Floriculture

The end of lab is getting closer.  Not much left to do…

In my mixed container I had to trim back some of the Ipomoea from the center of the pot.  It was getting so big that it was covering some of the other plants.

With my seedlings, I got to take home the tomatoes, cosmos and alyssum.  I thinned the peppers again to 1 per cell and the petunias to 3 per cell.  I transplanted 2 Basil plants into 4.5″ pots with one plant per pot.  The remaining basil planta I took home.

I put one pot of Huechera on my bench this week.  It measured 7cm tall and 18cm wide.

Everything, with the exception of the mums and ferns, is still being watered with 200ppm 20-10-20.

My Tango geranium grew 1.5cm taller, Sophie Cascade grew 4cm taller and 7cm wider, Miramar grew 1cm taller and Snapdragons grew 19.5 cm taller!

I counted no new insects on my sticky card!

 It was exciting to get back to the greenhouse after Spring Break.  Everything had grown so much.  We were able to take home our Easter lilies, azaleas and onion chives.

This week, for both the ‘Miramar’ and ‘Roanoke’ mums, I changed them to plain water only to extend post harvest by 7-14 days.  Also, I did CBR (center bud removal) on 5 of the mums and chose one fo my ‘Roanoke’ to only disbud.  It will be interesting to see the difference this will make in the blooms.  ‘Miramar’ had grown 4cm taller and 5cm in width.

In my mixed container I disbudded the Heliotrope and watered with 200ppm 20-10-20.

Marigolds did not need thinning again this week.  I sprayed with B-nine 2500ppm.

For the other seedlings I thinned tomatoes, peppers and cosmos to 1 plant per cell, basil and petunias to 3 per cell and alyssum to 5 per cell.

I removed 2 buds on each of my zinnias…they really seem to have grown.  Their EC was 2.5 and pH was 6.6.

Ivy geranium is starting to bloom.  EC was 1.3 and pH 7.2.  It has grown 3cm taller and 7cm wider.

‘Tango’ geranium has grown 1cm taller and 3cm wider.

With the exception of the ferns and mums which are getting plain water, everything is getting 200ppm 20-10-20. 

Pests:  I counted 9 new fungus gnats on my sticky card.

Snapdragons are getting so tall that I had to tie another string grid for support.  They have grown 30.5cm taller.

This was our last week in lab before Spring Break.  We planted Rudbeckia ‘Indian Summer’.  One plug per 1-qt container for a total of 4 containers using Sunshine #1 media.  Watered with 200ppm 20-10-20.  I put 2 pots on my bench and 2 pots on the LD night interruption bench…we want to experiment to see what will happen with them treated differently.  They measured 6cm tall and 7.5cm wide.

We also planted a vegetative annual mixed container using Sunshine #1 media in a 10″ decorative pot.  The mix included Ipomola ‘Margarita’, Calibrachoa Superbells ‘Tequila Sunrise’, Angelonia ‘Angelface Blue’, Coleus ‘Rustic Orange’ and Heliotropium ‘Nagano’.  One rooted cutting of each cultivar was planted and watered with 200ppm 20-10-20.

The seed flats have been moved to my bench since they have all germinated.  I thinned them all to one seedling per cell choosing the larges,t healthiest one.  Water with clear water.

I added another guide to the grid on my Snapdragons since they are getting so tall with and increase of 9cm but no change in width.  The EC reading was .3 and pH was 7.7.

Disbudded both varieties of geraniums for the last time.  ‘Tango’ had a 1.5cm increase in width this week.

I also disbudded the ivy geraniums for the last time.  They had grown 4cm taller and 3cm wider.

Removed more blind shoots on the azaleas and disbudded the zinnias.

My Easter lily buds measured 8,10 and 12 days from open bloom.  I am anxious to see them after Spring Break!

EC reading for Boston Jr fern was 1.9 and pH was 6.4.

My chrysanthemums are really filling in.  ‘Miramar’ grew 5cm taller and 5cm wider.

I counted 5 gnats on my sticky card.

Cannot wait until after Spring Break to see the difference a week can make!!!

