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DR. DARRELL E. WALKER

New Head of Department of Horticulture at Penn State

A FLOWER GROWERS

BULLETIN 144 JANUARY 1963

i

Voigt Cited by Exchange

Hall of FameAlvi Voigt, Assistant Professor of Agricultural Eco

nomics Extension was elected to THE EXCHANGE

HALL OF FAME for 1962. The citation presentingthe award read as follows:

Alvi O. Voigt

for his outstanding work as a purveyor of marketinginformation for both grower and retailer alike. Pennsylvania florists and the industry at large are indebtedto this Penn State Marketing Specialist for his consistent dissemination of valuable facts in an effort to aid

florists in selling and managing more effectively. Mr.Voigt has given retailers a better idea of their net income and other operating aspects of their businesscompared with similarly situated florists by means ofhis recent analysis of shop operations in the State ofPennsylvania.

Hellberg and SeeleyOn SAF Committee

PFG President Herman Hellberg has been appointed to the Society of American Florists Committeeon Grades and Standards. Dr. John G. Seeley, formerly of Penn State and presently Head of the Department of Floriculture at Cornell was appointed Chairman of this same committee.

Acknowledgements

To Geo. J. Ball, Inc., West Chicago, Illinois, forproviding the "Harvest Giant" mum cuttings.

To Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co., Richmond,Virginia for providing all of the Phosfon-D used in ourexperiments with growth retardants.

(Article on Page 2)

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PENNSYLVANIA FLOWER GROWERS

Bulletin 144 January, 1963

Published monthly at 907 Glenn Circle South. State College,Pennsylvania, by the Pennsylvania Flower Growers, 50 NorthMain Street, Chalfont, Pennsylvania. Entered as second classmatter, postage paid at State College, Pennsylvania. Subscriptionrates: active members - $5.00 per year; all other subscriptions -$10.00 per year. Send all communications to the PublicationsOffice or to the Executive Secretary, 50 North Main Street, Chalfont, Pennsylvania.

OFFICERS

PRESIDENT HERMAN HELLBERGPeter Hellberg Co., Chalfont, Pa.

V. PRESIDENT ARNOLD WAGNERBox 180, Bloomsburg, Pa.

TREASURER AND EXECUTIVESECRETARY HOWARD G. KRUPP

50 North Main Street, Chalfont, Pa.

EDITOR JOHN W. MASTALERZ907 Glenn Circle South, State College, Pa.

Second Class Postage Paid at State College, Pa.

*J

Walker Heads Hort Dept.Darrell E. Walker, associate professor of plant

breeding, has been named professor of plant breedingand head of the department of horticulture at the University, effective January 1.

The appointment was announced following approval by the Executive Committee of the Board ofTrustees.

Mr. Walker was named acting head of the department last January when Russell E. Larson, former department head, was named director of agriculture andhome economics extension.

The new department head was appointed to thePenn State faculty as assistant professor of plant breeding in 1954 and in 1960 was promoted to associateprofessor of plant breeding.

Prior to his appointment at Penn State, he servedtwo years as a research associate with Rod McLellanCompany, San Francisco, Calif., and two years as aresearch assistant with the University of California inBerkeley.

He was principal and science teacher in Hubbell,Nebr., high school from 1941 to 1942 and after fouryears of active duty in the Naval Reserve as commanding officer of a PC-type ship, he served from 1946 to1948 as principal and science teacher in the Hebron,Nebr., high school.

A native of Hubbell, Nebr., Mr. Walker receivedhis bachelor of science degree in education with amajor in biology from Nebraska State Teachers College in Kearney while his doctor of philosophy degreewith a major in genetics was conferred by the University of California at Berkeley.

His research at the University of California wasconcerned with quantitative inheritance studies offruit size in tomatoes while his work with McLellanCompany was on breeding orchids. At the University,his research has been concerned with the breedingand improvement of flower crops and woody ornamentals. He has directed projects on the genetics andbreeding of new varieties of poinsettias, geraniums,snapdragons, petunias and viburnums.

He has published seven technical papers sincejoining the Penn State staff.

Mr. Walker is a member of the American Societyof Horticultural Sciences; Society of the Sigma Xi,graduate scientific society; and Pi Alpha Xi, nationalfloriculture society.

He is married to the former Margaret Creswell, ofHubbell, Nebr., and they have a daughter, Ann Elizabeth, age 17; and a son, Stephen, age 9.

Geranium Manual Huge SuccessMore than 1500 copies of the Penn State Ger

anium Manual have been sold since publication lastDecember. Penn State staff members in FloricultureResearch and Agricultural Extension prepared themanual as part of the very successful Geranium Clinicsheld at King of Prussia and Greensburg, Pa. Sales todate have covered all expenses for the manual, originally financed by the Pennsylvania Flower Growers.

