Growing Sweet Peas for Exhibition

Northland Age, Volume 6, Issue 33, 7 May 1937, Page 9

Growing Sweet Peas for Exhibition

(Contributed by H. Goldie, winner of Auckland Championship for Five Years)

The growing of sweet peas for exhibition in the Auckland district has during the past few years, made very considerable progress, and the object in penning these notes is to still further advance enthusiastic growers in the latest methods for growing the? finest blooms in the best possible condition for the exhibition table.

A great mistake we have been making is growing too many varieties —sixty or seventy have been grown where twenty or twenty-five at most should be attempted. We have also grown a lot of English and American novelties (?) which have not been proved or fixed, and frequently they were old friends under new names, giving a large percentage of rogues, which a smaller grower cannot afford tg grow. It is far better to take sorts we know, of undoubted reputation, and add a few of the latest, and grow six, eight or ten plants of each ; in this way we shall have all fours to exhibit. Decide where you are going to grow pale-shaded varieties, —darker shades need different treatment.

Where possible grow peas in rows at least five feet apart; it is then easier to shade and work them, and try to have rows running east and west ; shading on one side only will then be necessary. If double rows they should run north and south so that the peas' get the benefit of the sun on both rows. Preparing the Ground Dig a trench 2J to 3 feet deep, and two to three feet wide ; turf is by far the best foundation you can put on the bottom —if not procurable tip a good layer of weeds or any green stuff, next a layer of manure (six inches), dairy is best, but stable will do if well rotted ; incorporate six inches of soil with manure and add one ounce of superphosphate to running yard, repeat soil and manure, and your trench will be filled to within about twelve inches of the top. Before filling in last spit procure some

cracked or faulty 3-inch drain pipes, or interview your .nearest protographer and make a deal with him for waste tins in which bromide paper has been packed ; pipes or tins should be sunk —only 2 inches showing above the ground—and placed about three feet apart. This is the best method for getting water or liquid manure to the roots, and saves a lot of time in watering. Plenty of lime should be used in the top spit to kill eggs of snails, slugs, and is also a useful fertilizer. Buy from your chimney sweep a supply of soot, cost 21- per sack, and use a good sprinkling throughout the whole depth of the trench ; if you have heavy clay or loam soil, wood ash will be found beneficial. Don’t allow manure to come nearer than twelve inches from the surface ; you might as well give an infant a beef steak to digest as too strong manure to young plants. For Lighter Shades In the case of lighter shades, as mentioned above, use a greater proportion of soot throughout, trench and dig in sulphate of iron (h ounce to yard) in two bottom spits, and soot water one month before flowering, and again one week before will greatly improve the colour of the blooms.

Supports Supports should be fixed before plants are put out, otherwise young seedlings are likely to be broken. Order fiom mill uprights H inches square and 16 feet long. Sink 2 feet ; the double row is favoured by Southerners, the space between for plants about 12 inches. The latter method certainly saves a lot of labour in training. 4-inch sheep netting is best, as the hands can' easily be put through to train plants ; long ti-tree brush can be used instead of netting but more labour in training vines is necessary, but some say that the flowers are not so much bruised by gales. Best Time To Sow This is a most important point, and one on which there exists many opinions, some growers prefer autumn, others spring ; personally I sow early in April. Sowings should be regulated according to show dates, and for Auckland, I should say from the time of sowing to the date of show, one or two weeks under eight

months should elapse. By early sowing most of Auckland’s leading sowers believe they get more stamina, and taller growth in the vines, consequently finer flowers, and our worst pests, snails and slugs are not nearly so troublesome. Method of Raising Seeds Box planting, I believe, is the best. Make boxes seven inches deep, fruit boxes will do ; have plenty of drainage in boxes and good sifted soil. Compost or any manure in boxes tends to make plants weakly ; plant seeds l to i inch deep, seeds of lavender and white peas need very little covering, but large seeds of other varieties of course can go a little deeper. Seeds should be planted ll ins. apart, and would advise planting 10 to 20 of each variety to avoid misses. Water seeds once after planting, and then cover boxes with sacks for seven days. You will find that most of the seed will then have germinated, particularly if a small part of outer shell is chipped witlT a sharp knife. Keep slightly moist till they have four leaves, give good watering, and then they are ready for planting out. Planting Out During the process of transplanting every care should be taken to avoid bruising the roots. Space between each plant should not be less than 12 to 18 inches ; two feet is better if you have the room. Manuring If you have followed the foregoing instructions, you will not need to use any more manure until they are half grown. You can give one watering of superphosphate, proportion J ounce

