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The culture of Adiantum farleyense.

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THE CULTURE OF
ADIANTUM FARLEYENSE

BY JULIUS LINDSTROM
FORMERLY: -FARLEYENSE “GROW. 7 DBE.
‘KENT ‘PLACE Foe aa SU MM rT, Ne

2: COU RE FP
ADIANTUM FARLEYENSE

BY JuLIvUsS LINDSTROM

FORMERLY FARLEYENSE GROWER AT THE
KENT PLACE NURSERIES, BUM MET, Ne Js

CF

A sé 027

CONTENTS

PROPAGATING wo ena se cesaseseasntever cogs aaeNaeaccioenuege gtinadiersdededs dee

Watering and Ventilation of Cuttings; General Care of

Propa@atine Beds ssconeniigeiccesis oavna echen sencdccedataancneetden teeny
Potting Cuttings and Preparing the Bench for Thumb Pots...
Care of Farleyense: after First. Potting wuss socaiscnisencns wanes

Re-potting to 2% and 3-inch Pots: Bottom Ventilation in

Barleyense TGS Gyiccsnven gane. savsuesieonconnaenteh es vdeaasdireeaoot
Re-potting to 4 and 5-inch Pots; Drainage in Pots...........
General Care of Plants in 4 and § inch Pots; Shading......

Night Ventilation During Summer and Early Fall; Watering

avith. Tsrquid. AT amu ne s.cu, seavsnceeseapenens cnseseeecacemnrreoomaneennes
Disbudding ; Plamits (Cniled ecco csi sechte oes. ess Weasels ea

Marketing Farleyense ; ‘Temperature for the Stock in Gen-
eral; Farleyense in the Palm House on Private Places..

Propagating on Small Scale; Heating System...

12

14

THE CULTURE OF
ADIANTUM FARLEYENSE

BY JULIUS LINDSTROM, FORMERLY FARLEYENSE GROWER
AT THE KENT PLACE NURSERIES, SUMMIT, N. J.

All who have had anything to do with the cultivation of
Adiantum Farleyense know that this most beautiful fern is not
propagated from seeds, but from the bulbous parts of the roots
commonly called eyes. The plants can be propagated with suc-
cess any time during the year providing you have sufficient heat
in the greenhouse, whether it be artificial or natural. As a grower
of this fern for commercial use, I always aimed to propagate at
such times that I would be able to supply the New York florists
with good, well-shaped plants in 5-inch pots, from September 1
to June 1. To accomplish this, I found it convenient 1» propa-
gate twice during the year. As there is quite a demanu for cut
fronds of Farleyense, a person will always have a chance to cut
down a few plants, the stumps of which will, if taken care of at
all, furnish splendid material for propagating.

I used to begin propagating Farleyense the first days of Janu-
ary and keep it up to the middle of March, and from June 1 to
the middle of July. It requires a good many stumps: for propa-
gating where 5,000, 8,000 or 10,000 good Farleyenses are wanted,
and as a person is continually cutting down some plants for cut
fronds the stumps should be put somewhere in the greenhouses.
and cut up and propagated in proper season. If you do not want
to sell cut fronds, you can always buy stumps from the city
florists, but the eyes are not always as good as the stutaps you
have got at home, providing they were healthy plants when vou

3

cut the fronds. The plants that have been kept in the city stores
for probably two or three weeks have suffered in every way, and
when propagating from such stumps I found they had a tendency
to rot. By cutting through a couple of the eyes you are generally
able to tell whether the stumps are in good, healthy condition for
propagating. At times, however, you are able to get good stumps
from the stores; but you can rely more upon those you have got
at home.

-\ common mistake is to propagate from sickly, bull-headed
plants, and cuttings of such plants seldom amount to much. An-
other mistake is to select the strongest and heaviest eyes that can
be found. They are generally from old, over-fed plants, and
when you get them in the propagating bed they rot rather than
sprout; if they come they will throw such a heavy leaf that it is
hard to get nice symmetrical plants in 5-inch pots. They will,
however, make good specimen plants in 6 and 8-inch pots. The
best eyes are the medium-sized ones with red tops. Some people
grow Farleyense so poorly that their plants are not good for
propagating, and buying stumps ought to work well in such cases
if good ones can be obtained.

