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Border carnations
Environment
Border Carnations prefer a sunny, well-drained position in a neutral soil, but will tolerate all but very acid or alkaline conditions.
Garden Cultivation
Plants are available from specialist nurseries as rooted layers in autumn and as pot-grown plants in spring. Do not ‘stop’ Border Carnation plants as one would stop perpetual-flowering carnations.
Plant out rooted layers in autumn in fertile soil, improve poor soil by incorporating well-rotted manure, garden compost, used mushroom compost or any similar humus-forming material. Make the soil firm before planting. Plant with a trowel 15-18” apart. Make plants firm and ensure lowest leaves are just clear of soil surface. Stake tall layers with a short stick to prevent their being loosened by strong winds and inspect plants occasionally to ensure none has been lifted by frost action. Refirm as necessary.
In spring hoe in a top-dressing of fertiliser. Never plant out dry plants; first immerse: dry rootballs in a bucket of water until bubbles cease to rise, plant firmly ensuring top of rootball finishes flush with soil surface.
Support flower stems as they grow with thin 3’ canes. Disbud first-year plants very lightly, second-year plants moderately leaving about three flowers per stem and three-year-olds severely, leaving only the crown bud. Spray or dust remedial preparations once a fortnight whether or not insect or fungus damage is apparent. Outdoor pests include greenfly, carnation fly, thrips, tortrix moth caterpillar and froghopper.Outdoor grown carnations are usually disease free except for very occasional outbreaks of rust diseaseand stem rot. Pick off and burn rust-infected leaves and treat plants with a fungicidal spray or dust.
Stem rot in outdoor carnations usually results from planting stem damaged layers or cuttings.
Pot Cultivation
Fine blooms can be produced from plants grown in the open border, even blooms fit for exhibiting, when the weather permits. But our British weather is fickle and cannot be trusted, the reason why the keenest exhibitors grow their plants in pots in greenhouses. The greenhouses are unheated, the object being to protect flowers from damage by wind and rain.
Potting
In autumn pot rooted layers or cuttings into 3 or 4”, pots according to size of roots. Clay or plastic pots may be used and crocking is not necessary. Use John Innes P.1 or a soil-less equivalent. With soil composts pot fairly firmly but less firmly with a soil-less compost. Water plants after potting and thereafter only when necessary, especially during winter. When whiskers of root emerge from the pot drainage hole tap the plant out to observe the root system. The plant is ready for final potting when the soil-ball is about half covered with roots; do not wait until the plant is rootbound. Finally – pot singly into 6” pots or two to a 1W pot or three to a 9” pot. Pots must be well crocked using pieces of broken pot or shingle to provide free drainage. Ensure plants roots are moist before potting. Use John Innes P.2 or a soil-less equivalent making soil compost fairly firm but do not press soil-less composts too firmly. The top of the rootball should finish flush with the compost surface, about an inch below the pot rim. Do not stand pots on earth, otherwise worms, woodlice etc. will enter the compost. A3” deep bed of shingle over a concrete base makes an ideal standing ground for pots which may be set down almost touching each other. Stake plants with 3’ canes, a few cultivars may require slightly larger ones.
Watering pot plants
The art of watering pot-plants is not easily learned, but a moisture meter which registers wet, moist or dry when pushed into the compost makes the job much easier, especially with plants in plastic pots. It will be found that clay pots dry out more frequently than plastic pots and will require watering when the surface of the compost appears dry. A balanced liquid fertiliser containing the essential elements and trace elements should be used strictly in accordance with the manufacturers’ instructions. Water with clear water without fertiliser once a month to reduce chemical residues in the compost.
Greenhouse Cultivation
It is most important to maintain a flow of fresh air about the plants, therefore keep ventilators and doors open whenever possible. Cover ventilators and door openings with wire or plastic netting to keep out birds and cats. Simple frames can be made to cover doors. Of course, ventilation, must be considerably reduced during gales and periods of frost. In the South of England it is usually necessary to shade the greenhouse glass during the flowering period. There are some shading products which are easily removed when no longer required. In hot weather spray plants and pots gently with clear water to produce a humid atmosphere.
