PART FOUR This part of the presentation has been upgrade

and the plants used are plants grown during the 2014 season.

Securing the bud

• What bud should we aim to secure

• What method should we use to secure the bud and is there any real difference between the two methods being used today

• Will our decision have an impact on how we support the bloom at a later date

What bud should we aim to secure

I am in agreement that the first two buds

should not be used. My findings are that under normal circumstances the plant will not be far enough into its own development to produce quality buds for show purposes. Having discarded the 1st and 2nd buds any further bud can be used provided that the plant is growing well.

What bud should we aim to secure

The following slide shows examples of bud selection from the 2nd bud due to time restraints to the selection of the 9th bud and thereafter to the flowers displayed on a 12 board.

The two plants (Symestar) showing 2nd and 3rd buds together with the one to the right of the one showing 3rd bud and also the plant of Daisy Trinder showing 4th bud are current year cuttings destined to be in full flower four months after being rooted. Bud selected two and a half months after the cuttings were rooted.

2nd bud

9th bud

4th bud

3rd bud

5th bud (Sweet Dreams)

6th bud

Examples of blooms from different bud selection

Nearing show date

The usual question as you near show date is how are your blooms. To this I always reply “I have no idea” or words to that effect. The previous slide shows a Sweet Dreams which had the 5th bud secured and has not been moved since putting its collar on. It is not until it is lifted that you can see what you have got and I must stress that the more you move a plant then the greater the chance of you damaging the bloom. For the purposes of this presentation the next slide shows it elevated Also a close up of one of the cuttings of Symestar, one of Daisy Trinder (both shown in the previous slide) together with a close up of Gypsy, middle row 2nd from the left and flowered on the 6th bud.

Sweet Dreams (cutting tuber) 5th bud

Daisy Trinder (cutting) 4th bud

Symestar (cutting) 3rd bud

Gypsy (adult) 6th bud

Other blooms destined for Ayr flower show

Three days to go and it is going down to the wire. Size is no problem all hitting over the 9 inch mark although one or two of the Symestars are a little lacking in depth. All placed in my garage during the day where it is cooler and returned to the greenhouse in the evening. Hopefully this will hold them back however it may well soften the petal. Whatever happens I have learned some more this year and as I said at the beginning “showing should be fun”.

Other blooms destined for Ayr flower show

The following slides are a selection of some of the other blooms selected in preparation for the show. The first one is Golden Hind which is very young as can be seen from the lack of strong colour towards the edge of each petal. It is however possibly the best example of the variety that I have grown.

Golden Hind (cutting tuber)

Very young

Walk Tall (cutting tuber)

Bali Hi (adult)

Tigger (cutting) 4th bud

Same flower showing size, form and depth

Collar 4 months old

Eva Grace Cutting tuber

Fair Maid of Perth Adult tuber

Powder Puff Adult tuber

Nicola Coates Cutting tuber

The next slide shows two adult plants on the right and two of this years cuttings on the left. What is interesting is that if anything I would say that the two cuttings are the better blooms.

Tigger

Symestar Nicola Coates

Powder Puff

Garage door left half open

Fair Maid of Perth Symestar

The majority of these will hopefully be on my 12 board

Ready to be cut and boxed

Ayr Flower Show

now out of my hands

A good end to the flowering season

The following slide is a close up of one of the Symestars on my board. You may recognise it as having been produced on the third bud by one of this years April cuttings. It was judged to be the best white or cream in show and then went on to be awarded best bloom in show.

This year my board consisted of blooms grown from five adult tubers, five cutting tubers and two April cuttings.

Question

Do we need to reconsider our growing methods with regard to some of the more modern varieties grown today? More work to be done.

Food for thought

What bud should we aim to secure

The cuttings of Symestar, Daisy Trinder and Tigger were experiments to see if quality blooms could be obtained from cuttings taken from tubers started at the normal time and both parent and offspring to be flowered at the same time rather than having to start a tuber early. In conclusion I am of the opinion that this is possible depending on what bud you wish to secure on the parent plant e.g. 6th bud on parent plant – 3rd bud on cutting. There will always be a difference of at least two or three buds between the plants.

What bud should we aim to secure I am also of the opinion that the greater the number of

buds passed the 2nd bud on the cutting the greater the potential is that you will obtain a deeper bloom due to the cutting having a greater period of time in which to increase its vigour. In conclusion the cutting must be growing well before bud selection and in order to ensure that this is the case I would in future start the parent tuber slightly earlier than normal with a view to securing the 4th bud or above. Having said that five of the blooms selected as possible blooms for my 12 board were current year cuttings. Three x Symestar, one Tigger and one Daisy Trinder (two were used).