To be successful in propagating, a place in the greenhouse
should be selected with good bottom heat; or a regular propagat-
ing bed will serve the purpose well, especially if it is in a west-
side house. Some people prefér putting the cuttings in a sand
bed and handling them like cuttings of other plants. Others use
flats filled with peat and moss, the cuttings being placed on top
of this mixture about an inch apart and slightly covered with the
same. This seems a pretty good method, but there is difficulty
in taking up the plants after they are rooted; besides, they do not
make as strong roots as are produced in the sand. I have been
most successful with flats about two inches deep, with a layer
of rough clinkers or ashes in the bottom and an inch covering of
coarse sand. After the stumps have been thoroughly cleaned by
washing, or by shaking of the soil, the cuttings should be sep-
arated to single eyes either by breaking them carefully apart

4

with the fingers or using a knife, taking great care not to injure
the eyes. You should leave about three-quarters of an inch of the
old roots attached. Place the cuttings on top of the sand in flats
about one inch apart each way and give them a sprinkling of
water, then cover them with the sand to a depth that will enable
you to see the eyes peering over the surface and water them with
a sprinkler; put them in good bottom heat with glass over them
and about the same shading that would be required for cuttings
of other kinds of foliage plants.

I have had a propagating bed fixed on the west side of a
greenhouse in the following manner: I selected about, 50 feet of the
front bench with an extra heating pipe under it. Valves were put
on so that the heat could be regulated and shut off entirely if de-
sired. The bench was cased in with boards, scrubbed clean and
whitewashed. A board 15 inches high was fixed on the edge of
the bench at the back, a couple of inches from the wall, and an
8-inch board was nailed on the front edge of the bench, giving it
a 7-inch pitch, or much the shape of a cold frame. On the bottom
of the bench I placed pots, the 4-inch size at the back and thumb.
pots in front at regular distances. On top of the pots the flats
containing the cuttings were placed, thus getting a pitch some-
what corresponding with the frame, the flats standing close to-
gether and leaving no room for mice to get at the cuttings from
the bottom. If the flats did not fit tight at the ends, clinkers
were filled in finer on top; this made everything tight as far as
the bottom was concerned. A coat of lime about an inch thick
was put on top of the clinkers at the ends of the flats. If the
flats are enclosed with a line of lime there will be no loss on ac-
count of snails, which in the places of some growers have dam-
aged or entirely ruined thousands of cuttings in a single night.
Mice will do considerable damage if they get a chance at the
flats where the young eyes begin to sprout. I have had thousands
of cuttings ruined by mice, although I depended upon a cat that
I kept in the greenhouse. Poison should be put on the edges of
the flats. After the flats were fixed in the bench in the manner

5

described, sashes were put on the bench as snug as possible, small
blocks of wood or anything else that was suitable being used for
ventilating. At night the sashes were let down to half an inch
‘opening, taking care not to leave any room for mice to get in dur-
ing night.

The cuttings should be kept moist. Watering might be re-
quired twice a day, the last early enough to give the cuttings a
chance to dry a little before closing up for the night. When
watering in the morning the sashes should be taken off and
wiped with a sponge, as a considerable quantity of water always
collects on the glass during the night and if left on will give the
plants a tendency to damp off. A temperature of 76 degrees at
night is good, and something like 80 to 85 degrees during the day,
‘with, of course, ventilation on the sashes. In about six weeks after
‘propagation some of the plants ought to be ready to pot, and ina
couple weeks more all that will amount to anything will usually
be fit for potting. The best soil for the first potting is a good
loam, with plenty coarse sand mixed in without any fertilizers.
‘The soil should be screened so as to fit around the plants. Thumb
‘pots, or inch and a half pots, as some seem to prefer, are best
for the first potting.