Penn State Geranium Manuals have been mailedto geranium growers in almost all of the 50 states, toCanada, Mexico, Ecuador, and several other Centraland South American countries. Many copies havebeen ordered from England, Australia and South Africa; some have been received from Germany, France,Finland, Sweden, Denmark, The Netherlands, Spainand Italy.

As the mail came in, we noted that geraniummanuals were ordered by well-known geranium growingestablishments as well as by growers who indicated intheir letters that they were just beginning to growgeraniums commercially and appreciated a publication of this type. In fact many growers reorderedcopies after examining their original purchase.

Many amateur gardners specializing in geraniumsobtained copies of the Penn State Manual. A verystrong Geranium Society probably exists in Australiaon the basis of the large number of orders receivedfrom that country.

Probably the most surprising of our orders camefrom Windsor Castle, England. The Head Gardnerfor the Queen of England requested a copy on officialstationery. Many students purchased copies as textbooks for their Floriculture production courses. Incontrast, we received an order (also on official stationery) from a prisoner at the Canyon City Penitentiaryin Colorado. In this case, we hope that the GeraniumManual will help in this man's rehabilitation program.

In particular, The Exchange, and the Geo. J. BallGrower Talksdid an outstanding job in publicizing thePenn State Geranium Manual. They reached manygrowers that the PFG Bulletin does not contact.

New information from research on geraniums nowin progress at several universities promises to changegeranium production practices in the next few yearsand it is expected that the Floriculture Staff at PennState will revise the geranium manual to incorporatethis new information.

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PHOSFON-D FOR HEIGHT CONTROL

OF HARVEST GIANT GARDEN MUMSJ. W. Mastalerz

Penn State University

Increase your sales this year with garden mums infull bloom during the bedding plant season. It is relatively easy to bring garden mums into flower duringMay or early June without the use of lights or blackcloth.

Plant in Early MarchTo flower garden mums during May, plant rooted

cuttings during the first week of March and grow themat a minimum night temperature of 60° F until colorshows in the buds. At this stage of development, dropthe temperatures to 55 or 50° F to maintain qualityand prolong the life of the flowers. No lights or blackcloth are used; plants are grown with normal day-length conditions.

Four or five rooted cuttings may be grown in a 5-inch pot or a single cutting may be planted into a 3or 3% inch pot. It is also suggested that some rootedcuttings be started in pots during the second or thirdweek in April, pinched in 2 weeks, and grown on forthe customer who wants vigorous, well-started plantsfor setting out into the garden. These later plantswould not be in flower at the time of sale.

Soft Pinch

A soft pinch is made 10 to 14 days following planting. Plants should not be pinched until sufficient newgrowth occurs. Pinching into hard growth reduces thenumber of breaks that can develop.

Soils and Fertilizers

A soil mixture containing 3 parts of soil, 1 partpeat moss, and 1 part perlite will provide conditionsfor rapid and sturdy growth and a maximum numberof breaks with large flowers. Incorporate ground limestone and superphosphate according to soil test results or at a rate of 2 to 4 ounces of each per bushel.Fertilize the plants each week at 3 lbs. of 20-20-20 ora 25-0-25 per 100 gallons of water or a constant feed of8 ounces per 100 gallons with each watering. Do notdelay the first application of fertilizer if soil fertilityis low.

Do Not Sell as Hardy MumsSell the plants as garden mums. Calling them

hardy mums gives the customer the impression thatthey will survive the severest of adverse winter conditions. They may come through the winter in someprotected locations but cannot be guaranteed in allsituations. Avoid future customer complaints by referring to these plants as garden mums.

The customer may cut back these plants afterflowers deteriorate, and plunge the root ball into awell-prepared garden soil; or the ball may be brokenup and the individual plants lined out into the garden.Suggest that the customer follow regular pinchingprogram until mid-July to develop a well-branched,compact plant with a large number of flowers.

Many very fine garden mum varieties are available from commercial propagators. Consult their listsfor varieties in the various color classes. Most gardenvarieties are grown without disbudding; some will bemore desirable if partially disbudded.

Harvest Giant Garden Mums

When the "Harvest Giant" garden mums were introduced by the Geo. J. Ball Company several yearsago, we had the opportunity to grow six varieties inour research program with the growth retardant, Phos-fon-D. All of the varieties used in our experimentsproved to be quite interesting and produced some veryexcellent spring flowering garden mums.

