I would like to say that a six-year old child can raise good Asters, and
that they will grow in any kind of ground from a clay bank to a sand
pit, or stand any kind of treatment. I can't truthfully say those
things, however, for my Lady Aster is a fastidious dame. She wants
plenty to eat and plenty to drink, and requires her insect foes kept at
bay. Those who are not willing to do this had better let her alone.
James Vick, that good old seedsman now gone to his reward, was an Aster
enthusiast. His experience concisely summed up amounts to this:
_Never let them flag from seed-leaf to time of full bloom. Give
deep, rich ground, plenty of sunshine, and mulch with coarse
manure. Stake the tall varieties so as to prevent their blowing
over._
That's a good rule for those who want everything in a nutshell. It may
be summed up in another way. The way to have fine Asters is to do these
six things: (1) Get the best seed; (2) start in a seasonable time; (3)
give rich, mellow ground; (4) never allow them to parch; (5) keep
insects down; and (6) stake when necessary.
[Sidenote: About Seed]
There are many kinds of seed that may be home grown year after year and
the strain suffer no deterioration. Aster seed is not one of these
kinds. If they were given high culture so as to bloom their best, and
only a few of the very choicest individual flowers allowed to seed, they
would of course come true from seed year after year. The trouble is
that home saving is generally from all the flowers as they run, culls,
off-colored specimens and all. Our best Asters represent very high
breeding indeed. It is well known that highly bred plants quickly run
out unless kept at the same high standard. Therefore never trust to
haphazard seed if you desire first class Asters. Do not depend either
upon cheap seed. Choose a reliable seed house, one that takes a pride in
keeping the choicest strains of all the leading flowers and has too much
regard for its reputation to send out inferior seeds under some
high-sounding title.
[Illustration: DWARF BOUQUET ASTER]
[Sidenote: Time to Start Asters]
A great many people start Aster seed in the house or greenhouse as early
as February. There is not only nothing gained by this--for the Aster is
a late flower and does not come to its best estate before August, start
it when you will--but an actual disadvantage. Like James Vick, I would
emphasize the importance of never letting the plants get a check if the
finest flowers are wanted. Now the Aster is not naturally a hothouse
plant. It needs in its young stage plenty of fresh air. Without it, or
without sufficient light, or in too warm an atmosphere, the young Aster
plants become tall and spindling, or, as florists express it, are drawn.
A drawn Aster invariably makes a weak, sickly plant, and never bears
large or handsome flowers. Sow the seed thinly and cover lightly. They
should germinate in from 5 to 7 days.
In the middle states the best growers make a practice of sowing the
seeds in boxes about the last of April or first of May. Some make a
couple of later sowings between that date and the first of June, sowing
these in carefully prepared seed-beds in the open ground. This is to
keep up a succession of flowers. So many sowings are scarcely necessary
now that there are both early and late varieties to be chosen in the
first place. The period of first sowing will allow for all, if kinds
that flower at various times are chosen. In the Southern states a June
sowing is recommended. A lath frame will keep the plants from parching.
Late Asters may be lifted for the house. It is a good plan if one wishes
several of them for pot plants to sow seed of them in July, under a lath
frame where they will be shaded somewhat and protected from drying winds
until up and of some little size. These will come into bloom before the
first Holland bulbs are ready for the window, and will remain in full
beauty for several weeks. An August sowing will give late winter and
early spring flowers.
Asters are easily transplanted and should never be allowed to become
cramped for room, or to be grown in the shade of other plants. If
carefully done, an Aster in almost full bloom can be taken up and
replanted without injuring it in the least. So there is no excuse for
letting them be crowded in either seed-box or seed-bed.
[Sidenote: Preparing an Aster Bed]
There is no use trying to get good Asters from plants in poor ground.
They are gross feeders. They dislike sandy soil the most of all. Clay
ground is better for them than sand, and loamy soil the best of all. If
the soil is sandy, plant Asters so as to leave a little depression
around each plant. The water will thus sink about them and more moisture
be retained. Sour, undrained soils where the water stands should be
raised a little above the level of the lawn, if for Asters, so that
excess of water may drain off. They like moisture but not stagnant
water. Whatever the character of the ground, spade it deep so that it
may be mellow, and make it very rich. If the ground is to be spaded a
foot deep, a 3-inch layer of rotted manure is about right to dig in.