Keep growing stems supported with sweet-pea rings or twist-ties, thereby ensuring straight stems. Disbud during late spring and early summer. For exhibition quality blooms disbud to leave two or three buds to mature or to leave the crown bud only. Small-flowered cultivars need more severe disbudding to obtain flower size, while some large-flowered cultivars are better disbudded moderately, otherwise they may produce coarse brooms. Cultivars which have a tendency to split the calyx require the assistance of calyx bands. Rubber bands No. 8 size are useful, although soft wire rings can also be used.
Do not allow pots to dry out otherwise stems and calyces will suffer. After flowering, remove greenhouse shading and water plants less frequently to allow side growths to ripen ready for layering.
Propagation
Border carnations may be propagated by taking cuttings or by layering. Not all cultivars root easily from cuttings, although most will do so when placed in a propagator having the advantage of bottom heat. In summer take non-flowering side growths with five to six pairs of leaves and trim off square immediately beneath a joint. Remove the lowest pair of leaves and dip the base of the cutting into water and then dip into a hormone rooting powder. Insert cuttings about 1/2” apart into a small tray of compost made with a half-and-half mixture of peat and clean sharp sand or peat and perlite. One may also use sharp sand or perlite without the addition of peat. Ensure leaves are above compost level. Spray gently with a fine spray to settle cuttings in. Place trays on the surface of the propagator bed, maintain compost temperature at around 60 to 70°F, spray occasionally to keep cuttings turgid and they should have rooted after about three weeks. Pot into 3” pots John Innes P.1 or soil-less equivalent and when well rooted plant outdoors or pot into final pots.
Layering
Layering is the more certain method and may be done in the garden into the soil or in the pots the plants are grown in. With garden plants loosen the soil around the stem and work in a mixture of damp peat and sharp sand and make firm. Strip leaves from a non-flowering side growth leaving about five pairs of leaves at the growing tip. Push a small, sharp pointed penknife through the middle of the stem immediately below the joint with the lowest pair of leaves, draw the blade down through the stem and the joint below and bring the blade out just below that joint. Should this leave a sharp point on the end of the shoot trim it off square across. Bend the sidegrowth to soil level, press the tongue of the cut joint into the medium and secure with a layering pin made from a 6” length to 16 swg. wire bent to resemble a miniature walking-stick.
With pot-grown plants remove a ring of compost from around the rim of the pot about an inch wide and three inches deep and fill in firmly with a half-and-half mixture of peat and sand. In order to push the tongue into the rooting medium it may be necessary to manipulate the sidegrowth by pressing the stem very firmly between thumbnail and forefinger, but this must be done between joints only, otherwise the side growth will snap off.
Position layers not less than 2” apart, water in gently with a fine spray. Kept just moist layers should root in about six weeks. Plant out into flowering positions or pot into 3 or 4” pots according to size of root. Do not stop plants by pinching out the main stem.
Pests
Aphids distort growths by sucking their sap, but cause more serious damage by spreading virus diseases from infected to healthy plants by inoculation.
Thrips are tiny insects which work their way into calyces before the flowers open and suck the petals which, when the flowers unfold, reveal blotches devoid of their true colour.
The Carnation Tortrix Moth is a serious pest both indoors and outside. It is about the size of a man’s smallest finger nail and orange-red in colour. It is usually seen towards dusk flitting about the garden. It deposits its eggs near the tips of the youngest growths and the tiny olive-green baby caterpillars spin webs to gum the leaf-tips, thereby protecting themselves from insecticidal sprays and dusts. The tortrix moth is a serious pest in some areas, yet rarely seen in some others. Wireworms do much damage by eating the plants’ roots and burrowing into their stems, thereby causing their destruction.
