be folly not to protect the blooms while the plants are in flower. An excellent method is to drive 2x2 totara stakes at the corner of each bed, with additional ones along the side, say 6ft apart. Nail battens 2xl around the top and brace. them. On the top lie glass frames that project 6in. on either side so as to protect from rain, and wire the frames on to the battens in ease of winds.

These frames are not put on till the buds show colour, and they a^re removed as soon as the best blooms are over so as to ripen the grass better, otherwise they will be too soft to layer and will not root well. The frames should be 4ft from the ground at the back of the bed and slope sufficiently to throw the water clear.

When the sun gets too hot add a thin coating of colour to the glass. Later, when it gets still hotter add more colour 7 or better still run a strip of cheese cloth f rom-end to end of the bed a clear 3ih. above the glass so as, to allow a current of air between the cheese cloth and the glass, -which will materially reduce the heat on the glass. Always remember that as soon as you give too much shade you lose colour in your blooms and cause the plants to grow too leggy.

Re bursting. My experience with Douglas's carnations is that there are very few that burst. When they do it is caused by wind and sun hardening one side of the ealaxy, wTiile the other side is much softer. The result is that after heavy rain just when the bud is most expanded the skin will burst on the soft side of the calyx with disastrous results. For this reason alone I always apply a rubber band to each bud just before it shows colour. Directly the bud expands above the calyx the pressure is removed and the band can be slipped down and removed with s^iisors.

Grown in the way described it is easy to produce 1,500 glorious blooms on a bed of 53 to 60 plants. To see 300 or 400 blooms of absolute perfection at one time and all 3£ to 4in. across is a sight to be remembered and well repays one for the trouble suggested in these notes. Further blooms of this description will automatically eliminate the desire to cut the stems short to show on collars, as one hates to spoil what looks so much better when staged on long stems with their .own foliage, as against the old and out of date collar. Watering.—This is important. It is recommended that unless rain has recently fallen a good watering should be given that will thoroughly soak the bed, one day before covering. Just at this period a further watering with liquid manure may be applied once, but don't have it too strong, or a dressing iof soot all over the bed may be applied if preperred, as it adds to the, colour. As no dew can reach the plants after covering, a nice sprinkling with the hose each evening when the weather is dry is very helpful and keeps away green fly and thrip. Give a heavier watering once a week, but ease this off as soon as the plants come into bloom' or the latter will lose colour rapidly, This is important. While locally grown plants will nev e r

produce results equal to the imported they will give a much better result if grown in the way outlined. Here again growers can help themselves immensely if they will grow a separate set of plants in beds not so heavily manured and as soon as the plants have sent their flowering steins to the full height removg all the flowering stems and lay> era few days after. That will have the effect of giving you a supply of rooted layers ready for planting before the end of February with the result i that they should be well advanced before the 6old weather sets in. The result will be much stronger plants than when layers are taken after the flowering period is over. Concerning type of bloom. There is no hard and fast rule because we get quite a wide variation in the different varieties, but the old style of large bloom overcrowded with petals, many of which are twisted, has been quite j superseded by the bloom with wider, I stronger and flatter petals that are not too crowded but which give a symmetrical result that is pleasing to the eye and makes everyone want blooms of that calibre. Let me add in conclusion that while at Home discussed fully with Mr. Douglas the question of export to New Zealand, and it was then decided that he would try the system of sending some in cold storage the same as was done to South Africa. Only last week a shipment of about 600 plants reached Wellington under this method. One of my friends to whom a consignment was sent wired me that the shipment was absolutely perfect, not one plant having died out of the whole consignment. Here, then, is an easy means to secure the plants recommended with practically no risk of loss en route. Further, I would say that having seen all the big London Shows over two seasons I can truthfully say that for quality of bloom, size and colour there is nothing in the world that can compare with the varieties offered by Douglas. This, of course, applies to the Border Carnation, and not the tree, or what are commonly termed the American Carnation. The ) latter, however, for type, form and colour do not compare favpurably with the Border Carnation even under the best of conditions, although when produced as they are at Homo •*-2«<sy are gloriously lovely. These, however, are always grown under glass.