Rotted manure does not mean fresh or lumpy manure. It means that the
fertilizing element shall have been rotted until ready to drop to
pieces. Stable manure is too fiery. Cow manure over a year old is best.
Many expert Aster growers scatter an inch of unleached hardwood ashes
over the bed before it is broken up and spade it in with the manure.
They claim it both suits the Aster and helps to keep off root-lice.
It is usual to plant tall or half dwarf varieties in the center of the
beds, and use some of the dwarf Asters for an outside row or border. The
tall kinds should stand 10 to 12 inches apart in the row. The dwarf ones
about 8 inches apart. Asters make a sightly bed because of the uniform
height of each class and because of their blooming at the same time.
[Sidenote: Mulching and Watering]
Hot dry soil quickly spoils Asters. About July mulch them well.
Two inches of coarse manure spread out well over their roots is the best
mulch of all, as every rain washes nutrition from it down to the roots
below. Chip dirt, pine needles, or grass clippings will do, or anything
else that is light, yet will let the rains or waterings leach through.
No one who has not actually tried it can know of the help a mulch really
is to Asters. I doubt whether first-class flowers can be obtained in
dry, windy countries, or in hot, sun-scorched valleys without its aid.
Asters love the sun, nevertheless unless their feet are kept cool and
moist they inevitably burn and wilt. A mulch keeps the ground cool, and
it keeps it moist also.
I know of Asters that gained the prizes at county fairs that were
regularly soaked once a week with the suds from the weekly washing. In
most climates a thorough drenching of the ground once a week will
promote a luxuriant growth of the plants. There is nothing gained by
watering in dry weather unless the ground is mulched. Without this
protection the ground will bake as hard as a brick and the plants suffer
more than if no water had been given. In some sections hot dry winds
prevail through August and September. This is most trying to Asters. If
there is a tank, or system of water works, a good sprinkling, not only
to the roots but of the foliage as well, will revive them wonderfully.
Use the hose about sunset. By morning the plants will be entirely
revived.
[Sidenote: Insect Foes of Asters]
The red spider and aphis have no special fondness for the Aster. They
get after it when it comes in their way, as they do anything else. But
the Aster has two implacable enemies that by their ravages have done
more to discourage people from growing these plants than all other
causes combined. These two foes are blister beetles and root lice.
RED SPIDER bothers in hot dry weather. Water is their foe. When the
familiar thin, half-dying foliage appears, grey on the under-side and
showing a few fine webs underneath, there is no mistaking the signs. It
is the red spider. If a hose is used in the garden, turn the water on
under a full head, directing it to the under-side of the leaves where
the invisible pests have their colonies. Never mind if it does bend the
plants by the force of the stream. They can be straightened afterwards.
Play up and down, under and all around. If well done, and the deed
repeated a couple of days after, they will have been killed. If no hose
is available, use a sprinkler, dashing the water on with all the force
possible.
APHIS is the common plant louse. Some use tobacco stems as a mulch about
Asters instead of manure. Tobacco factories and dealers in florist's
supplies sell these at low prices, as it is the refuse material left
after manufacturing tobacco for smoking and chewing. Where these can be
obtained it is a sure preventative not only against aphis but almost any
other insect.
Other remedies for aphis are spraying with a hard stream of water. Two
or three thorough applications will finish them. Kerosene emulsion will
kill them. So will insect powder if it has not become stale, and if used
on a still, calm day when there is no air stirring to revive its
suffocated victims.
THE BLISTER BEETLE or aster beetle comes along when the plants are in
bloom or in bud. They are half to three-quarters of an inch long, black
with grey stripes down their back. Oh! how they devour all before them!
Out of the unknown they come, hordes of them. They tarry but two or
three days, and leave but bare stalks behind them, every bed, every
flower, and every leaf eaten off.
The remedy is to fight them.
When the lytta, _alias_ blister beetle, arrives, prepare to give a warm
welcome to him and all of his kind. There are several methods of doing
this. Any of them must be repeated two or three times a day, for there
seem to be successive waves of the beetles. In a few days the danger is
past.