Red Spider Mite is probably the worst enemy of greenhouse carnations. The outdoor red spider mite which invades fruit trees is a different species and does not attack border carnations and pinks. A severe infestation of red spider mite can destroy a whole greenhouse full of plants in a very short time if left unchecked. The mites breed rapidly in hot dry conditions, therefore the greenhouse atmosphere must be kept as cool and as moist as possible during hot weather. Spray frequently with a fine mist over foliage, pots and paths and apply full ventilation to keep the greenhouse as cool as possible. Shading the greenhouse glass reduces the temperature considerably, but must not be too dense otherwise plants will suffer from the effects of poor light. Diffuse the sunlight, do not block it out. The mites infest the underside of the leaf; a slight scratchy paling of the upper surface of the leaf at the top of the curl indicates an infestation of mites beneath it.
Pest Control
Always use the utmost care with pesticides of all kinds. Keep strictly to suppliers’ advice and instructions regarding care and dosage.
Another alternative is the use of biological pest controls against caterpillars and red spider mite. A predatory mite Phytoseuilus persimilis which feeds on red spider mite can be bought and introduced into the greenhouse where it will effectively mop up the entire red spider mite population.
Diseases
Given an open situation and reasonably well-drained soil border carnations suffer from very few diseases. Overcrowding and an overdamp situation can cause Leaf Spot which shows as brown or purple spots on the leaves with yellow margins followed by black powdery spores.
Fairy Ring Spot is another similar disease caused by overdamp conditions.
Curly Tip is seen on pot grown plants in winter and early spring and is caused by poor light conditions. The leaf tips curl and twist and fail to separate. The leaves can be gently separated with the tip of a pencil, but the problem disappears with the better light that comes with springtime.
Rust Disease is a serious problem. Blisters appear on the leaves which later burst to disperse spores resembling cocoa-powder. It is a most disfiguring malady said to be caused by insufficient ventilation, but it is as prevalent outdoors as under glass. Pick off and burn infected leaves and spray plants with a liquid copper fungicide’
Breeding New Cultivars
First obtain your seeds, but do ensure they are seeds of true border carnations. Either produce your own or obtain seeds from a grower whom you know crosses true Border Carnations. Border Carnations do not breed true from seed, which means that selfs may produce fancies and vice-versa, picotees may produce selfs or fancies but rarely the other way round. As an example red flowers may produce any other colour or colours and no reds at all. There is just no knowing, particularly with dove scent, what may turn up in one’s seedling bed. But it is true to say that cultivars with well-formed flowers with firm calyx and strong stem usually reproduce these attributes in their offspring. However, there are little snags. It can be disappointing, after deciding to cross ‘Charlie’s Aunt’ with ‘Old Moore’, to find ‘Old Moore’ does not provide the wherewithal – the pollen. ‘Charlie’s Aunt’ might also prove to be similarly unobliging. So, first find your pollen. One often finds little or no pollen on the crown flower, while the
lower, later, smaller flowers provide plenty. So do not disbud plants intended for breeding. Some varieties rarely, if ever, produce pollen. One used to be advised to cross selfs with selfs, fancies and fancies and picotees with picotees, which is still good advice for most amateurs with their limited facilities. One is more likely to obtain pleasing results this way than by trying out a great many outlandish crosses. But one never knows – the long shots do sometimes pay off. What is known to be true is that by crossing cultivars already related these second-gene ration crosses, or F2 generation as they are called, do bring into play the recessive traits, such as scent, which are not available with first generation crosses. Crossing unrelated cultivars results in only the dominant traits being passed to their offspring. Beginners to carnation breeding could try intercrossing selected seedlings from a single pod, called siblings. The resulting seedlings will all be F2 or second-generation crosses and have the benefit of both dominant and recessive genes.
