Growing chrysanthemums for sale, or Flowers as a business

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Chrysanthemum is called the queen of autumn, because it was at this time that its bright inflorescences adorn and revitalize the garden. But you can grow chrysanthemums throughout the season - from February to December inclusive, and in heated greenhouses - in the winter months. If you organize the process correctly, you can sell planting material and flowers of chrysanthemums year-round. This article will help you understand how much effort it will take to grow chrysanthemums in large quantities. But the ways of selling the grown products are a different story.

How can I make money on chrysanthemums?

Chrysanthemums, unlike other perennials, reproduce quite quickly. Already in the first season from each uterine bush you can get from ten to thirty cuttings (depending on the variety). Within a few months, young seedlings manage to gain strength and, with good care, turn into beautiful flowering bushes by autumn.

That is why the cultivation of chrysanthemums is one of the most attractive areas of the flower business.

There are many options for earning on chrysanthemums, the most popular ones include:

sale of rooted cuttings;
the implementation of potted chrysanthemums;
growing flowers for cut;
sale of flowering bushes;
sale of mother liquors (bushes with shoots).

You can promote a business in one direction, for example, by only growing chrysanthemum for cutting, or you can combine and develop several directions at once.

For gardeners with little experience, it will be easier to grow chrysanthemums at normal times from root shoots or rooted cuttings.

What is needed to start a small flower business?

To grow chrysanthemums in large quantities, in addition to planting material, you will need the following:

cassettes or seedlings;
pots with a diameter of 18-25 cm;
supports to support plants;
twine or other materials for garter stalks;
plates (markers) for indicating varieties;
universal soil for seedlings;
rooting agent (liquid or powder);
growth stimulant;
nitrogen and potassium phosphorus fertilizers;
fungicides and pesticides;
agrofibre white - for protection against frost;
black film (or agrofibre) - for shading plants and mulching the soil.

Chrysanthemum is a young lady not too capricious, but, like most flowers, requires her share of attention. If you plan to grow this crop not only for your pleasure, but also for sale, then try to learn the basic rules for caring for it well.

Preservation of mother chrysanthemums in winter is the basis of the income of the next season

Uterine bushes are the foundation of our future business. You can save queen cells before spring in different ways:

leave overwinter in the open ground;
dig in an unheated greenhouse and cover with agrofibre;
make shelter in a greenhouse or trench;
bring to the basement or cellar;
Store in any cool, dry room at temperatures from 0 to + 5 ° C.

Chrysanthemums in open ground or in a dug form are well preserved if all the conditions for their wintering are met. Water should not accumulate in storage places, it is also necessary to provide at least minimal insulation for the roots (dry plant stems, a layer of leaves or spruce branches, etc.).

If the mother liquors are stored in a trench, then from the autumn, poison for mice should be laid out there. Rodents often hide in such shelters and can greatly spoil planting material during the winter.

It is much easier to control the condition of the uterine roots of chrysanthemums if they are stored in a basement or other room throughout the winter. If necessary, plants are watered, treated with fungicides and protected from pests.

You also need to ensure that during the thaw the temperature does not rise too high, otherwise the stalks of chrysanthemums will stretch, and the quality of the mother plants will decrease.

Read more about wintering chrysanthemums in the article How to properly care for chrysanthemums?

In February or early March, when the shoot begins to grow actively, the uterine bushes are brought into a bright room or in a greenhouse. After about 2 weeks, when the stems grow to a height of 10-15 cm, you can proceed to cuttings of chrysanthemums.

Propagation of planting material

Rhizomes of chrysanthemums are recommended to be divided and planted annually so that the bushes grow stronger and healthier. But this is not enough if you need seedlings in large quantities. To get more planting material, chrysanthemum is propagated in two ways:

planting root shoots;
rooting cuttings.

It is easy to propagate chrysanthemum with root layers. You just need to plant the shoots with roots in separate cups and put them on growing. But planting material obtained in this way turns out to be heterogeneous. In addition, there are much fewer bushes from layering than with green cuttings.

To get seedlings of the same size, chrysanthemums are propagated as follows:

Take the cuttings from the uterine bush and shorten them to about 6-8 cm.
The lower leaves are torn off, the sections are sprinkled with Kornevina powder, and the prepared cuttings are immediately planted in a light, moisture-consuming substrate.
To form the roots, plants need to provide high humidity, so they are covered with a film or plastic bottles.
Planted cuttings are aired daily and sprayed with water.
When the leaves cease to fade (from about the third week), ammonium nitrate is added to the water for irrigation. Plants need to be watered with this solution once a week, gradually increasing the concentration from 0.1% to 0.3%.

For rooting, you can take pure perlite - in it the root system grows much faster. In April-May, when the temperature rises, the cuttings can be rooted in the open ground. After 2-3 weeks, they should already have roots, this is evidenced by the beginning of the growth of new leaves. As a rule, after a month, cuttings of chrysanthemums are ready for planting in a permanent place.

