Horticulture 429

Synopsis- In this weeks lab we again planted nothing new. We did however do some maintainence on our plants that will be discussed below.

Pests- This week I counted 3 new thrips and 8 new fungus gnats.  This gave a total of 23 thrips and 11 fungus gnats on the sticky card.

Nutrition- The Mums are fertigated with 400ppm 20-10-20. The ferns are fertigated with 200ppm 20-10-20. The Easter lilies are fertigated with 200ppm 15-0-15. The onion chives, zonal geraniums, snapdragons, and ivy geraniums are fertigated with 200ppm 15-16-17. The Azaleas are to receive no fertilizer.

Growth- We are required to take measurments for the four portfolio crops to turn in at the end of the semester. They are as follows with height x width: ‘Tango Red’ zonal geranium at 10cm x 21cm with a total increase of 2cm in width, ‘Sophie Cascade’ ivy geranium at 15cm x 46cm with an increase of 1cm x 4cm, ‘Miramar’ mum at 14cm x 26cm with an increase of 3cm x 2cm, and lastly snapdragon mix at 28cm x 32cm with an increase of 2cm in height and a decrease of 2cm in width. The decrease was probably due to the heavy rain fall received the day before lab.  I measured the EC and pH of the snapdragons and the ‘Boston Jr.’ ferns. The snapdragons had an average EC of  1.3 and a pH of 6.2. The ferns had an average EC of 1.5 and a pH of 6.

Cultural Treatments- We sprayed B-nine at 2500ppm onto the leaves of the mums to increase fullness. The ivy and zonal geraniums were sprayed with Florel at 350ppm. They also had any dead leaves and new flower buds removed. We tied a new string grid in the shape of an X inside of a square to aid in support as the plants continue to grow taller. Again we removed the blind shoots on the azaleas so that the flowers are not impeded when they begin to blossom.

Synopsis- Although we didn’t plant anything new we did get our azaleas in finally. We received three varieties each: ‘Prize’, ‘Scarlet’, and ‘Pink Angora’ or ‘Remeberance’.We attached hangers to the two hanging pots the ivy geraniums are planted in. I measured the visible bud for my Easter lily which was approximately 3cm long meaning it has 25 more days til it fully flowers at 21 degress Celsius.

Pests- There was an increase in pests by 23. There were three fungus gnats and 20 thrips on the sticky card.

Nutrition- The onion chives, zonal geraniums, snapdragons, and ivy geraniums are fertigated with 200ppm 15-16-17. The Mums are fertigated with 300ppm 20-10-20. The ferns are fertigated with 200ppm 20-10-20. The Easter lilies are fertigated with 200ppm 15-0-15. The Azaleas are to receive no fertilizer. EC and pH were taken of ‘Tango Red’ geranium, and ‘Roanoke’ mum. The geranium had an average EC of 1.86 and an average pH of 5.85. The mum had an average EC of 1.15 and an average pH of 6.35.

Growth- I measured the azaleas for an initial measurment to compare growth at harvest time. The width was 31.5cm and height was 21cm. We also measured the four plants for our portfolio assigments which are as follows for ‘Tango Red’ geranium was 10cm x 19cm with a 3cm increase in width, ‘Sophie Cascade’ Ivy Geranium was 14cm x 42cm with a 2cm x 2cm increase, ‘Miramar’ mum was 11cm x 24cm with a 3.5cm x 1cm increase, and lastly the snapdragons were 26cm x 34cm with a 11cm x 1cm increase.

Cultural Treatments- We moved the mums onto our regular bench to stop night interruption  treatments so that blooming will be initiated. We did a soft pinch on the main branch of the ivy geraniums to encourage branching. On the azaleas we removed all the blind shoots around the flower buds so that the flowers will not be covered up.  The Easter Lilies were sprenched with Gnatrol to kill the larva that dwell in the soil.  We also rearranged the spacing on our benches according to the diagram given to us. The ivy geraniums were spaced 24-inches from their centers, the zonal geraniums, mums, azaleas, and Easter lilies were spaced 12-inches from their centers, and the chives and ferns were spaced 6-inches from their centers.

Synopsis- In this weeks lab we planted onion chives into 4.5″ pots with Sunshine #1 media. Each of the four pots contained five plants total. We also reorganized our bench according to the demo bench laid out for us.

Pests- There were five new fungus gnats on the yellow sticky trap over my bench. This makes a total of six since the placement of the sticky trap. I saw no insects on my plants.