One comes to learn which cultivars produce good results and which often give poor results. Also some cultivars produce well-filed pods in plenty, while others are far less generous. It is all very interesting and sometimes exciting, but can also be rather disappointing.
Pollination
Cross-pollinating is just a matter of collecting pollen and placing it upon the stigma of the flower to be fertilised. But the pollen and the stigma must have reached the correct condition to realise fertilisation. The stigma is receptive when its tip becomes hairy and slightly sticky. This only occurs when the flower matures.
Pollen is usually found on younger flowers and is best colleaed on a warm bright afternoon when it resembles yellow dust; Pollen may be transferred with a camel hair brush; it is usually advised that the brush is sterilised with surgical spirit after each cross. The author uses soft furry lupin pods taking a new pod for each cross.
A day or two after fertilisation has occurred the impregnated flower closes its petals together. When the petals have withered remove them and split the calyx sepals right down to the base to prevent moisture collecting which might otherwise rot the seed pod. The seed pod will continue to lengthen and the seeds to ripen until the tip of the seed pod turn brown and shows signs of cracking open. Pods must be collected at this stage, otherwise they may burst open with the loss of some of their seeds. Pods may be kept in used paper envelopes, but not in plastic ones or airtight tins which might cause pods to sweat and develop mildew, thereby ruining the seeds. It is wise to shell out the seeds shortly after harvesting them, because some pods may house caterpillars or earwigs which feed on the seeds.
Sowing Seeds
Sow seeds in early spring in heat in John Innes seed compost for an early start, otherwise in April or May. Seeds should be only barely covered with sifted soil or fine sharp sand. Prick out or pot into 3” pots of John Innes P. 1 or a soil-less equivalent and plant out in early summer when well rooted. Some plants may flower that same year but most will flower the following year. Seedlings from fine quality parents should produce as many double-petalled plants as singles, about one half of the doubles will be found to split the calyx, while the remaining plants may bear flowers of reasonably good quality. Which plants to retain and which to discard is a matter of personal choice. Since unnamed seedlings are allowed to be entered in competitive classes, one could try some out at carnation shows. New cultivars may be submitted for award to the Joint R.H.S./B.N.CS, Border Carnation and Pinks Committee.
Exhibiting
The perfect exhibition flower is almost circular in outline and has flat tiers of petals which overlap so that no gaps are visible between them. Petals may be smooth-edged or slightly but evenly serrated. The flower is mature yet fresh without sign of ageing.
The colour or colours are clear and distinct. The flower may face forwards or upwards but not downwards. The calyx should be whole and not burst and the stem strong enough to keep the flower upright. The flower and its stem and calyx must show no sign of pest or disease damage, nor of damage by weather.
The foregoing is not intended to frighten off potential exhibitors, but to describe the perfect bloom. Very few flowers which win trophies are completely faultless; judging would be rather boring if every bloom exhibited appeared to have just come off the production line. Growing near-perfect flowers is one thing but getting them at their peak on the show day is quite another. Every garden and every greenhouse is different from all others, exhibitors have to learn to exploit the assets of their own environment to be able to time their flowers for the shows, Hastening flower development is not difficult, but retarding it is very difficult in a hot summer. Obviously ventilators can be regulated to obtain a desired effect, doors and vents, shading the glass or reducing the shade helps, as also does spraying over foliage, pots and paths. Some exhibitors take pots out of the greenhouse and place them under a canopy of Dutch lights in order to hold their flowers back. Where one’s blooms seem always to be too early it would be sensible to consider fitting extra ventilators or louvres.
Do not allow pots to dry out completely, this could weaken the stems and lead to split calyx. Fit calyx bands as a precaution. Cut flowers for show in the evening or early morning, at least 24 hours before packing them. Flower preserving sachets are most useful, flowers keep better and last longer. Carnation boxes can be obtained from florist shops; some exhibitors have a transporting box with water-filled tubes to accommodate the stems. With florist-shop flower boxes fix cardboard cross-pieces across the width of the box and cut U -shaped slots to support the calyces. Place flowers in the box with stems beneath the cross-pieces.
