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Show Beautiful flowers are leaves Flint Greenhouse grows, and distributes 50,000 Poinsettias p"j I L .-. - ,, - , ., ylpww, 1 tTyr ".'.Miiijiwr w- .-;r. . iwwi '.' --nr .u' u ' ' ' ' v .y'.cg -i" -t . I I. I " i.ili'M'l IIHIII Ullllllljiii i 1 , y . Af A -? m -J overhead spray keep the cuttings damp enough to allow a root system sys-tem to form. The large stock plants are saved. Some are sold in 10-inch pots. Others are retained to be used as stock plants next season. After three to four weeks of misting, mis-ting, the cuttings have a root system sys-tem large enough to extend out the bottom of the growing cube. They are then transferred into six or six and one-half inch pots. This is the most popular retail size although plants are potted in sizes ranging from two-inch cubes in four-packs for commercial florists to large 10-inch 10-inch arrangements. Once the rooted poinsettia is potted, it is placed on a growing shelf until it is ready for retail dis-tribution dis-tribution starting in mid- PHOTOS BY ROGER TUTTLE Over 50,000 poinsettias were produced at Flint Greenhouses in Layton. Seventy-five percent of them will be distributed along the Wasatch Front. Red is the most popular color and 90 percent of the plants grown in Layton are red. The remainder are equally divided between pink and white. By DONETA GATHERUM LAYTON By the time the first shipment of 10,000 poinsettias left Flint Greenhouses for pre-Thanksgiving pre-Thanksgiving sale, Dennis Cox, manager of the greenhouses was questioning the popularity of this best-selling of all holiday plants. For 30 years, Mr. Cox has worked work-ed for the Flint Greenhouse company com-pany and their wholesale branch, Mountainstates Plants. This organization orga-nization is one of the major growers grow-ers of flowering house plants in Utah and Idaho. It was started by Paul and David Flint, brothers and natives of Layton. Dennis Cox is their nephew. This year 50,000 poinsettias were produced at the greenhouses in Layton and 60,000 were raised in Buhl, Ida. The Idaho greenhouses use a geothermal source of energy for heating and cooling. Seventy-five percent of the poinsettias poin-settias grown by Flint are distributed distri-buted to retailers along the Wasatch Front. The remaining are .shipped to Colorado, 'Idaho and Montana. Red is the most popular color accounting for 90 percent of the plants grown. The remaining ten percent are equally divided between be-tween pinJc and white. Variegated colors havebeen developed but they have never reached a stage of popularity that makes them profitable. profit-able. Red poinsettias come in two varieties the pale green-leaved Annette Hegg and the darker green-leaved Lilo. The later is a new variety that is becoming more popular each year. Poinsettias growing starts in April when the stock plants arrive from Ecke Company in Southern California. Mr. Cox notes that Flint Greenhouses have now reached the point where they prop-ogate prop-ogate many stock plants in Layton and don't need as many shipped in from California. The first five or six inch long cuttings cut-tings are taken from the stock plants the first week of July. This process continues until each stock plant has yielded 17 to 20 cuttings. The cuttings are placed in an "oasis" growing cube and secured along the rows of growing shelves. Steam mist from underneath the growing shelves and a fine misty f ..Jfoe f :' ' u - 'AT-"?',. f SMiKmX w' f; ; f .s -'z -- November. This process is usually completed by Sept. 12. From this point until the poinsettia poinset-tia is sold, the plant lives in a completely com-pletely controlled environment. Plant science, not nature, determines deter-mines the shape, size, quality and blooming time of the plants. The first "unnatural" thing that happens to the plant is to have the center pinched out so that the branches bran-ches will spread rather than grow upward. Exact amounts of water are applied ap-plied on a regular basis. Fertilizer is added about every third day. Temperature is set at 66 degrees. At first the greenhouses are a little warmer during the day. This control con-trol is reversed in mid-October. Chemical growth regulators insure that the plant will be the proper size when it is ready for market. Pest strips that resemble the old-time sticky fly strips help determine .) what insects are in the green-. green-. houses. About the only enemy a poinsettia has is the white fly. When these appear in sufficient numbers, insecticide granules are spread on the plants. Between Sept. 22 and 25, Mr. Cox starts the process that will cause the poinsettia to "bloom." This plant is unique in that the beautiful red flowers are actually modified leaves. Black plastic sheets that can be rolled across the tops of the plants, are introduced. These allow the grower to always have 13 hours of darkness, a situation that is necessary neces-sary to "blooming." Mr. Cox says the term for this is "photoponic." Controlling the hours of darkness dark-ness enables Flint Greenhouses to determine when the plants are ready for market. Mr. Cox notes that there is an increasing demand for poinsettias before Thanksgiving. Thanksgiv-ing. Some are prepared for sale at this time. Others are left in a "green" stage for market a month later. This year, Flint Greenhouses will be marketing the poinsettia in a different way. Special pots allow for the planting of ferns around the outside with a poinsettia in the middle mid-dle or "mums" around the outside combined with the poinsettia centerpiece. cen-terpiece. These "Fern-settias" and "Mum-settias" are very popular, popu-lar, Mr. Cox notes. Every Mountain States Plants poinsettia comes with care instructions. instruc-tions. Mr. Cox says the most important im-portant thing to remember is to always al-ways keep the plant moist not wet. "If the plant ever dies out, it will start losing leaves," he says. Poinsettias like light and last longer when they are placed by a window. Although it is not impossible for a poinsettia owner to keep the plant until next year and get it to bloom again, Mr. Cox says this is not , practical. "If you miss just once keeping it in darkness for 13 hours, you have lost the bloom," he claims. Now that the poinsettias have all left Flint Greenhouses for market, Mr. Cox must start his next seasonal season-al project, 40,000 Easter lilies will fill the space formerly occupied by the poinsettia. Manager Dennis Cox checks for perfection on just one of the !. thousands of poinsettias grown in Layton for the Christmas season. |