"David Ross" wrote in message
...
Michael Singmin wrote:

Hello Gardeners,

In South Africa Chrysantheums are almost the most popular indoor
flowering potplant. While I have been very successful with many other
plants, I have never been able propagate Mums satisfactorily. The 2nd
set of flowers are trivial.

My gardening book says the following
"To produce the compact plants often bearing 20 or more blooms
requires special production techniques involving artificial shortening
and lengthening days"

Anybody who knows something about this ?

'Mums bloom in response to day-length. As the days grow shorter
relative to the nights, flower buds are formed and then open.
Growing 'mums under artificial light can thus be used to make them
bloom out of season. This is why you can buy flowering 'mums when
they are not flowering in your garden.

Making them compact with many blooms is something else. From
spring through about two weeks after the summer solstice, keep
pinching them back. (I even use pruning shears and cut back to
only 2-4 leaves per stem. In the northern hemisphere, I do this
until about the end of the first week of July.) This makes them
bushy with many stems. When flower buds start to form, disbud;
leave only the main center bud on each stem. This results in
fewer but larger flowers. The effect is better than many smaller
flowers.

At least every other year (better every year), new plants should
be started from the old plants. Merely dividing the old clumps --
keeping newer portions and discarding the rest -- is the most
reliable. However, the most vigorous results are obtained by
rooting cuttings, of which 1/2 to 2/3 will survive. When you
replant from either divisions or cuttings, put a small amount of
bone meal in the planting hole about 3-4 inches (7-10 cm) below
the roots. The phosphorous will promote both root growth and
flowers.

--
David E. Ross
Climate: California Mediterranean

Your advice is great, but It appears to me that Michael is trying to take
cuttings and raise the mums as a house plant without benefit of a
greenhouse.(Maybe I'm reading too much into his question?) If one purchases
mums as an out-of-season blooming plant for a holiday before spring arrives,
cut off the spent blossoms and keep them alive until they can safely be
planted outside. Once it's warm enough to support growth, plant them in the
ground in a sunny location. Before planting, loosen the roots if root bound
and then follow David's instructions. I have often been given mums in pots
that were bloomed out in the fall and had them survive and bloom the
following year. In fact, our garden club has a number of mums planted in a
project area that a local merchant donated after they failed to sell in the
fall. This is their third year of blooming.

John