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Pinch vs. Unpinched Update: Garden Mums
By admin | July 18, 2007
I wanted to post an update on our pinched vs. no pinched garden mum trial. Unfortunately, I was unable to locate the same plants that I photographed in my last update, but these two plants give us a similar comparison. The unpinched plant is on the left. You can see all of my posts about Garden Mums here.
Topics: Garden Mums, Day to day |
July 26th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I am wondering where you are at. We planted our mums the last week in May and first few days in June and some are now already to sell at $14.99. No pinch was used. Florel used two days before planting in the plug tray. Put immediately outside on drip tape. We grow one plant per pot in rooted plug trays from Raker - grown in a # 600 nursery can. Constant feed of 150 PPM no leaching. Two table spoons of 9 month osmocoat top dressed two weeks after planting. These plants dont flop and hold up exceedingly well in the retail setting. Size of basket balls now. Size of bushel baskets by September. Use the same mix we grow our bedding plants in. A custom Fafard 3B mix.
When we grew them inside on the flood floor with our open roof greenhouse we had a totally different plant. We had to switch varieties when we went outside and we had to reajust everything. The plants grown out side are so supperior to greenhouse mums I am not sure why anyone even grows them inside. It should be a crime to sell greenhouse grown mums to the consumer in the fall. They do not have a chance to over winter here in Wisconsin if grown in the greenhosue for fall.
July 27th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Edward,
This is great feedback. You have outlined a very good production plan for fall garden mums and from what I’ve heard about your company, you guys do a great job. Do you use any blackcloth to bring the mums in early? I agree that outdoor grown mum are superior to those grown in the greenhouse however, I have seen a few growers that can produce a very nice mum inside. It’s not easy but it can be done. Thanks again for the comment and perhaps you can add to other posts as well. I am looking for interaction from growers like yourself so that we can all start helping each other solve problems and offer suggestions.