to gallon. Three weeks before the show give a watering of sulphate of ammonia, i ounce to three gallons of water, and one week before the show use sulphate of iron £ ounce to the gallon of water. If ground becomes dry at any period previous to flowering, use clear water only ; rain water is best, or tap water will do, but it must have been exposed to the sun for some hours. During the flowering season weekly waterings of liquid manure may be given, (always after a good watering with clear water) but always change the diet, never use the same manure twice running. Superphosphate, nitrate of soda, sulphate

of ammonia in above proportions, liquid from dairy or stable manure, Mackereths’, Yates’, or Clay’s sweet pea mixture, soot water, fowl manure (in moderation), etc., but be carc-

ful you do not overdue it, especial l / on heavy land, or buds will fall off. Watch the plants and see if they want stimulating ; mulching will be found beneficial but only during flowering season. Hoeing This is very imporant and should be carried out at least once a week during the whole of the growing season. Spraying After a dry dusty day you can do vines a lot of good by spraying with clear rain water. Tendrils To make sure of getting straight stems for the show, cut off all useless tendrils. Shading We now come to one of the most important items of our programme, and if you do not carry it out you will very likely spoil your chances of winning some glory and prizes, for your nine months’ work. Procure a bolt of the commonest scrim (72 inches wide), costs about 3d. a yard wholesale. Boil it in a copper to get the dressing out ; if you don’t you stand a chance of having your blooms spoilt by the first shower of rain and vines ruined. A rather Ih.ck ch esc cloth is better than scrim but more expensive. There are two methods of shading, the sloping methocf is the simplest and least expensive. If your uprights have been bought 16 feet long, allowing for threo feet higher than your vines are likely to grow, you will only need to nail a piece of strong wire on top of uprights the whole length of row, and if your row is a single one, you will need to place another row of nine feet uprights six feet away, with wire also stretched along the top ; you will then find it a very simple matter to stretch the covering between the wires. If you

shade on both sides of the row, be surd to leave 12 inches air space on top, or blooms will scorch wkh the the imprisoned hot air. The other process is to build a light framework over the plants, flat roof, covering with the material in the same way, the roof to extend five feet, one

or both sides. In this way you can shade to the ground if necessary.

Covering should be fixed five days before time of gathering blooms for show, and you will find the delicate colourings will be improved and flowers cleaner and larger and well worth the extra trouble. Thinning Do not allow more than three main stems to grow ; cut out the weakest shoots when the plants are young, and it is also a good plan to cut out all side -shoots, as they develop, great care must be taken to keep the main stems tied to the wire-netting and evenly spaced. The best material for tying is raffia cut into about 4 to 5 inch lengths. Tying will be necessary every week in early spring when growth is rapid. Virgin Soil New soil should be used each year if possible, and if you cannot change position it is advisable to take out ola soil and fill trench with new ; but it is possible to grow sweet peas three years running in the same place if plenty of lime and manure is used, and by allowing soil to be loosened and exposed to the action of the sun’s rays for several weeks to sweeten. Diseases * like all our favourite flowers, sweet peas are subject to sev - eral diseases, and if not taken in time, may cause us to lose spme of our best plants. Yellowing is the most difficult to combat, and is generally re sponsible for the loss of about five percent, of the plants. The yellowing starts at the base of the vine, and sometimes creeps up the main stems until the plant is attacked in every part. Before it reaches this stage it is better to dig up and burn it. We are indebted to Mr. E. Allan for a formula, which I saw in operation over several acres of sweet peas, and which certainly stopped the spread of the disease. He used Bordeaux Mixture, 10-10-40, with the addition of a tablespoon of lysol to every three gallons. Get this from one of the seedsmen, and as soon as the first signs appear, spray only the plant affected ; give several applications if necessary. Mildew often gives trouble in certain seasons and early syringing will save a lot of trouble. Mildew appears like a fine white powder on the foliage, generally late in the season. Mr. Allan gives the following recipe and instructions : Spray persistently with

lysol, two tablespoonsful to thi'ee gallons of soft water. Sulphur, lime and sulpher, fir tree oil and McDougall’s Anti Mould are also used.