MATLOCK

Matlock is a lovely medium red reflex with good growth characteristics and requires little dressing before showing. Blooms reach their potential and go over within a very short time thus timing them for shows can be a problem. Flowering time is from mid August to early September.

Propagation
Cuttings are plentiful on stools but come all at once. They should be taken when available as there is no guarantee that a further set will appear. If given a choice cuttings are taken in mid January in one batchand dipped in Roota, a liquid hormone rooting compound. The rooting medium has varied from peat/soil/grit in the ratio 1:1:0.5 with a sprinkling of general fertiliser to a peat based compost with grit and no added fertiliser. Cuttings seem to root well in all vari ations. Rooting is in seed trays on a heated bench under lights which are on for 14 hours per day. After 2 to 3 weeks the rooted cuttings are moved to a cooler area and one week later they are boxed into a JI 1 type compost.

Frame
Plants are moved into a frame in early March. The base is of porous material and on top of it is placed a JI 2 type compost to a depth of about 10cm . Water is only given to the plants when essential and frost protection given when needed by a covering at night. Plants are sto pped in mid April by removing a tiny tip. A feed is given then of high nitrogen to encourage side shoots to grow.

Ground preparation
The plot was roughly dug at the end of the season.  No soil sterilisation has ever been done. A soil test is done profe ssionally every two years or so. If garden compost is available it is added to the bed in the Spring. A general fertiliser is forked in at 4oz per square yard 2 weeks before planting unless indicated otherwise by soil tests.

Planting out
Plants go out in early May. Lack of space means both plants and rows are at 30cm apart with 4 rows each of 22 plants. Covers are not put up at this time. All shoots remain on the plants until well developed. Three are then selected and allowed to grow on until bud formation when the 2 strongest kept. Three up has been tried but better form and colour seems to come from 2 up.

Feeding and spraying
A high nitrogen feed is given around 4 weeks after planting and at 7 to 10 day intervals until colour shows. Bloom feeding has not been tried - blooms seem to develop so quickly they do not appear to need any more help. Spraying is done regularly at 10 to 14 day intervals using proprietary insecticides and fungicides with a foliar feed added.

Buds
Once buds are secured side shoots are removed as soon as large enough to do so. Any bracts under the buds are also removed to reduce the number of places that black fly can hide. Bud bags are put on for a few days only, removed, and no further bagging occurs. Covers go up over the complete plot as soon as the bud bags are removed.

Shows
Blooms are cut 2 days before staging and placed in deep water. Stems do not need to be boiled. Blooms can be easily matched for all characteristics. With an absolute maximum of 10 plants all 20 blooms are important and most will be shown. Dressing is easy, and not too time consuming. Petals do not seem to be damaged easily.

Stools
Stools are cut down to about 20cm after flowering. At lifting in early October they are trimmed of shoots and most roots, washed, dipped in Jeyes Fluid in water for 5 minutes, dried and boxed in a soil/peat/grit mix as 4:2:1. Boxes are left outside protec ted by a frame top until early December. They then come into a cold greenhouse and an insecticide spray is given. After a week they are given a weak nitrogen feed and put on the heated bench to allow around 2 to 3 weeks growth before cuttings are to be taken.

VENICE

The same basic cultivation methods are used for Venice as for Matlock but with the following variations:

General
Venice is a compact well formed medium pink reflex. Blooms dress well but can be easily damaged. Flowering time is from mid to end September.

Propagation
Cuttings are not as profuse as those of Matlock but are sturdy and root easily. They are taken as early in January as possible. Plants are stopped at the end of March. Side shoots do not develop evenly after stopping and they can be few in number.

Buds
Buds must be secured as soon as possible otherwise those beneath overtake the main bud and push it aside. No bud bags are put on as blooms lose colour in them even when bagged for a short time.

If you would like further information or wish to comment on this publication please send your e-mail to: paul.barlow@chrysanthemums.info

Last updated on 20 December, 2001