This week in lab we sowed some left over seeds just for the fun of it to see what happens.  Using Metro Mix 200 media, I sowed 1 six pack each of tomato, cosmos and basil.  After placing about 3 seeds each cell on the top of the soil I lightly sprinkled additional soil on top.  Also sowed petunia, ornamental pepper and alyssum that were just placed on top of the soil with none covering them.  Later they will be misted then covered with plastic.  Once they germinate I will take them to my bench.

I also sowed an entire flat of ‘Durango Tangerine’ marigolds in Metro Mix200 media.  2 seeds were placed in each cell and covered lightly with media.  These were also misted later and covered with plastic until germination.  My watering partner tried to sow ‘Durango Bolero’ but they were all gone so we will have 2flats between us of ‘Durango Tangerine’.

I also planted 4 5-inch pots, one plug each, Zinnia ‘Profusion White’.  Media used was Sunshine #1 and they were watered in with 200 ppm 20-10-20.

The chives, ivy geraniums, zonal geraniums and snapdragons were all changed to 200ppm 20-10-20.

I removed a few flower buds from my zonal and ivy geraniums.  Still had some blind shoots on my azaleas too.

The snapdragons are growing so well that a new string grid needed to be tied again this week.  They have grown 8cm taller.

Ivy geranium growth was 5cm wider and 2cm in height.

‘Tango’ geranium growth was 3cm wider and 2cm taller.

The ‘Miramar’ mums grew 1.5cm wider and 1cm taller.

I was able to count buds on all 3 Easter lilies this week.  2 plants measured 19 days and the 3rd measured 14 days.  Still cannot wait to see those blooms!

I had another good week with my insect population.  NO NEW INSECTS!!!

My EC readings for ‘Tango’ was 1.2 and pH was 6.9.  EC for ‘Roanoke’ was 1.2 and pH 6.1.

Things in lab this week were a little slower for a change.  No new plants to pot but a few things to check on the rest of the crop.

Mums:  ‘Roanoke’ and ‘Miramar’ were both sprayed with B-nine, a growth regulator, at 2500ppm.  ‘Miramar’ had grown 1.5cm wider and 4.5cm taller.  EC average reading for ‘Miramar’ was 1.0 and the average pH was 6.2.

Geraniums:  I removed some flower buds from my Ivy geranium and just a couple from ‘Tango’.  Sprayed all both varieties, including ivy, with Florel at 350ppm.  ‘Tango’ had grown .5cm wider with no change in height.  Ivy had grown 3cm wider and 3cm taller.  The average EC on ‘Avendia’ was 1.5 and the average pH was 6.5.

Snapdragon:  These seem to be doing very well outside.  Since they are growing so tall I had to tie a second string grid for additional support.  Growth for the week was 8cm taller with no width change.

Azaleas:  More blind shoots were present this week so I removed them.

Easter Lilies:  These have gotten so TALL!  I was able to measure the flower buds on one of my lilies this week.  It measured at 25 days.  The aphid problem I had on them seems to have been taken care of by the chemicals they were treated with last week.

Insects:  I counted no new insects this week but I did put a new sticky card since mine was a little full.

I am anxious to see my Lily buds next time in lab.  Can’t wait for those blooms!

This week in lab our Azaleas finally came in!  I have one pot each of “Prize”, “Scarlet” and “Remembrance”.  I removed all of the blind shoots so that once my flower buds open they won’t be hidden by leaves.  The Azaleas are to be watered very often with plain water only.  “Prize” measured 35cm wide and 23.4cm tall.  “Scarlet” is 47cm wide and 23cm tall.  “Remembrance” s 38cm wide and 24.5 cm tall.  I love Azaleas and I cannot wait to see them blooming!

We got to move our mums to our benches this week to stop night interruption lighting and start SD.  For watering they will receive 300ppm 20-10-20.   Since our EC readings had been so high, the mums were leeched on Monday.  The readings this week were a lot better so we will continue with the same fertilizer rate.  “Miramar” size had inceased .5cm in height but no change in width.