The plants should be taken up carefully. Do not take too many
-at atime. Be careful not to expose them to cold air as the young
leaves are very tender at this period. Pot them light and water
‘them without much delay. Put them on a warm place, with a
sash over them and a few inches of ventilation. Be on the
‘lookout for fungus. Have the boards of the bench thoroughly
‘cleaned and whitewashed. Place over the openings between the
‘boards a layer of rough clinkers, then add another and finally
a covering of finer yet. On top of this sprinkle a coat of lime and
‘water in with the hose so that it will penetrate between the clink-
-ers; fut another light sprinkling of lime on top of the bench
while it is yet wet and let it stay on. Thumb-pots set on a bench
like this have a sweet, clean understanding; and if any plant
‘appreciates cleanliness it is Farleyense, especially in thumb-pots

6

‘saha apsuis MOLf pazvSvgorg szog yIuz-G uz Syunjg pjo sYzuoue auty
‘ASQNOHNATAAII LOOX 006 X06 F NI MATA

standing Close together. The plants should not be set pot-to-pot,
zigzag style. If they stand as close as possible or pot-to-pot, let
them be in front of one another, as it is good to have little open-
ings for the air to get at the ‘‘pots.”

Great care should be taken in watering the young plants. I
do not know of anything, except seeds, that requires so careful a
watering as Farleyense of the smallest size. Take care you do
not splash too much water on the leaves; if you do, keep the
sashes off and let the plants dry a little. As the plants take hold
and grow, give them plenty of air. Although sashes are not neces-
sary, yet I have found them very beneficial for young plants.
When I have potted 4,000 Farleyense cuttings in the Spring
months and not lost more than 80 plants, I have considered my-
self very well paid for the little trouble experienced with a few
sashes. As soon as the young plants are fairly well through the
soil they should be potted off, the strongest into 3-inch and the
rest into 2!4-inch pots, in good loam a little coarser than the
first potting. On cold Winter days, if the greenhouses are not
very tight, I have found sashes beneficial yet for a few days, but
in a good, snug house this is not necessary. A light sprinkling of
bone might be of benefit in this second potting. Do not let your
plants get stunted ; keep them growing.

Shading is a very important item. Many growers shade Far-
leyense entirely too heavily. The plants should have as much light
as they can bear without getting bleached. Keep the floors and
walls dampened and maintain a moist atmosphere. Have the air
as pure as you can without chilling the plants. Be cautious, when
ventilating, that you do not get a cold draft on the plants; they
are very easily chilled, especially in the Spring months, when the
wind is cold, with the sun chasing up the temperature to a con-
siderably higher degree than is wanted. Bottom ventilators work
splendidly. I have had frames covered with cheesecloth, and
when taking out the ventilators I have put in the one of cloth
and sometimes placed the. wooden one on top over part of it,
according to weather and temperature outdoors. When the first

8

fronds are developed after the second potting, and if the plants
are not quite ready for a shift into larger sized pots, they should
be set over, spread out a little and given a little more room, this
will help the plants considerably, as the light will now strike
plants on different places and help them to more rapidly throw a
couple more fronds. When the plants get pretty well rooted they
should be potted off into the 4 and 5-inch sizes, and as most plants
are generally sold for'the market in the 5-inch it is of great im-
portance to get them symmetrical and well filled out in this size.

The plants can now bear richer soil and will need plenty of
food to throw two crops of fronds,% After the potting to 5-inch,
a good loam, with about one-third of pure cow manure pretty well
ventilated or well rotted, will do, with plenty of coarse sand, de-
pending somewhat upon the amount of sand the soil itself con-
tains. This mixture should be pretty well broken up with a
shovel or the hands and mixed thoroughly. A sprinkling of raw
ground bone is good also for the 5-inch. It is not necessary
to have the soil quite so rich for the 4-inch; a little less manure
will do. The 2%4-inch and the weakest of the 3-inch plants should
be removed into 4-inch pots; while, if the plants are good and
strong, the best 3-inch will do well in the 5-inch size. This latter
may seem a big shift, but I have potted a good many that way;
they were strong plants and did well. The most common shift
is from 4 to 5-inch, and plants ought to do well if the soil is rich
enough.

