THE QUESTION CORNER

By Lisa DiMambro

Question: I can't grow large show plants; my plants get to a certain size and the lower leaves turn yellow and fall off. What is wrong?

Answer: I had to do a lot of research for this question, as the person posing it is an accomplished grower. Finally I asked a lot of growers of larger show plants at a recent convention. The following is all the advice that was received.

Make sure that the variety you are trying to grow large will grow large, and do so in your conditions. A plant that will grow large for a grower in California may not grow as well in New England. Use a balanced 20-20-20 fertilizer, not a 12-36-14, as the large show plants need the nitrogen to keep the leaves a nice, healthy, green. Skipping fertilizer in the summer is not a good idea for the show plants as they are still growing and need the nutrition for the outer leaves to stay healthy.

A few growers I spoke with suggested that taking the plant off the wicking system in the warmer weather seems to help with this type of problem also. Another suggestion was made to take the root ball apart and make sure that there are no soil mealy bugs or other root problems. Also not over potting the plant, or allowing the plant to stay too long in an undersized pot.

Contrary to popular belief I was told not to disbud completely for long periods of time, but to allow the plant to put up one bloom stalk occasionally.

And the final, most common suggestion made by all the growers was the ph issue. Although this grower had tested her ph and it was in the normal range, many said that unless a soil sample was taken from the center of the root ball, it would not be accurate. With the mold potting method of potting up larger plants, we are not taking the old soil off, but just adding new. This does not level the ph throughout the pot. The older soil in the center of the root ball could be too high or too low and not allow the plant to absorb the nutrients it needs, even though the ph on the outer edge is fine.