Phosfon-D

As a group, the "Harvest Giants" have a tendencyto grow too tall for high quality potted plants. Therefore, we explored the use of Phosfon-D, incorporatedinto the soil mixture before planting, as a means of controlling height. Data illustrating the effect of Phosfon-D on the height and number of breaks followingpinching are presented in Table 1.

The varieties Gold Dust, Touchdown, Full Moon,and White Frost proved to be normally sensitive tothe growth retardant, Phosfon-D. In the untreatedplants, heights ranged from 17 to almost 20 inches,depending on the variety.

The height of plants treated with two grams ofPhosfon-D per bushel of soil mixture ranged from 11to 15.5 inches, a reduction of 5 to 6 inches. At Phosfon-D application rates of 3 or 4 grams per bushel, agreater reduction in plant height occurred — possiblymore than is desired for good quality in potted gardenmums

The variety, Indian Summer was extremely sensitive to Phosfon-D. At the 2 gram per bushel rate, plantheight was reduced from 16.8 inches to 7.7 inches — adecrease of 9 inches. Increasing the concentration ofPhosfon-D had no additive effect on height reduction,the maximum effect occurred at the lowest rate usedin this experiment. Perhaps %to 1 gram of Phosfon-Dwould be sufficient for this variety if necessary.

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In contrast, Phosfon-D had little effect on thevariety, September Song. Plant height was decreasediy2 to 3% inches as the concentration of the growthretardant was increased from 2 to 4 grams per bushelof soil mixture.

Except for the variety Full Moon, Phosfon-D hadlittle or no effect on the number of breaks followingpinching. In this experiment, we averaged 3 to 4breaks per cutting.

Using Phosfon-DThese results illustrate several points about growth

retardants and chrysanthemums:1. Varieties of chrysanthemums differ as to their

sensitivity to Phosfon-D. Concentrations incorporated into the soil must be adjusted to meetvariety sensitivity for optimum results.

2. Plant growth, except for height, is quite normal.Adjustments in watering and fertilization programs are not required when pot mums are treatedwith phosfon-D.

3. Although not demonstrated in the data presented,a delay in flowering does occur when Phosfon-Dis used. At the 2 gram rate, the delay in floweringwas approximately 1 week. The higher the con-

Table 1. Effect of Phosfon-D incorporated into the soil beforeplanting on the growth and height of several "liar-vest Giant" varieties grown as spring flowering garden mums.

Ave. Height Total No.PER PLANT BHEARS

Variety Treatment INCHES PER POT

Full Moon 0 Phosfon-D 19.7 11.0

2 grams/bu. 15.5 9.0

3 grams/bu. 13.0 8.7

4 grams/bu. 13.0 9.0

White Frost 0 Phosfon-D 18.6 9.7

2 grams/bu. 15.7 9.0

3 grams/bu. 1 1.0 7.3

4 grams/bu. 12.8 8.0

Gold Dust 0 Phosfon-D 18.2 12.7

2 grams/bu. 13.8 12.7

3 grams/bu. 12.5 11.3

4 grams/bu. 10.8 12.0

Touchdown 0 Phosfon-D 17.2 9.7

2 grams/bu. 11.1 9.7

3 grams/bu. 8.5 10.0

4 grams/bu. 7.8 9.3

Indian Summer 0 Phosfon-D 10.8 8.3

2 grams/bu. 7.7 8.33 grams/bu. 7.0 8.7

4 grams/bu. 6.5 8.3

September Song 0 Phosfon-D 14.6 9.0

2 grams/bu. 13.2 9.3

3 grams/bu. 11.4 9.3

4 grams/bu. 11.1 8.7

3 cuttings per 5 inch potPinched two weeks after planting

S i / / , w **PP- •

'&.• CHlCKI |

| PHOSFON-D |FIG. 1. Phosfon-D at 2 grams per bushel of soil reduces

height of harvest giant variety, Touchdown.

1.

O.

centration of Phosfon-D and the more the reduction in height, the greater the delay in flowering.Plants are darker green in color, sturdier in theirstem strength; otherwise they are normal in appearance with flowers fully as large as untreatedplants.Clay pots used for growing plants treated withPhosfon-D absorb sufficient quantities of thechemical to affect future mum crops grown in thiscontainer, although the soil for a future crop is nottreated. Therefore, pots from unsold plants shouldbe marked and used for crops not sensitive toPhosfon-D such as poinsettias or geraniums.We would like to suggest that bedding plant

growers try some garden mums for spring sales thisyear. If plants have grown too tall, growers might try-some Phosfon-D as a means of reducing height — particularly for varieties like the "Harvest Giants" thathave a tendency to grow too tall.

