Greenhouse gossip. Vol. 1, No. 2, April 1942 / Fight Floral Co., Inc.

Historic, Archive Document

Do not assume content reflects current
scientific knowledge, policies, or practices.

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Vol.
No.

FIGHT FLORAL CO.,
22'W. 26th Street, New vark Nosy:

APRIL
1942

Inc.

**An Ounce of Prevention”

You surely have heard that old “saw”
many times before, but this is really the time
to take heed. There is no question about the
eventual scarcity of insecticides and fungi-
cides. Some are no longer being made now,
others are in the questionable group. And
you can’t stock up for a long period,
ticularly with ma-
terials containing
pyrethrum and ro-
tenone. Hence, let
us consider the
means of preven-
tion. This will save

par-

much time and
spray materials
later.

The place to make
a start is with the
seedling or cutting.
First of all, steam
sterilization of soil
or propagating sand
is necessary, but re-
member that no
matter how stevie
the sand or soil is
after you have
steamed it (and
steam incidentally will surely not be on the
priority list, unless coal or other fuel becomes
so, and then it won’t matter anyway), it can
become readily reinfected by the many fungus
spores which float about in the air, become
secreted in crevices, under benches, sash bars,
etc. So why not dust your propagating house
thoroughly with fine sulphur or spray with
sulphur (Fungisul is one of the best). Pick
out a sunny day and blow away with all your
might at the bars, the benches, under benches
(or. spray). It costs little, hurts no plants,
and will pay dividends in higher germination,
better rooting, and much less rotting. In
addition apply potassium permanganate to
your sand (4 oz. to a gallon of water). ‘This

will disinfect your sand and provide a cover-
ing on which the spores are not so likely to
germinate.

Secondly, be sure that your propagating
benches are thoroughly sterilized. Smearing
with whitewash alone does not do it—neat
looking as it might be. The cuttings you
put in “should be free of insects and disease.
Simple examples are midge on mum cuttings,
red spider on roses,
mealy bugs on gar-
denias, and thrip on
innumerable types.
Cankered gardenias,
geraniums with
black leg, roses with
canker, carnations
with rust, mums
with verticillium
have no place in the
propagating bench.
You really will be
pleasantly surprised
at the after-effects.
If added to this you
take similar care
of your growing
houses, if you dust
and spray before
benching a crop, if
you remove weeds
and rubbish from underneath, if you keep
the weeds down on the outside, if you re-
move and burn all diseased plants, if you do
all this and more, you will be surprised all
the more. Your bills for insecticides and fun-
gicides will decrease, and furthermore in times
of scarcity of these materials you will still
be able to grow good crops. Perhaps even
better than ever, for no matter how harmless
the spray or dust is, if it can be done without,
the plant will be happier, your labor cost will
be lower, and your nightmares of bugs will be
reduced to the minimum. (Potassium perman-
ganate, sulphur dusts, arsenical dusts, coppers
and similar materials keep their strength for
long periods and may be_ stocked safely.)

Ty:

Lie x AN RY

iV iCD

*

Department of Agriculture

Gardens—Always

At the March meeting of the New York
Florist Club, the members had the pleasure
of listening to that eminent author and public
speaker, Mr. Richardson Wright, the editor
of House and Garden magazine.

In his interesting talk, he described how
flower gardens have persisted through the
ages.

In 1633, when the Huguenots were per-
secuted and driven from France, they came
to England to establish themselves in new
ways of life. Though surrounded by hard-
ships in such circumstances, they did not over-
look establishing their small flower gardens.

In our own United States during the dif-
ficult years of Andrew Jackson’s administra-
tion in the year 1829, one of our first large
flower shows was being inaugurated.

More recently, in these times of stress,
we have witnessed the gathering of some of
our most prominent people connected with
Horticulture and Floriculture in Washington
at the call of our Secretary of Agriculture,
the Honorable Claude R. Wickard. Plans
were formulated for the establishing of
‘Defense Gardens.” These Defense Gardens
are to be flower gardens as well as vegetable
gardens, which shows that there always will
be gardens and the members of our industry
must feel that they play an important part
in the present struggle.

Easter Calendar

It is interesting to look up and down the
chart to see how the dates of Easter Sunday
vary over a period of 50 years.

Several years ago we printed attractively
a list of the dates of Easter Sunday for 50
years. It is convenient for tacking up in
your greenhouse shed or office. If you would
like to have one of these calendars, drop us
a line.