I did a soft pinch on the main branches of my Ivy Geraniums.  We also attached our hangers to the pots.  “Sophie Cascade” had grown 2cm wider and 1cm taller. 

For our Easter lilies we were given a bud meter to measure the visible buds.  This will tell us if we need to slow down or speed up the flowering time for Easter.  However, my buds are still a little too small to measure yet.  We did a Gnatrol sprench for fungus gnats at a rate of 32oz/100gal.  This should kill any larvae that may be in the media.  I noticed a lot of aphids on one of my lilies so I reported it to Kristen.   

Since the weather has warmed up a little, the snapdragons have been moved outside.  My snaps are really growing rapidly.  They increased 9cm in width and 5cm in height.

“Tango” geranium had grown 3.5cm taller but no change in the width.

For EC and pH this week I took readings on my Ivy geraniums and Easter lilies.  The pH for the lilies was about 6.1 and the EC was about 1.5.  The pH for the Ivy geraniums was about 6.5 and the EC was about 1.6. 

The population on my sticky card had not changed much this week.  I had one new fungus gnat and a new whitefly.

With the number of fungus gnats and aphids increasing, the plants were sprayed on Friday with the exception of the ferns and chives.  A tank mix of Azatin and Decathlon were used.  Azatin is an insect growth regulator to control aphid nymph stage and pupal and larval stages of thrips.  It is applied at a rate of 16oz/100gal.  Decathlon is a synthetic pyrethroid to control nymph and adult stages of aphids, adult and larval stages of thrips and adult stage of fungus gnats.  The application rate is 1.9oz/100gal.

We arranged our benches in new spacing order this week.  The Ivy geraniums are now at 24-in centers, zonal geraniums, mums, azaleas and Easter lilies are at 12-in centers and the chives and ferns have 6-in centers.

Again this week I did not need to water any of my plants since they had already been watered prior to lab with plain water for the EC and pH readings.

I am really enjoying lab…it is exciting to see our benches getting so full!!!

This week in lab we potted 4 pots of onion chives in 4.5″ pots, 5 cuttings in each pot.  They were potted in Sunshine #1 media and watered with clear water.  I measured one at 11cm tall and 30cm wide.

For my ‘Sophie Cascade’ I removed just a few new flower buds and sprayed the plants with Florel 350ppm.  This will produce ethylene in the plant for branching.  Height had increased .5 cm and width increased 5cm. 

For the mums this week we pinched them back to 7 nodes with scissors.  After the pinching, the ‘Roanoke’ measured 10cm tall and 24.5cm wide.  ‘Miramar’ measured 11cm tall and 25cm wide.  We will continue a little longer with the night interruption lighting.

For my zonal geraniums I removed a few new flower buds and sprayed both varieties with Florel 350pm.  ‘Tango’ grew .5cm taller and 1cm wider.

I constructed a string grid for my Snapdragons for additional support.  They had grown 8cm taller and 9.5cm wider.

This week I took EC and pH readings on the Snapdragons and Boston Jr. Ferns.  EC for the Snapdragons averaged out to 3.7 and pH average was 5.7.  EC average for the ferns was 3.5 and pH average was 5.5.

All of our plants had been watered with clear water prior to lab in order to prepare for the EC and pH tests so therefore, I did not have to water any of my plants today.  Normally, ferns would get just clear water, geraniums and snapdragons would get 200ppm 15-16-17 and lilies would get 200ppm 15-0-15.

 We were told that in the next week our crops would be treated with Marathon to prevent infestations and Banrot which is a systemic fungicide for root rot.  We have not yet been notified of the dates or rates that these treatments will happen.

I counted 31 more fungus gnats on my sticky card today.  Looks like we should consider treating for them.

We changed the bench spacing to 12 inches apart measured from the center of each pot to the center of the next.

 Week 2 of lab was very busy.   First off we learned how to count leaves on the Easter Lily.  Found that it was unfolding about 1.3 leaves per day while we needed about 1.5 per day to unfold for the expected harvest date.  It was determined that this would be fine, since in class we have an extra week to harvest compared to the ‘real world’.

