Chrysanthemmum cuttings

[Snadger]

Last year I bought nine named chrysanthemum cuttings from Woolmans and planted them in a bed at the allotment for cut flowers for the house. Seven of them have flowered and i have dug up the stools, chopped the main stem to 3 inches potted them up in 7 inch pots in the greenhouse. Two haven't flowered at all so i don't even know what colour they are unless i can find the lollipop sticks with variety names on I placed beside them. I will dig these two up soon and pot them into 7 inch pots also.

The plants are throwing up loads of cuttings at present. My question is, should i be taking cuttings at this time of year and what is the consequence of doing so? Will cuttings taken over a long periiod give flowers over a longer period or will they all flower together, if at all?

Either way, I need to take cuttings just to trim the parent plant back a bit and allow new cutting material to form. I usually put five cuttings to a 4" pot with a polythene bag over them and put them on the window sill. I wondered about just sticking them in water to root as an alternative way of doing things?

Apologies for this long winded thread explanation!

[Snadger]

No answers..............not even daft ones from VC yet?

[Scarlet]

Martin H grows them, I was hoping he would answer as I haven't dug mine up yet! He posted a link on how and when to take cuttings.
I thought the flowering dates were dependant on type and what dates they were stopped? I grew them for the first time last year so I'm pretty clueless .....and I think Martin was dragged off to the shops by his Mrs

[Scarlet]

There's some links in this thread - may be worth a read
http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ums_83128.html

[veggiechicken]

No answers..............not even daft ones from VC yet?

....................

[Martin H]

Hi Snadger,

Whenever you propogate them, they won't flower until the days start to shorten next year, they are sensitive to changes in the length of the night. You can bring forward the natural flowering date a bit by "stopping" the plants, but not to the extent that they will flower before midsummer.

Personally I wouldn't take cuttings at this time of year, they would probably struggle to take and grow on with the low light. I'd wait until spring, earlier or later depending on whether you can keep the frost off.

Actually you don't "need" to take cuttings at all; you can treat them like any other herbaceous perennial and just divide the clumps up in spring or pull off "chinaman" cuttings (shoots that already have some roots on). But the best flowers do seem to come from newly propogated plants grown from spring cuttings.

[Snadger]

Hi Snadger,

Whenever you propogate them, they won't flower until the days start to shorten next year, they are sensitive to changes in the length of the night. You can bring forward the natural flowering date a bit by "stopping" the plants, but not to the extent that they will flower before midsummer.

Personally I wouldn't take cuttings at this time of year, they would probably struggle to take and grow on with the low light. I'd wait until spring, earlier or later depending on whether you can keep the frost off.

Actually you don't "need" to take cuttings at all; you can treat them like any other herbaceous perennial and just divide the clumps up in spring or pull off "chinaman" cuttings (shoots that already have some roots on). But the best flowers do seem to come from newly propogated plants grown from spring cuttings.

Thanks Martin. Without a haircut my plants will go berserk Even if I am going to take cuttings later on I'll have to do some cropping now so i may as well utilise the prunings as cuttings!
I bought the plants last year with the sole intention of growing them to increase my stock in 2016.
I did this a couple of years ago and lost the majority when I washed off the soil and reported them. This year I have re-potted them with there original small root-ball intact and they are romping away without any heat.

[Martin H]

Good luck, whatever you try do let us know how it goes on.

I cut off all the green growth after Christmas and start from there, that way I'm pretty sure I'm free of most of the pests. The warm weather this year is encouraging everything to keep growing when it should be resting, there's much more new growth than usual!

[Snadger]

Good luck, whatever you try do let us know how it goes on.

I cut off all the green growth after Christmas and start from there, that way I'm pretty sure I'm free of most of the pests. The warm weather this year is encouraging everything to keep growing when it should be resting, there's much more new growth than usual!

I'll let you know how i get on.

[brownfingers]

I always used to dig up the roots, put them in a box and cover with dry compost, then overwinter in a dark garage. Bring out sometime in feb and lightly water. Take the newest growth for cuttings. I don't bother now. I just leave them in overwinter and hen dig up and take cuttings in spring. The newest growth tends to give the better plants, or you can use those which have already thrown their own roots. Martin called the "chinamen", I call them "murphys". If you only want them for cut flowers, they are fine. Alternatively, jusy nip the top couple of inches off a larger sprout. You should get success with the vast majority.

[Snadger]

I always used to dig up the roots, put them in a box and cover with dry compost, then overwinter in a dark garage. Bring out sometime in feb and lightly water. Take the newest growth for cuttings. I don't bother now. I just leave them in overwinter and hen dig up and take cuttings in spring. The newest growth tends to give the better plants, or you can use those which have already thrown their own roots. Martin called the "chinamen", I call them "murphys". If you only want them for cut flowers, they are fine. Alternatively, jusy nip the top couple of inches off a larger sprout. You should get success with the vast majority.

For some reason, and I know not why 'beggars cuttings' seam to spring to mind for cuttings with a bit of root already on?