Funny Names

Baby Toes Emerald Idol
Bunny Ears Boxing Glove
Irish Mittens Lion’s Tongue

Odd names, perhaps, but in our florist busi-
ness we know them as the popular names for
succulents. As you know the above are va-
rieties of Opuntia and Sedum. We sell lots
of them! Many of our customers find it

profitable to get these succulents and have
one of the men in their spare time make up
some dishes or terrariums, thus giving them
an outlet for some of their artistic skill.

If this interests you, we have a_ special
list covering the most suitable items for this
purpose.

The Story of Water

You know, of course that the plant is full
of water. If inadequate, it shrivels, becomes
stunted, and develops stems and leaves like
acactus. Knowing this, you supply that water
to the roots and spray the tops of plants to
reduce the amount given off from the leaves.
But the roots won’t take that water unless
air is present. That air is needed to make
root hairs which absorb the water. So that’s
tied up with good soil structure and proper
drainage. Be sure of that. Don’t use soil
that holds too much moisture and be certain
that all surplus water runs off. Pot drainage,
bench drainage, are essentials. Watch out
for them.

The water in the air—humidity, is like-
wise important. The cells in the plant will
not get larger unless humidity is high. This
reduces the amount of water lost and permits
the cells to stretch. That is why you get
longer stretches on roses grown at proper
humidity; that is why gardenia flowers are
larger when grown in a moist atmosphere;
that is why cineraria leaves are of greater
size; why the atmosphere is not too dry. Do
you attempt to supply such humidity? Do
you have any system besides overhead sprin-
kling, which is time consuming and not con-
stant enough? Skinner nozzles, Paradise noz-
zles, and lately the Binks system as devel-
oped by Ohio State University, are all helpful
and should at least be looked into.

There are plants on the other hand which
will stretch their stems without too much
constant moisture at the roots or in the air.
Look at carnations, for example. If the soil
is kept too wet and not allowed to dry before
watering, loss of roots will result and poor
stems. The same is true of snapdragons.

Hence the story of water is one of under-
standing of what it does and the knowledge
of habits of plants which you grow. If you
are interested further, drop us a line and
we ll go into greater details at a future date.
Incidentally, why nol let us know if these dis-
cussions interest you ?

Flappers

A number of years ago this was a popular
nickname for the girls who rolled their stock-
ings.

F. R. Pierson, the well-known rose grower,
who passed away several years ago, referred
to some of his 6-year-old rose plants of the
variety America, as “‘flappers’” when they lost
their foliage and the long stems looked like
bare knees.

If your Pornsrrrras at Xmas time begin
to lose their foliage, a handy item for fillers
are TABLE Ferns. We have a good stock of
fern seedlings each summer and they will not
be too plentiful this year. Order them now!
All the good Pteris varieties and some of the
Holly variety are available.

Poinsettia Stock Plants

These will arrive immediately after Easter.
But don’t let the plants lie around for several
days before potting. Do so at once, using
a rather poor soil but with plenty of humus
in it. That is a rule that if followed generally
will result satisfactorily. No plant in a dor-
mant state or when young requires high amounts
of fertilizer in the soil. The roots develop
with the presence of moisture and heat, but
no plant food is really needed until the leaves
begin to grow. Then gradually the richness
of the soil may be increased. Hence, if you
use well rotted manure in your poor soil, it
will begin to give off some of its value as the
plant needs it. The same is true of bone meal
or even tankage. Later when tops grow,
fertilizers will be added to the soil and in-
cidentally, poinsettia stock plants will take
them plenty, especially nitrogen. These fer-
tilizers then should be supplemented with
manure mulches to keep the soil from drying
out. Enough for the present—propagation
will come later.

Tartar Emetic

No question about this being a good spray
for thrip on most crops. If you have a supply
of this material but cannot get sugar, sub-
stitute honey or molasses in the same pro-
portion: 1-2 lbs. of tartar emetic, 3-4 lbs of
sweetening, 100 gals. of water.

Hardy Perennials

As a sideline, hardy perennial plants are
worth growing. They should be started soon,
erown on in frames during the summer, fall,

and part winter, and then forced in the spring
for quick sale as small flowering plants ready
to set out in the garden. The cost of growing
these is low and these days that’s a consid-
eration.. Among the better additions to this
group of plants this year are: Royal Red
Buddleia, several hardy asters, a besutiful
blue Campanula, a brilliant pink Eupatorium,
a pink forget-me-not which grows from eight
to ten inches high and blooms from June to
September, a violet-colored primula and a
new blue one. This blue primula is really an
accomplishment after many years of waiting
and should command a ready demand. For
more detailed descriptions, ask us for a list.