FIG. 2. Effect of 4 grams of Phosfon-D on height of harvestgiant variety, White Frost.

LIGHT AND CHEMICAL CONTROL

ByH^vMc^. OF PLANT GROWTH

Presented at 1962 Pennsylvania Greenhouse Florists Conference

When we know enough about the response of aplant, we can add a particular chemical, and so manydays or weeks later, observe a desired change in thepattern of growth.

A Vriesia, which is a Bromeliad collected fromthe tropics, is an example of this. Its foliage is soformed that it will hold water and is often used as avase plant. When one empties the water out and refills it with a pale amber solution, the plant is in flower 6 months later. This is the ultimate aim of the control of growth. The chemical used on the Bromeliadis B-hydroxyethyl hydrazine. In Hawaii it is used foryear-round flowering of pineapples, another kind ofBromeliad. The first action of the chemical on plantsis to slow up growth, then flowering results.

Growth retardants. — Unfortunately B-hydroxyethyl hydrazine is active only on a few plants, butother chemicals are doing the same thing — retardinggrowth and in some cases promoting flowering. Suchchemicals as a class are called growth retardants.They are useful in production and maintenance ofplants of smaller size than those typical of the speciesor the cultivar. They also make it possible to use somespecies not now available for pot use, and allow allplants to be fertilized and watered as frequently asnecessary.

The leaves of all plants treated with growth retarding chemicals are much darker green than thoseof untreated plants. This color is related more to theaction of the growth regulator than to mineral nutrition.

Three chemicals are currently being tested onmany kinds of plants. These are phosfon (tributyl 1,2, 4-dichlorobenzylphosphonium chloride), Cycocel(2-chloroethyl) trimethylammonium chloride), andB-995 (dimethyl amino succinamic acid). The growthof most plants may be controlled by the proper selection of one of these chemicals. None of the three isactive on all plants.

Growth retarding chemicals are being tried extensively on many kinds of plants. All drench solutionswere applied to the soil, 2 ounces of diluted solutionper 2% or 3-inch pot, 3 ounces to 4-inch pot, 4 ouncesto 5-inch pot. All spray solutions were applied to thefoliage until run-off. A wetting agent was added to

1 Horticulturist, Crops Research Division, Agricultural ResearchService, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville,Maryland.

aid in spraying. Some of the more promising resultsare as follows:

Chrysanthemums. — As a soil amendment, 1 levelteaspoonful of the phosfon dust (10 percent) dissolvedin a quart of warm water and thoroughly mixed in acubic foot of potting soil was adequate for many varieties, excessive for ones like Princess Anne and FredShoesmith, and insufficient for Ice Follies and theLace varieties. It may also be applied as a drench atplanting. Rates to use range from 1 teaspoonful ofthe dry powder per gallon to 7 gallons. It may alsobe applied as a drench after pinching, the rates areseveral times higher than those necessary at plantingfor similar height reduction, but less delay in flowering may be observed from the later drench. The claypot absorbs phosfon and releases it to chrysanthemumroots to retard growth. Dissolve % to 1 teaspoonfulof phosfon per gallon of water and dip empty dry claypots or pans in the solution for 10 to 30 seconds andpeat pots for 30 minutes.

Azaleas. — Stuart reports that shoot growth isstopped and flower buds form on vegetative azaleaplants following application of growth retardants.Cycocel may be used as a drench containing 0.4 percent of the active ingredient, prepared by diluting 1quart of the commercial 11.8 percent Cycocel withwater to 7% gallons. The commercial 10 percentphosfon liquid may be diluted to a 0.1 to 0.2 percentsolution and the soil drenched once or twice. Sprayscontaining 0.2 to 0.4 percent Cycocel and 0.25 to 0.5percent B-995 may be applied to the foliage one tothree times several days apart, depending upon cultivar sensitivity. After treatment with a growth retardant, 2 months or more will be needed for flowerbud development, followed by exposure to cool storage with light for 4 to 8 weeks before forcing. Shortphotoperiods tend to restrict shoot growth and favorflower bud development.

Poinsettias. — Results from a large cooperativegrower trial of Cycocel for controlling height suggeststhat for cuttings taken before August 1, add 3 quartsof Cycocel (11.8 percent) to 10 gallons of water anddrench the 2% or 3-inch pots 10 days after transplantingfrom propagation bench. If the cuttings are rooteddirectly in pots, apply Cycocel when the cuttings arewell rooted. Propagations from August 1 to September 1 add 1 to 2 quarts of Cycocel to 10 gallons ofwater and drench soil. Treatment of cuttings madeafter September 1 is not recommended as the treatedplants may be too short or the bracts crinkled. The

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