As for drainage, a piece of crock in the bottom, with a few
pieces of clinkers, is all that is needed. The Farleyense should at
all stages be potted deeper than Cuneatum, except that the first
potting of the cuttings after being rooted should be light. A
common mistake is to pot the plants in 4 and 5-inch sizes with the
crowns projecting a third of an inch above the surface; this
will help the plants to throw a lot of small fronds and get bull-
headed. The crowns should be covered slightly with the soil.
After being potted the plants should be put quite close together
so as to give them a chance to get set over and spread out twice

9

before becoming salable. The setting over helps them wonder-
fully in getting symmetrical in shape; besides, it seems to tickle
the eyes to sprout and throw up fronds more rapidly. A tem-
perature of 68 degrees at night is all right at this period with
74 to 76 during the day. In clear days the temperature will run up
to over 80 degrees, which is satisfactory if it is mostly sun heat,
with a small crack of ventilation. In Summer the thermometer
runs up quite high, but the plants can bear plenty of ventilation at
this time of the year after they have got hardened off and you
have ceased firing; yet it is necessary to be careful not to let the
young fronds flag too much. ,When the weather is dark and dull
for a couple of weeks in Summer it has been very helpful to
scrape off some of the shading and on the return of bright,
sunny days put shading on again. During such spells as much air
as possible should be afforded the young fronds that are sprout-
ing, otherwise they may get too soft and wilt when the sun comes
out bright and clear. I have seen a good many plants damaged
in this way.

If vour plants have got soft and tender during a dark spell it.
is advisable, if you do not want to put any more stationary shad-
ing on your house, to go out and throw wet sand on the roof,
letting it stay on till the plants get used to the bright sunlight. I
have seen a house of Farleyense with the stems of the young
leaves turned and twisted like a corkscrew. This happened after
dark days, the young fronds getting very soft, and when the sun
came out bright the leaves tipped over; the night following the
points of the leaves straightened up again. The sunlight affected
them again the second day with the same results, and when the
leaves turned up to stay they were curved and twisted. This can
be prevented by putting a little extra shading on for a couple of
days. Toward the Fall, when the sun is not as strong, the shading
should be diminished gradually. This is a good plan to follow
in regard to shading; to give the plants, whether young
or old, as much light as they can bear without getting bleached.
During the’ Winter very little shading is required.

10

Artificial heat can nearly always be dispensed with from June
1 to September 1, sometimes longer. The plants can bear a
lower temperature at night in early Fall than at any other time
during the year, as they have got hardened during the Summer.
It is, however, wise to be upon the alert for the early frosts in
the Fall. A little ventilation at night is needed, and bottom ven-
tilation seems to work admirably in this case, even while you have
artificial heat on. Be on the lookout for high north and north-
west winds and see that you have your night ventilation regu-
lated, so that your young fronds do not get chilled. By the first
part of September you should have plenty of good-looking plants
ready for the market. The plants propagated during the Summer
months of the previous year should now be ready in 5 and 6-inch
pots.

Watering with liquid manure seems to do most good at this
time. They are in a healthy growing condition, and you are be-
ginning to apply artificial heat. This will help the plants to dry
a little and feeding will do them good. Farleyenses are great
teeders, but be sure the plants are pretty well rooted in their
last shift and have consumed most of the nourishment in the pots.
The best watering mixture that I have tried is composed as fol-
lows: Place one shovelful of well ventilated human feces and
three of pure cow manure in an ordinary kerosene barrel, fill
with water and let it stand for a couple of days. Use it sparingly
at first. After the plants have received a few applications, a 5-inch
pot will do well with an ordinary two-gallon can of water, but
you can always keep a few plants marked for experimenting and
thus be enabled to tell how much the plants will stand before
applying it to the general stock. After the plants have consumed
the nourishment in‘the last shift and they begin to throw small
fronds and look starved, if the roots are healthy and you do
not want to shift them into larger pots, give them plenty of
liquid manure once or twice a week and if conditions are other-
wise right they are bound to respond and yield up a crop of
fronds. Small, delicate sprouts should be broken off. Plants

II

that are frail, and produce a lot of sickly, small leaves, will be very
much improved by being disbudded. You should always aim: for
good plants from the beginning. I prefer throwing away the
small and sickly ones at the start rather than be bothered with
potting them two or three times and after all getting nothing out
of them.

