Pot Mums for Easter

This is my daughter sitting amongst the Pot Chrysanthemums at our store a couple years back.  Pot Mums are a popular plant for Easter decorating.  They are right up there with Lily's, Tulips, Daffodils, Hyacinths, and Azaleas for folks who enjoy having a little bit of early Springtime in their homes for the Easter holiday.

This season I am again growing Mums for Easter but I cut back my order considerably.  This year, Easter falls on April 20, which is very late.  By that time, a lot of people are already thinking about their gardens and will probably have less interest in pretty but not hardy house plants.  That's right, these Pot Mums are not the same as the Garden Mums that a prolific from late August through October in our area.  Pot Mums are essentially a very nice looking plant but don't expect them to last all season and there's no chance of them coming back next year.

These Pot Mums were shipped in from Florida from cuttings taken by +Aris Horticultre, Inc..  They come from their GreenLeaf plants division.  They were delivered pretty early in the morning which is a good thing because I know they haven't been riding around in a cold UPS truck all day.

I prepare the soil by mixing our standard potting mix with leftover mum mix from last fall.  The mum mix is a bark based soil and contains Osmocote which is a  slow-release fertilizer.  I also get out the 8" and 6" containers which the majority of the Pot Mums will be planted in. 

Opening the first package reveals the Pot Mums and they look to be in pretty good condition for being stuffed in a box for a couple days.  They are sorted by plant variety with 50 rooted cuttings per bag.

I pull out the first bag and it's the Olympia variety.  This is a popular white Pot Mum that sells especially well for the Easter holiday.  The churches that order from us for their Easter mass prefer white because it's the most pure of all colors.

This is what a single rooted Pot Mum cutting looks like. 

In a 6" container I plant four mums per pot.  I angle them outwards slightly so when they grow they will fill out the container out quite nicely.

An 8" container has five mums per pot, with four on the edge and one in the center.  I plant considerably fewer 8" pots then 6".  The 8" obviously have a higher price point because there are more plants and the container is larger.

After planting all 900 mums I have filled an entire greenhouse bench and then some.  Right after planting them they do look a bit ragged but they will become established in their new home before you know it.

I give them all a good drink and also prepare additional fertilizer.  When mums are first becoming established they like to be fed quite heavily.  This helps them during their vegetative state, that is when they are spending their energy making roots, stems, and leaves and before they make buds.

In fact, to prevent the Pot Mums from making buds right away, I have to trick them into thinking the days are longer than they actually are.  Mums think it is time to make buds and flowers when days are short like they are in the winter (the same holds true for fall Garden Mums, that is why under natural light conditions they don't start flowering until late August).  Of course I don't want that to happen right now because I want to sell them in late April, and once they have flowered, that's it.  Above the bench where the mums are I have 2 sets of fluorescent bulbs hooked up to a timer.  I have the timer set to go on every night at 10 pm and shut off at 2 am.  This will interrupt their night cycle and make them continue using their energy for vegetative growth.  This way I can get big, bushy plants before they start to devote their energy to flowers. 

On February 19 I plan on shutting the lights off.  Since these are considered "8-week" Pot Mums, they will take approximately 8 weeks to make their flowers.  This will put me at the Wednesday before Easter, which is just when I want to start retailing them.

Repairing the Speedy Seeder

I mentioned in a previous post that my seeding machine, the Speedy Seeder, seemed rather loud and was not working in the manner it should.  It turns out that it finally quit on me.  Better now than in a few weeks when I really need to sow seeds in order to have my plants ready for Springtime.  Let's have a look and see what can be done about this.

Flipping the Speedy Seeder over reveals the compartment where the magic takes place.  Actually it's just the housing for a specialized vacuum motor.  The problem can only lie within this compartment so let's take it apart.

First I'll unscrew the 4 Phillips screws that hold the lid on.

Then there are two bolts that screw directly into the motor.  They hold the motor in place so when it's running it doesn't vibrate all over the place.  I'll get these unscrewed and then I can remove the lid.

This is what the vacuum motor looks like.  If there's something wrong with it then I imagine the entire motor will have to be replaced.  That is certainly more affordable than purchasing a new Speedy Seeder which is over $700.00!

I took a photo of the label on the motor just in case I need to order the part.  This is an Ametek Lamb Electric Division vacuum motor.  The model number is right on there making my life very easy.

Upon removing the motor from the housing, I flip it over and the problem is staring right at me.  The disc that spins and creates the suction is cracked in several places.  As far as I know it hasn't been dropped so I can only assume that after many, many years of use it has simply broken down as does anything else with moving parts.  This motor is completely sealed and I see no way of taking it apart and replacing the disc so it's time to start searching for the part number.

What did we do before the Internet made our lives so easy?  Scour through a catalog that I may or may not have or call around and ask for this particular motor?  All I had to do was hop on the +Grainger website, enter the manufacturer and the part number and there it was.  And fairly affordable as well.  Bonus.  It was available for pickup the next day.