Nutrition- The onion chives are to be fertilized with 200ppm 15-16-17 fertilizer.  EC and pH measurments were taken for ‘Miramar’ mums and ‘Avendia’ geraniums. The ‘Miramar’ mums had an average pH reading of 5.65 and an EC reading that was an average of 5+. The EC was excessive so leaching will need to be applied to the mums to bring the EC back to normal levels. The ‘Avendia’ geraniums had an average pH of 6 and an average EC of 3.1. No corrective measures needed to be taken for the geraniums.

Growth- We took initial measurments for the onion chives which had a height of 14cm and a width of 27cm. We also took measurments on the four crops for our crop portfolio assignment. The four crops are written as height x width. They are as follows, ‘Tango Dark Red’ geranium at 10cm x 16cm with a 1cm increase in width, ‘Sophie Cascade’ ivy geranium at 12cm x 40cm with a 1cm x 4cm increase, ‘Miramar’ geranium at 7.5cm x 23cm with a decrease of 1.5cm in heigh, and lastly Snapdragon mix at 15cm x 33cm with a 7cm x 2cm increase.

Cultural Treatments- For this week the snapdragons needed a string grid tied on the first ring of the tomato cage to aid in support of the plants. The ivy and zonal geraniums had all buds and dead leaves removed to ensure large healthy final products. They were also sprayed with 350ppm Florel to help decrease flower buds and increase vegetative growth. The mums were pinched back 7nodes from the base of the plant excluding any nodes that were under the soil line. This ensures branching and fullness of the final product. Dead leaves were also removed to aid in growth and disease reduction. All plants, except the ferns and Easter lilies during the week, were watered with 200ppm 15-16-17 fertilizer. The ferns and Easter lilies were given clear water during the week.

Synopsis- In our second lab of the semester we potted up 4 cultivars of ferns, ‘Boston Junior’, ‘Emerald Vase’, ‘Southern Maidenhair’, and ‘Rosy Maidenhair’, in 5″ pots with one plug per pot and two pots per cultivar. We also potted up two 14″ pots with five cultivars of snapdragons, ‘Potomac Appleblossom’, ‘Cherry Rose’, ‘Early Orange’, ‘Early Pink’, and ‘Early Rose’ with two plugs each per pot.

The instructors also demonstrated Easter Lily leaf counting to see how many leaves must unfold for the Lily to be on track for flowering. To determine this you must count all the leaves yet to unfold and divide this number by the number of days until VB. You must also determine what rate the existing unfolded leaves unfolded per day. This can be solved by counting all the unfolded leaves and dividing that number by the number of days from emergence of first leaves to now. If the rate is lower than the number needed to unfold than precautionary measures need to be taken to ensure that plants are ready to bloom by Easter.

 Pests- This lab was the first lab that we observed our sticky cards for insects. There was only one insect observed on my card which happened to be a fungus gnat.

Nutrition- EC/pH readings were taken for the ‘Sophie Ivy Geranium’ and the ‘ Easter lily’. For the Easter Lily a total of three readings were taken for each pot. The average EC was 1.56 and the average pH was 5.73. Two readings were taken for the ivy geraniums. The average EC reading was 2.7 and the average pH was 6.5. No corrective actions were taken as of yet.

Growth- Each cultivar was measured for height x width to compare subsequent growth. Measurements for the ferns are as follows: ‘Boston Junior’  10cm x 15cm, ‘Emerald Case’ 11cm x 11cm, ‘Southern Maidenhair’ 8cm x 9cm, and ‘Rosy Maidenhair’ 4cm x 14cm. The snapdragon measurement is as follows with a combined measurment of each cultivar in one pot: 8cm x 31cm. 

Second measurements were taken for the plants we potted up last week. The Easter Lily had a measurment of 25cm x 23cm with an 8cm x 3cm increase in growth. The geranium cultivars ‘Tango’ had a measurement of 10cm x 15cm with a 4cm increase in width, while ‘Avendia’ had a measurement  of 13cm x 19cm with a 4cm increase in width. The Ivy geranium had a measurment of 11cm x 36cm with a 4cm increase in width. The two mum cultivars; ‘Roanoke’ had a measurement of 13cm x 27cm with a 2cm increase in width, while the ‘Miramar’ had a measurement of 10cm x 19cm with an increase of 2cm in height.

Cultural Treatments- We placed tomato cages over the two pots of snapdragons to help support the tall nature of the plants. We also disbudded and removed dead leaves all of the geraniums to increase growth.