What method should we use to secure the bud and is there any real difference between the two methods being used

today

Some growers are of the opinion that the growing point should be removed after the leaf above the selected bud as this leaf helps to draw the nutrients up to the selected bud. I do not use this method and remove everything above the selected bud relying on the leaf beside the bud to do its job. By doing this the bud stem becomes the main stem of the plant.

Everything removed above the bud

Bud stem becomes the main stem

The side buds normally two female must be removed. In this example 1 female (left) and 1 male (right)

Remember to remove all of the material

Will our decision have an impact on how we support the bloom at a later

date Due to the flower stem now becoming the

main stem of the plant it produces a stem of such a diameter that the stirrup of the bloom support is to small to be of any use, thus the bloom must be secured to the cane.

Flower stem

Stirrup

Bud secured to the cane

2 ply cardboard collar

Anniversary

Some buds look dreadful as they start to open but then sort themselves

out

Sometimes things can go wrong

The next slide shows a bud which had just started to move from the oyster stage. The collar was put on when the bud was not far enough away from the leaves of the plant and/or possibly when the plant was slightly dehydrated. When the plant recovered during the night the pressure on the stem was to much and something had to give.

Lindsay Murray

PART FIVE Feeding the bloom

Do we need to feed the bloom and if so why. What should we feed and when.

Our aim

Feeding the bloom

What are the secrets

Do we need to feed the bloom and if so why

Up till now I have shown a large number of slides ranging from pictures of the first basal shoots emerging from the tubers to pictures of the mature plants producing a single bloom. What is common to all the slides is that no matter what stage of development the plant is at it is always growing with vigour. This vigour is not achieved overnight but is a process of continuous development created by the plant and assisted by the grower.

Do we need to feed the bloom and if so why

Further more I would suggest that this vigour should be present from the day that the plant material is removed from the parent plant through its own production of a tuber and remain within the plant/tuber during its productive life.

Do we need to feed the bloom and if so why

Provided that the requirements of the plant have been met then very little feeding is required from securing the bud to its full development.

There is no secret formula that will convert a poor or below average plant into a show winning one. I have shown all but one of the stages in a plants development and the grower must master all of these in order to achieve a quality result. It is up to the grower to identify any area of weakness that they have and to strengthen their own performance in that area. Fail in any one of these and it will be reflected in the end product.

What should we feed and when

From the beginning we have encouraged and assisted the plant to produce a healthy root system and one that was strong enough to develop within our John Innes compost. In addition and as a by-product of this we will now prior to securing the bud have a strong robust plant capable of supporting an excellent bloom grown from either the 4th bud (my own preference) or above.

What should we feed and when

Having secured the bud all that is now needed is to change the proportions of the nutrients within the compost from one that is supplying a balanced feed to the plant to one which is supplying a slightly higher potash feed for the bloom. This change can be achieved by using any of the plant foods designed to do this and available to the amateur grower e.g. Chempak No.4.

What should we feed and when

This should be fed at a rate applicable to the plants requirements and weather dependent (if the weather only allows for you to water once a week then full strength or if it is hot and you anticipate that you will water four times in that week then if you prefer quarter strength each watering). I always aim to feed the equivalent of full strength every seven to ten days approximately.

What should we feed and when

Finally 10 days before cutting the bloom a single feed of high potash such as Chempak No.8. is required in order to harden the petals. I do not use any other feeding. KEEP IT SIMPLE AND WHEN SATISFIED WITH YOUR END RESULT DO NOT CHANGE IT.

What should we feed and when

The process from securing the bud to full flower has now been covered by the use of only seven slides. It is that simple provided that all the work has been done when required throughout the preceding months. If it has not been done when needed then you are to late, no matter what you throw at the plant you will be unlikely to achieve your goal and indeed you will possibly end up destroying the tuber.

CONCLUSION

The previous slides cover my attempts to grow these plants and I will be the first to admit that I am very much a novice at this game, therefore, I have no doubt that I will continually make small adjustments to my growing methods as my knowledge increases.

Enjoy your growing and I do hope that this presentation has been of interest to you.

Remember at the end of the day if you do decide to show then it is only a bit of fun. Friendship is far more important than winning.