This is the underside of the new vacuum motor.  I can't wait to get it hooked up and start sowing seeds again.  I'm already a day behind because I was supposed to sow petunias yesterday!  I hope this goes smoothly.

So on the old motor there was a black wire that went to the power switch and there was a white wire that connected to the white wire on the Speedy Seeder.  On the new motor there are 2 black wires and no white wire.  Challenge #1.  This was pretty easy.  Setting the 2 motors side by side, each of the 2 wires originate from separate sides of the motor.  I could only assume that on the new motor the black wire on the left hand side serves the same purpose as the white wire that was on the left hand side of the old motor.  I use a wire nut to connect the new black wire to the white wire on the Speedy Seeder.  I hope I'm right.

The next step was super easy.  The grounding wire from the Speedy Seeder gets screwed underneath the green screw on the new motor.  I really had to crank that screw in to get it to hold.  I used a bit more elbow grease on that step than I had expected but it's nice and snug now.

The third and final wire is the one that hooks up to the power switch.  On the new motor I only have bare wire whereas the old motor had one of those neat little connectors.  I'm not an electrician (obviously) so the only solution I could think of was to snip the power switch wire off the old motor and hook it up to the new power switch wire.

This involved stripping the old wire with this neat wire stripping tool that my father keeps around.  Very handy.

After twisting the new wire to the old I use another wire nut to hold them in place.

Alright it's all hooked up!  Let's put this baby back together and give it a test run.

So this is just ridiculous.  I'm screwing the bolts in that hold the motor in place and they're not going anywhere.  What the heck?  There's no screw threads in the holes in the new motor!  Who designs these things?  You mean I have to make my own threads?  I have no idea what size bolt this is.  Time to visit +Ace Hardware.  I bring the bolt in with me, show the guy working there, and explain my situation.  After he determines the size of the bolt he shows me exactly what I need to get the job done.

This is a high carbon steel plug tap.  I tighten my vice grips around it and turn it into the holes in the new motor just as if it was a screw.  It begins to make the threads.  I have to unscrew it and screw it back in several times so I can clean the metal shavings off of the plug taps.  Now the bolts fit!  They go right in and the new motor is nice and tight in the compartment.  I turn the Speedy Seeder on and it works like new!  Mission accomplished.

Canna South Pacific Scarlet

CANNA SOUTH PACIFIC SCARLET

I briefly mentioned this plant several posts back when my new seeds arrived.  South Pacific Scarlet is a type of Canna that can be grown from seed instead of from an underground stem called a rhizome.  This is really exciting for a small greenhouse business like mine because instead of purchasing the bare root stock from another grower, I can less expensively grow them on my own from scratch.  Of course there is risk involved because I have never attempted to grow these and you never know what could go wrong.  Such is life.

Here is the seed packet from +Harris Seeds and as usual there are good instructions on how one goes about getting started with these Canna seeds.  These seeds have a very hard shell, and it is recommended that the seeds be soaked 10-14 hours before sowing to soften the shell.  That's good information to know.  I usually don't soak my seeds but I have read that it can be beneficial to give seeds a head start.  

 

Here are the seeds after I opened the packet.  Yes, these seeds are quite large and they appear to have a very hard shell.  I ordered 2 packets of 50 seeds each.  Time to start soaking so I can sow these seeds tomorrow.

 

I steal a bowl from the kitchen and fill it with about 2 or 3 inches of warm water.  Then I just pour the seeds into the water and let them soak overnight.  Good night Canna seeds, see you tomorrow!

Okay I'm ready to go the next day.  I'm going to use 50 cell trays because the seeds are way too big for the little 406 cell plug trays I typically utilize for seeding.  There is even a warning on the packet advising to sow the seeds at least as deep as 1 1/2 times their diameter to prevent the seed from pushing out of the soil when it germinates.  Wow!  I never heard of that but it's really interesting.  Must be some powerful germinating abilities.

I decide to use a dibble to make the semi-deep holes for the Canna seeds.  A dibble is basically a plastic tool with a point on one end that serves the purpose of making holes for plants.  We use them mostly when we are transplanting from plug trays into retail 6-packs.  They'll start to get a lot of use within a couple months.

Just to show you my dibbling skills here is one of the 50 cell trays with all of the holes dibbled.  It's ready to receive Canna seeds.

These are what the seeds look like after they have been soaking overnight.  The shell doesn't appear or feel any softer to me but I'm sure it is.  So each one of these seeds goes into one hole.  I fill all 100 holes I have made in 2 trays but I still have 14 seeds left.  Wow, bonus!!  Extra seeds and quite a few actually.  I don't usually count them but a few extra seeds is no surprise but 14 is a lot.  Instead of filling another 50 cell tray with soil for 14 seeds, I remember from a few weeks back the Coreopsis seeds I sowed.  I only used 30 of those cells so I easily have room to sow my remaining Canna seeds in that tray.  Problem solved.

 

The packet instructed me to cover the Canna seeds lightly with fine vermiculite.  That's easily accomplished and then I place them on the heat table.  I water them with the sprinkling can and now I wait for them to germinate.  I'm really looking forward to seeing how they grow and how the finished product looks.

