Assignment 5
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.