The plants should be propagated and handled in such a man-
ner that they will become salable in rotation. Farleyense will
keep a long time without getting too old or dried up, but the house
will hold a good many more plants by having them in good rota-
tion. It works splendidly, if you should have quite a demand for
cut fronds, to cut four or five of the bottom leaves off of your
strongest 5-inch; then give your plants a shift into 6-inch pots in
good, rich soil, and you will be able to sell them a little later on.
at good profit. About Christmas, when cold weather sets in, or
any time during the Winter, you are likely to get some of your
plants chilled. You will be able to tell it by the peculiar pinkish
color the young leaves assume. They may not have got enough
to make the tender fronds turn brown, but if this is going to
happen you will notice small, dark spots in the underside of
the leaves, sometimes hardly visible to the naked eye. Such
leaves will in two weeks’ time be damaged entirely and disfigure
the plants if left on. The best way to treat your salable plants
when chilled is to pick them out and sell them to the stores.
The plants look splendid with their pinkish tint on the young
leaves and they will look well in the city for two weeks. Any-
way, a Farleyense is not likely to last any longer than that with
the city florists and as the plant is already chilled it is quite hardy
and not likely to flag. If the young leaves are of a rich, brownish
pink color, it is all right and often a sign of good health; but as a
rule when the young fronds take on a slight rosy-pink hue, it is a
sign of cold, not always enough to do serious damage, but de-
manding careful watching. On windy, cold nights, let the tem-
perature go up to 72 degrees. It is necessary to grow Farleyense
as cool as you can without allowing them to be chilled. If

12

ASQOHNATAD LOOT 00UE X06 F NI MATA NOILOTS

13

grown too hot they do not keep well at all, and, you cannot do
much with them either for cut fronds or pot plants.

Aim to have your best plants from September to Christmas.
There are always plenty of good plants till after the holidays.
After New Year the market is better and small defects on the
plants will not be noticed as readily as when stuff is plentiful.
Save up stumps during April and May for Summer propagating.
Natural heat is all that is wanted at this time of the year for suc-
cess in propagation. Cuttings started at this period will make
excellent plants to open the market with in the Fall the following
year, while you have your young plants that are propagated dur-
ing the early Spring months to carry you through till June.
Cuttings started in January should, if handled properly, make
salable plants by Christmas, and those started during February
and March could very well hold the season till June.

As to the growing of Farleyense for private places, a special
house is not necessary. They will do well with other ferns if the
temperature does not go below 68 or 66 degrees at night. The
regular night temperature for Farleyense is 68 degrees at night;
74 to 76 is a nice growing temperature during the day. The more
artificial heat you have the lower the temperature, of course.
Farleyense likes pure air, as do other foliage plants. You can
pretty nearly tell by the color of the foliage whether the tempera-
ture is right. It is a good plan to fix cheesecloth under the ven-
tilators in some cases. The plants cannot stand much draft; they
require a little higher temperature in thumb-pots and 2 and 3-inch
pots, especially when: newly potted, otherwise the temperature
mentioned above is all right. I have had superior Farleyense in
‘the palm house on private places. If they are located in a place
‘sheltered from the strong current of air through the ventilators
jand the temperature is right, they will do well. Where only a few
plants are; wanted cuttings could be taken during Spring months.

A few clinkers or crocks or any rough material put in the
thottom of a large seed pan with an inch or so of sand on, the cut-
tings placed on top, covered lightly with sand and watered, a

14

piece of glass fixed over the pan with little ventilations or open-
ings, placing them on bottom heat, probably dig the pan into the
sand in propagating bed, and handled as cuttings before de-
scribed, and Farleyense will do as well as other stove-house plants
if it gets proper treatment. Hot water is about the only heating
system that can be used for the culture of this plant. The pipes
should be located as in hothouses generally. Two-inch pipes
seem to be preferred by many, especially if they are spread out
under the benches as much as possible giving as nearly a uniform
bottom heat as can be obtained. By all means have six or eight
inches of space between benches and outside walls, so that the
heat can pass up under the glass and keep off some of the cold
that comes in through openings between panes of glass and
through the glass itself. Have plenty of valves on, so that you
can shut off when required. The sun will send up the tem-
perature considerably during Spring days and you should begin
to regulate your heating early, so that your house may not get too
hot.

Ventilation must be carefully attended to at this time of the
year. Have the fire in good order, so that you will be able to put
heat on quickly if the weather happens to change suddenly, and
on a clear, sunny day do not omit to get good circulation early
in the evening or afternoon before the sun leaves your house
entirely, or you will chill your plants before the artificial heat is
warming up the house properly.

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