Sowing Seeds using a Speedy Seeder - Part 2

SOWING SEEDS USING A SPEEDY SEEDER - Part 2

My last blog post was getting a little on the long side so here is part 2.  In part 1 we discussed the Speedy Seeder machine and now we're going to talk about how we actually sow the seeds.

First I need to get out the germinating mix.  This is super fine soil used for seed starting.  It is porous with good drainage.  I go through about 5 or 6 bags of this mix per season.

Then I get out my 406 cell plug trays.  I use about 2 1/2 cases of these per season.  The germinating mix is rather expensive, so to not waste any I put an old empty bag under my tray to catch any overflow soil.

There is the 406 plug tray filled with germinating mix.  I pack it just a bit with my hands and then smooth it out.  The overflow of germinating mix is on the old bag and I can just pick it up, pour it back into the bag, and use it next time.

Moisten the soil and we're just about ready to go.

The 406 tray on the left has been filled with cement.  My father made this many years ago in order to push down the germinating mix in our plug trays.  So on all of the trays I just filled I'll place the cement tray on top and press it down to make indentations in each cell.  This is necessary so when the seeds go in their cells they have a "hole" to go in.

This is essentially the setup I use all season long for sowing seeds.  I staple my plant tags to the plug tray so I know which seeds are growing where.  The plug tray is placed immediately behind the Speedy Seeder.

Okay we're finally ready to get down to business!  There are 100 Primula seeds in that little bag.  No I didn't count them.  I'll take their word for it.

After turning on the Speedy Seeder, I pour the whole bag out onto the seeding tray, making sure to keep the seeds on the left 1/3 of the tray.  I do this because I'll be sowing 3 different varieties of seed in one plug tray and I don't want them all mixed together.  That would be a nightmare!  I'd have Primula growing in the same cells as Aquilegia.  Not good.

 

There we are.  Each of the 100 Primula seeds is stuck in it's own pinhole.  This doesn't just happen automatically.  I have to pick up the Speedy Seeder and tilt it left and right to get the seeds in their place.  Depending on the type of seed it can be fairly easy or really a pain in the butt.  Then you get double or triple seeds in one hole and you have to use your finger or a pin needle to correct it.  These Primula seeds weren't too bad.  Just wait until we get to Marigolds or Zinnia seeds.

Now this is the magic part!  I flip the Speedy Seeder right over so it is above the 406 cell plug tray.  The fan is still running so the seeds are still stuck in their pinhole even though the machine is upside down.  I adjust the plug tray all the way to the right until it hits the leg of the Speedy Seeder.  Now I turn the vacuum off. 

The vacuum is now off so the seeds should have all dropped into their own cells.  If there are any seeds that are defying gravity (they got stuck in their pinhole) I can use the mechanism on the left that will rattle the seed tray and hopefully drop any remaining seeds. 

Do you see the seeds in there?  Probably not but trust me they are there.  Time to move on to the Aquilegia seeds.

That's Aquilegia Winky mix stuck in their pinholes.  Looks neat and clean just the way I like it.  I've been accused of being too much of a perfectionist when it comes to sowing seeds and I can't say I disagree.  It has to look neat!

Let's fast forward.  I think you get the idea about how the Speedy Seeder works.  Like I said in part 1, once these particular seeds germinate they need to be cared for in a specific way in order for them to bloom in time for retail.  The label above is from the Primula Danova Grower's Select Mix.  First it tells me that I should cover these seeds very lightly with fine vermiculite.  +Harris Seeds is very good about giving growers the information they need to successfully grow their plants.  After these Primula germinate, I need to cool down the temperature pretty dramatically for a 3 week period, then reduce the temperature even further down to 45 degrees!  I assume this will emulate their growing conditions in nature.  How I'm going to do this with only one greenhouse open right now I'm not really sure.  I'll figure it out when I get there!  But after they bud, I can again raise the temperature two weeks before I want them to bloom.  Which will hopefully be in time for Easter which falls on April 20 this year.

The Aquilegia seeds are a bit more straightforward.  Again they should be covered very lightly with fine vermiculite for moisture control.  The germination temperature should be 50 degrees for 2 weeks, then 72 degrees for 3 weeks.  My greenhouse thermostat is set at 62 degrees, so maybe this isn't as straightforward as I had thought.  Unfortunately I can't turn down my thermostat because I have other plants and seedlings growing now.  I'll just have to see how it goes.  Then finally they need 12 weeks of vernalization (prolonged exposure to winter temperatures) in order to bloom.  So that's a total of 17 weeks to get them to bloom.  Do I have enough time?  I'll be lucky to have them bloom by mid-May. 

Well let's finish this up.  If you're still reading thank you.  Here's the fine vermiculite that I'll pour very lightly over the plug tray.

That's it we're done for today.  Sorry for being so long winded!

Just one more thing to show you.  Above are the Corepsis seedlings that I sowed a few posts back.  They have a pair of leaves poking out of the soil.  Pretty soon I'll take them off the heat table and let them grow on their own.