Hydrangeas

The hydrangeas this year have been well
timed and of good quality. They were par-
ticularly important because of the shortage
of lilies and undoubtedly will remain quite
as important during the next year. The de-
mand for plants these days is for popular-
priced kinds and the hydrangea answers that
purpose well. It is profitable to grow, sells
well and looks substantial. We can furnish
you some well rooted cuttings or else 214
inch plants, now or later. The treatment of
these cuttings is simple. Upon arrival, pot
in a soil which contains about one-third acid
peat so that it retains moisture well and stays
acid. Shade for a few days and then grow
on in 60 deg. If gotten soon, one pinch will
be needed before planting out-doors. Like-
wise it will be necessary to shift into threes
or fours while in the greenhouse. Two methods
are used—growing directly in the field or in
pots plunged in the field or frame. The field
method produces larger canes but in careless
hands may cause difficulties in later forcing.
If your water is not too alkaline and you have
proper facilities for irrigation, then plunging
of pots in beds, especially under lath, is an
excellent method (by using lath you speed up
bud breaking after your
July pinch). Incidently,
don’t plan to set the
plants out before late
May, when all danger
of frost is over.

Just a tip—if you
srow in pots before
plunging, make a cone-
shaped hole with a
stick, so that the bot-
tom of the pot has an
air cushion under. This
will promote better
rooting and keep worms
out.

Hydrangea—Rooted Cutting Hydrangea After Potting

HYDRANGEAS
New Hydrangeas for 1942

*MERRITT’S BEAUTY (Patented). An *NORWOOD (Robert Craig Introduction) (Noé

early flowering, dark carmine red. This is a patented). A sport of Gertrude Glahn. An un-
real fine Hydrangea, well liked by those who usually strong grower and the natural color is
have seen it. bright pink. Can be treated for blue. Produces
Rooted Cuttings. $4.00 per doz., $20.00 per 100 large heads of good texture and keeping qualities.
2 in. _pots........$6.00 per doz., $30.00 per 100 214 in. pots. .$30.00 per 100, $250.00 per 1000
Last Year (1941) Introductions

*Helen Merritt. H. Patented. Forschritt. EH. Red. Signy Hartmann. H#. Dark
Deep rose. _ Gus. Pink. pink.

Apollo. EH. Glowing ruby red. Holstein. Pink. Sonnengruss. FE. Rose.

Aukamm. M™. Rose pink. Mme. Cayeux. Light pink. *Strafford. Patented. Deep,

Carmen. Lovely copper red. Meteor. H#. Brilliant red. glowing pink. |

Daphne. £. Brilliant hghtred. Miss Belgium. Pink. Wesphalen. #. Clear dark red.

*Elbe. EH. Pink. Regula. EH. White. Wiesbaden. £. Rose pink.

All above: Rooted Cuttings, $15.00 per 100; 2 in. pots, $20.00 per 100.

BETTER VARIETIES STANDARD VARIETIES STANDARD VARIETIES
Altoona. EH. Clear pink. Deutschland. Z. Salmon pink. Ami Pasquaar. EH. Red.
E iat earn se E. Mouillere. £. White. ;
uropa. 4. Sa ae pS. *Gertrude Glahn. M. Dark Gieselherr. M. Carmine red.
Hamburg. H. Carmine. rose. Hollandia. ZL. Salmon red.
*Kunert. MM. Rose pink. *Goliath. M. Dark rose. a4 ee
Merveille. L. Light red. M. Baardse. EF. Salmon red. ‘0Uls Savage. L. Dark pink.

*M. Foch. #. Deep carmine. Mein Liebling. #. Dark pink.

“Rosabelle. L. Rose /pink. *Niedersachsen. /. Light pmk *Willkomen. £. Bright pink.

*Sch->Perle: 17 Vink. *Otaksa. JL. Pink.

Rooted Cuttings.$10,00 per 100 Steinmetz. #. Pink. Rooted Cuttings. .$8.00 per 100
BaD Os aie een $15.00 per 100 Trophee. i. Red, 2-in. pots........$12.00 per 100
Rooted Cuttings....45.00 per 100
2-in. pots.........$8.00 per 100

*Blues easily. H—Early; 1/—Midseason; L—Late.