Growing potted chrysanthemum multiflora

Planting stock is prepared by the above method. Rooted cuttings are planted in containers with a diameter of 18-25 cm (the volume of the pot depends on the strength of the growth of the bush). Any substrate is suitable (except peat, which dries very quickly). A complex fertilizer for flowering plants (“Master”, “Kemira”) is immediately added to the prepared earth mixture.

There are certain standards for multiflora shrubs grown in pots for sale. Medium-sized varieties (bushes) should reach a diameter of 75-85 cm, vigorous - 95-105 cm. The bush should have an ideal spherical shape. This effect can be achieved when landing on an elevation, which is done as follows:

First they form a mound up to 30 cm high along the entire length of the bed.
At a distance of 75-90 cm, pot holes are dug in the embankment.
Over the entire length of the ridge they cover with a black film, sprinkling its edges with earth.
Over the pits in the film, cuts are made (cross to cross), where the pots with rooted cuttings are inserted.
On prepared beds immediately lay drip irrigation.

To get plants of the highest quality, you must definitely feed them with organic and mineral fertilizers. The first fertilizing with ammonium nitrate (10-15 g / m²) is done 15-20 days after planting, and then every 2 weeks.

Nitrogen fertilizers should not be abused, since an excess of nitrogen in the soil can cause burns. In addition, plants overfed with saltpeter become too tender and can often be affected by aphids. When buds appear on the bushes, chrysanthemums already require less nitrogen. At this time, potassium-phosphorus fertilizers are applied under the bushes, and foliar treatment with potassium humate or the “Bud” preparation is also carried out.

It must be remembered that even a short-term lack of moisture during the growth period can greatly affect the quality of the bushes. And only in the budding phase, the need for water is slightly reduced. And vice versa, to prolong the flowering of chrysanthemums, they are contained in drier soil. If in August night temperatures rise above 16 ° C, flowering can be postponed for 1-2 weeks.

Chrysanthemum cultivation per slice

For bouquets and flower arrangements, large-flowered chrysanthemums are most often used, which are usually grown in one stem. But in recent years, bright and unusual multi-stemmed Santini chrysanthemums have also come into fashion. Some of them resemble daisies, others look like fluffy balls or pompons. All cut varieties are grown according to two main technologies - traditional and managed.

Traditional culture technology

To obtain chrysanthemums for the cut in the early stages (August – October), small film greenhouses are used or plants are grown in a section well protected from the wind. By the end of August, the first inflorescences may already be ready for pruning. If severe frosts are expected in early autumn, a temporary portable frame is placed over the plants and a plastic film is pulled.

Large-flowered chrysanthemums are usually grown in 1 stalk or leave 2-3 stems. The bushes are formed with the help of pinches;

After the appearance of 6-8 leaves, the top is cut off or pinched.
When plants produce new shoots, 2-3 of the strongest are selected from them, and the rest are removed.
During the season, bushes stepchild several more times, removing excess shoots.

Chrysanthemum is a short day plant. Most varieties bloom in September-October, and the latest open buds only in November. To speed up the flowering of chrysanthemums, flower growers artificially reduce daylight hours by covering the plants with black film or agrofiber in the morning and evening hours. They begin to shade 5-6 weeks before the desired date, and when the buds begin to stain, the shelter is completely removed.

Guided Culture Technology

If the cut of chrysanthemums begins in November-December or continues year-round, heated greenhouses are used for cultivation. In winter and autumn, when the length of the day is shortened, the flowers need additional lighting. It is important that at this time the maximum amount of sunlight penetrates the greenhouse. Glass should be cleaned and washed regularly throughout the winter season. To enhance the intensity of the light entering the greenhouse, it is recommended that the frames and supporting elements of the greenhouse be painted white.

Daylight hours are increased to 15-16 hours a day using artificial lighting. For this purpose, 100 W lamps are used, hanging them at a height of 1.5 m above the ground and at a distance of 1.6 m from each other. During the buds laying, the lamps are turned off, and then the inflorescences are formed already in natural light.

Pest and Disease Control

When growing chrysanthemums for sale, special attention must be paid to the quality of planting material. If agricultural technology is fully observed, chrysanthemum bushes grow well and are not affected by diseases at all.

After a period of prolonged rains, it is recommended to carry out preventive treatment with fungicides. Starting in August, plants are watered only in the morning to prevent the appearance of fungal diseases. Chrysanthemums can be affected by gray rot and downy mildew. To stop the spread of these diseases, plants are sprayed with preparations of Skor (2 ml per 10 l of water) or Topaz (4 ml per 10 l of water).

Of the pests on the chrysanthemum, aphids, thrips, spider mites, caterpillars and slugs are most often found. Against ticks and aphids use preparations "Enzhio", "Spark", etc.

To protect against slugs, granules of metaldehyde are scattered under the bushes. The most dangerous pest of chrysanthemums is a nematode, a sign of its presence may be blackening of the lower leaves. Damaged nematode plants must be removed and burned. In the area infected with this pest, chrysanthemums can not be planted for several more years.