chrysanthemum Flashcards
Taxanomy
History and Origin
Scientific name: Dendranthema X grandiflora
Local name: Chrysanthemum
Local name: Khempa meto
Family: Asteracea
The name chrysanthemum comes from
the Greek word meaning “gold flower”
There are about 30 or 40 species
They are available in a wide variety of
shapes and sizes, with flower color
possibly being yellow, pink, purple,
green, red, and white, along with many
other colors.
Chrysanthemums were first cultivated in China as a floweringherbas far back as the 15th century BC.
Types of Chrysanthemum
1.IRREGULAR INCURVE -
These are the giant blooms of the Chrysanthemum genus.
The florets (petals) loosely incurve and make fully closed centers.
The lower florets present an irregular appearance and may give a skirted effect.
Flower size: 6-8 inches.-
Flower characteristics:
Grown as a disbud
Plant moderately short.
2. REGULAR INCURVE :-
A true globular bloom equal in breadth and depth.
The florets smoothly incurve and form a ball.
Flower size: 4-6 inches.
Flower characteristics:
Grown as a disbud, plant
Moderately short.
- DECORATIVE :-
A flattened bloom with short petals. As in classes 1-3 the center disk is not visible.
The upper florets tend to incurve, but the lower petals generally reflex.
Flower size: 5 inches or greater
Flower characteristics: Grown as a pot mum or disbud and have short plant height .
5.INTERMEDIATE INCURVE :-
This bloom class is smaller than the irregular incurve, with shorter florets, only partially incurving with full centers, but giving a more open appearance.
Many of the popular commercial incurving types are in this intermediate class.
Flower size: 6 inches or greater.
Flower characteristics:
Grown as a disbud
Plant medium height.
. 6. Pompon :-
A small globular bloom, somewhat flat when young but fully round when mature.
Size ranges from small button types to large disbudded blooms almost 4 inches in diameter.
The florets incurve or reflex in a regular manner and fully conceal the center.
Flower size: 1-4 inches.
Flower characteristics :
Grown as a spray
Plant height tall.
- SPOON :-
Essentially the same as the semi-double, except the ray florets are like spoons at the tips. The center disk is round and visible.
Flower size: 4 inches or greater.
Flower characteristics:
Grown as a disbud or spray
Plant height tall.
- BRUSH OR THISTLE :-
Fine tubular florets which grow parallel to the stem and resemble an artist’s paint brushes or in the thistle form
The florets are flattened, twisted and dropping.
Flower size: less than 2 inches.
Flower characteristics:
Grown as a spray
Plant medium height.
Climate
The most important environmental factors influencing the growth and flowering of these plants are light and temperature
how does light and temperature effect the growth of the flower
Temperature:
Night temperatures of 15 °C to 20 °C during the early days of bud formation is highly desirable as the bud become visible. Cut mums do best at day temperatures of between 20 °C and 28 °C.
High temp - wilting, delay the production schedule, reduce floral quality and cause some buds not to open at all.
Low temperatures - during bud initiation and vegetal growth may delay flowering and budding and result in dwarf plants
Light
It is light specific.
It is typical short day plant i.e critical day length should be less than 131/2 hours.. It blooms when it gets light for 7-8hrs.
Light is one of the most important climatic factors influencing the growth and flowering.
The cultivars require shorter days for flower bud initiation and development.
Under long day condition,
chrysanthemum tends
to remain vegetative.
Soil Requirements
Mums require well-drained, sandy loam soil because of their shallow root system.
pH : 6,5 to 7,0.
Sandy soils are not recommended because of their poor moisture-holding capacity.
Cocopeat should be added to improve structure and water holding capacity
altitude
Altitude :
It can be successfully grown up to an altitude of 1200 m elevation.
Relative Humidity :
A relative humidity of 70-90% is optimum for growing chrysanthemum.
Propagation
There are several methods of propagation for chrysanthemums.
Seeds
Some types of chrysanthemums, charm and cascade for example, are available as seeds. These should be sown at 15°C(59°F) and germinate within two weeks. Plants flower in the same year.
Chrysanthemum is propagated vegetative through suckers, cuttings or by micro-propagation.
Suckers
After flowering, the stem is cut back just above the ground.
This induces the formation of side suckers which are separated from the mother plant and are planted in sand bed.
Terminal Cuttings :
Commercial method of propagation.
In spring as crowns come into growth cuttings are taken from a healthy, well established stock plant. Length of cuttings is about 5-7 cm. cutting should be as close as possible to the crown.
The cuttings are dipped in 2500 ppm indole butyric acid (IBA) (rooting hormone).
These cuttings are put in sand beds in shade conditions.
Rooting and growing on should be done at 10°C(50°F).
Division or Basal cuttings
This plant produces underground suckers which can be dug up, divided, and replanted about a month after the last frost in the spring.
Tissue Culture
It will allow for many more plants to be developed from explant.
This explant material can come from shoot-tips and petal segments.
It will then be placed on a medium containing nutrients and carbohydrates in a sterile environment and will form microshoots which will eventually be ready for planting.
This form of propagation has been widely used in commercial purpose.
Pinching and disbudding
It is removal of the growing tips of the plant to induce the growth of vegetative laterals.
It reduces the plant height, promotes axillary branching, delays flowering and helps in breaking resetting.
First pinching is done when the plants reach a height of 15-20 cm with 3-4 pairs of leaves. When the plant is 30days old.
A second pinching may be necessary if the plants make straggly and lean growth.
Performed both in suckers and in cuttings.
Normally done with thumb and forefinger.
Disbudding :
Performed for large flowered and decorative type chrysanthemum.
Disbudding method vary according to the type of chrysanthemum grown.
Standard types: the largest terminal bud is retained and all axillary buds are removed.
Spray varieties: the large apical bud is removed and the axillary buds are allowed to develop.
Important factor in the maintenance of high-quality product
De- suckering
For proper and vigorous growth of plants, suckers are removed from time to time.
De-shooting is also done
Harvesting time and stage for commercial purpose
The right stage for harvesting depends on the variety, marketing and purpose.
Harvesting of the flowers starts from 4th month onwards.
Harvesting is done at ¾ to full open stage for nearby markets and ½ open stage for distant markets.
For cut flowers stem should be cut about 10 cm above the soil to avoid cutting into wooden tissue.
Cut stems are put in plain water after harvest and in pulsing solutions.
Fully opened flowers are harvested without their stalk (Loose flowers) preferably in the morning
Cutting stems with knife are found to be better. Leaves should be totally removed form lower third portion of the stem.
Grading and packaging
They are graded based on the stem length and size of flower appearances, no of flowers and stem straightness, color of flower and freshness of the flower.
Standard c is gardened into blue, are, green and yellow
The lower leaves are stripped into 15 to 20cm and bundled in the units of 5 stems and secured with the rubber bands
Different types of packing materials-newspaper craft
corrugated paper and tissue paper-have been recommended for increasing the quality of cut blooms. For increasing the vase-life of cut flowers, preservative solution
For increasing the vase-life of cut flowers, preservative solution containing sucrose (1.5%) and) is recommended. 8-HQC ( hydroxyquinoline citrate) (200ppm)
Wrap flower bundles in cellophane sleeves