Upon arrival at the show venue immediately unpack and place blooms into deep vases filled with water. Vases in which the blooms are to be exhibited must first be filled with packing material. Oasis foam block is easy and dean, this should be pre-soaked and cut to fit the shape of the vase into which it is to be wedged after filling the vase with water. Push Oasis %” below top of vase to allow the vase to be topped up as necessary. Cut flower stems immediately above a joint, making a sloping cut. Stage your blooms and do not forget to add three or four pieces of healthy-looking foliage to finish off your exhibit and to conform with the rules. Remove calyx bands or risk disqualification, and examine all calyces. Check over all your exhibits to ensure they are placed in their correct classes, also thai all exhibitors’ cards are in correct places and exhibits correctly named.
The first rule for exhibitors is ‘Study the Schedule and the B.N.C.S. Show Regulations booklet’. These will tell you all you need to know; where to place your exhibits, what types of flowers and how many and what size vases to put them in. Should you have any query on any point at all then consult the Show Secretary who will be pleased to advise you.
Monthly reminders
January
Autumn-Planted layers’ roots can become loosened by frost action; check occasionally and re-firm where necessary, Water greenhouse plants sparingly and only when absolutely necessary, taking care not to splash the foliage.
February
Move plants in small pots into finals as they become ready. A tell-tale whisker of root emerging from the drainage hole is a sign the young plant is ready for the move.
March
Hoe around outdoor plants in open weather incorporating a balanced dry fertiliser. Continue with final potting and feed pot plants according to your particular compost manufacturers’ instructions.
April
Hoe around established outdoor plants and plant out plants from small pots after having dressed the ground with a balanced dry fertiliser. Watch out for pests in the greenhouse and spray or dust insecticide as necessary. Sow seeds, in a greenhouse or frame, shading them until they germinate.
May
Watch out for pests on outdoor plants and spray with insecticide where necessary. Stake outdoor plants with sturdy twigs or wry light canes and sweet-pea rings or twist-ties. Support pot-plants’ stems as they grow with 3’ canes arid support rings,
Keep a watch for insect pests in the greenhouse and spray as necessary.
June
Hoe around outdoor plants and start disbuding two and three-year-old plants. Most exhibitors feed their pot-grown plants one application of a high potash liquid fertiliser, Disbud greenhouse plants gradually, Continue with pest control precautions.
Spray over plants and pots in greenhouse to keep them cool and provide humidity.
July
Keep hoe going outdoors and attend to plant supports to prevent of plenls. Shade greenhouse glass if necessary. Keep spraying over plants and p||s to reduce:
-temperature and provide humidity and continue with pest controffliscautions. Start layering the more forward plants. -Cross-pollinate flowers to produce seed for sowing
next spring.
August
Layer outdoor plants and keep sprayed over to keep soil moist. Continue layering pot-grown greenhouse plants. Spray against insect pests and spray greenhouse pots and paths to provide humidity.
September
Keep the hoe going around outdoor plants and spray outdoor layers frequently to keep soil moist. Start potting greenhouse layers into small pots and keep them sprayed over in warm weather. End of month remove greenhouse shading. Gather seedpods directly tips begin to crack open, otherwise some seeds may scatter and be lost.
October
Plant out rooted layers. Cut back flowering stems of established plants and gather leaves collected beneath them. Continue to pot rooted layers into small pots. Maintain full ventilation except in bad weather.
November
Final-pot earliest layers from small pots as they become ready for the move. Water carefully and only when necessary taking care not to splash the foliage. Keep ventilation going to allow foliage to dry off. Close down at night during bad weather.
December
Check that autumn-planted layers have not been lifted by frost and re-firm where necessary. Continue final potting. Check that glass is as clean as it could be, good light is particularly important now to prevent curly tip.