We potted 2 new types of plants today.  4 cultivars of ferns; ‘Boston Junior’, ‘Emerald Vase Fern’, ‘Southern Maidenhair’ and ‘Rosy Maidenhair Fern’.  We planted 2 of each cultivar, one per pot in SunShine LC1 media.   Watered them with clear water and they will be watered over the weekend with 200ppm 20-10-20. 

The second type of plant was Snapdragons.  5 cultivars; Potomac Appleblossom, Cherry Rose, Early Orange, Early Pink and Early Rose.  We mixed the varieties 2 plugs per cultivar per 14″ pot making 2 total pots.  The media was SunShine LC1.  They were to be watered later with 200ppm 5-16-17.  Cages were placed around the Smapdragons for future support.

Geraniums:  I removed visible flower buds from my zonal geraniums however there were no buds to remove on the ivy geraniums.  You have to be careful removing buds since the real small ones can be mistaken for new leaves.  Normally I would have watered with 200ppm 15-16-17 but that was not needed since they had all been watered with clear water prior to lab for EC reading purposes.  The ‘Tango’ had appeared to have grown 2cm taller and about .5cm in width.  ‘Avendia’ had grown 1cm taller and 2cm in width.  The ivy had grown 1cm taller but no change in width.  I took EC and pH readings on the ‘Avendia’ and they were EC 3.2 and pH 6.3.  The geraniums will remain at pot tight spacing for now.

Mums:  Would have watered the mums with 300ppm 20-10-20 however they had also been watered prior to lab with clear water for the EC and pH readings.  ‘Miramar’ had grown 1.5cm taller and 1.5cm in width.  ‘Roanoke’ had grown 3cm taller with no change in width.  I took EC and pH readings on the ‘Miramar’ which were EC 4.7 and pH 6.2.  The mums were placed back on the blackcloth bench for further night interruption lighting.

Lilies:   Normal watering for the lilies would be 200ppm 15-0-15 but they had been watered with clear water prior to lab for the EC/pH readings.  Growth was 7cm taller and 3cm in width.  Remained at pot tight spacing.

Pests:  I counted 13 fungus gnats on my yellow sticky card.

We are waiting on Azaleas, ‘Keepsake Remembrance’,  to be delivered that will be potted in notice coir media.  They will need to be watered frequently with plain water only.  I cannot wait to see these next week!!!

For my first week in lab I potted 3 pots each of ‘Roanoke’ and ‘Miramar’ mums, 3 pots each of ‘Tango Deep Red’ and ‘Avendia Mosaic Red’ geraniums, 2 hanging baskets of ‘Sophie Cascade’ ivy geraniums and 3 pots of Easter Lilies. 

Pests:  I hung a yellow sticky card to evaluate for pests in future weeks.

 Nutrition:  I watered in the geraniums with 200ppm 15-16-17.   The Easter Lilies did not get any water today as they were already pretty wet.  All of the mums were put on blackcloth bench since they will need light during the night for a couple of weeks.

Cultural treatments:  I spaced the pots pot tight since everything is so small at this time.

Growth:  I took the first measurements on my plants.  The ‘Roanoke’ were 9cm high and 22cm wide,  ‘Miramar’ were 10cm high by cm wide, ‘Tando Deep Red’ were 5.5cm high by 12.5cm wide, ‘Avendia Mosaic Red’ were 12cm high by 19cm wide, ivy geraniums were 12cm high by 28cm wide and the Easter Lilies were 16cm high by 16.5cm wide.

I had a lot of fun in lab this week!  Getting my hands dirty and planting plants is the thing I love to do most and that is why I am here…to learn more!!!

Howdy, my name is Kimberly Ann Wolfe and I am a Junior Horticulture student.  I grew up in Huntsville, Texas but I have lived in Bryan/College Station for 12 1/2 years.   This is my second semester at Texas A&M.  While taking a full class load, I also work fulltime as a barber at Northgate Barbershop.  In addition to all of this, I am a single mom of a beautiful 4 year old little girl.  I have no greenhouse experience but someday I do hope to management a large commercial nursery.