My own method is to get a helper, and, taking one plant at a time, knock
the beetles off and kill them with a stick. It is a joy to look upon the
heaps of slain when all is done. Whenever the plant upon which it is is
jarred in the slightest, this beetle falls to the ground exactly as
though it were dead. Only for a second, however, then it runs for dear
life. That is why it takes more than one person, for it's no child's
play to kill a score of scampering bugs in a quarter of a minute.
[Illustration: QUILLED GERMAN ASTER]
My other half's way is to get a fresh supply of insect powder
(Dalmation, Persian, Bubach, etc., whatever name it may be sold under)
and squirt it thickly over the bugs by the use of one of those 10-cent
powder guns that all druggists keep. It is effective if the insect
powder is fresh.
[Illustration]
Other remedies are to put netting over the bed; to spray the plants with
poisoned water, made by stirring 1 teaspoonful of Paris green into 2
gallons of water; and to use kerosene emulsion. The last is made after
this formula: 1 tablespoonful of kerosene beaten up with half a cupful
of milk. Dilute with 2 gallons of water.
Do not forget that any remedy must be used two or three times a day
while the raid is on.
ROOT-LICE, BLUE APHIS, etc., is one of the most common enemies of the
Aster. When the plants are almost at their best the tops turn a peculiar
sickly green, or they wilt, or become brown. They die quickly unless
something is at once done. Pull one up and the roots are found alive
with a little insect that looks like a plant louse. Insecticides poured
on the soil rarely kill the pests. A bed that has been ashed, or had a
mulching of tobacco stems, as has already been advised, will have
escaped.
Where the root lice have already commenced, Rexford recommends drawing
the dirt away until the roots are exposed, then sifting tobacco dust
thickly over them replacing the soil afterwards. Others recommend
flooding the bed with kerosene emulsion in the same way. While some have
success, others claim failure by either of these methods. Here is a way
of dealing with root lice, however, that is always sure.
Heat a lot of water. Then pull up every affected plant, shake the dirt
off their roots, and dip them quickly into scalding water. Leave them in
but a second, but dip their roots two or three times to make sure every
bug gets its dose. Pour boiling water into the ground where the Asters
had been. That settles the fate of every root-louse in the ground. As
soon as the ground has cooled a little, plant the Asters back, stake
them so as to hold them up, and shade lightly for a day or two.
Will it not kill the plants? No, it will not injure them. Of course the
plants should have been taken up very carefully so as not to break off
the roots. The Aster will stand more in the way of lifting than any
other plant I know. Mature plants may be washed out by the roots in a
severe storm, but if promptly planted again will be all right in a day
or two after. I know a lady who had to move some distance in August. She
had a fine bed of Asters. She made the ground soaking wet, then took
them every one up, putting them as close as they would stand in ordinary
soap boxes. They never minded the transfer in the least, and bloomed so
handsomely in their boxes as to call forth many compliments. I give
these instances to convince doubting Thomases that pulling up Asters
and scalding the root-lice on them is not so desperate a remedy as it
sounds. And it is a sure remedy.
[Sidenote: Other Cultural Rules]
Until it is time to mulch Asters, stir the ground, or hoe the bed once a
week. In some climates, particularly in warm ones, tall Asters sometimes
take on a tall, thin growth. These leggy plants are not beautiful, nor
do they bear many flowers. Whenever plants show a disposition to run up
this way, pinch out the tops. Repeat the pinching two or three times if
necessary, until a disposition to branch shows itself.
The tall sorts are the better for a support. Otherwise hard winds uproot
them. Stakes should be used that when driven will be about two-thirds
the height of the plants. Tie with soft string, with a sort of a
slip-knot so that a half dozen of the main branches have a band
supporting them, yet are not drawn up so hard and tight as to cut into
the branch.
If a display of Asters are wanted for a flower show make the ground as
wet as mud. Then lift each plant with a spade or mattock slowly and
skillfully. The roots, dirt and all, will come up in a solid mass. Pot
at once, before any of the earth is shaken off. They will not wither in
the least if kept out of direct sunshine for a few days. If enormous
blooms are wanted, disbud, leaving but one bud to each tip. Trim off the
small side branches also, to throw the strength of the plant into these
chosen blooms. Most people prefer more flowers and less size.
There are generally a few promising late Asters that are not yet in
bloom when frosts come. Lift these in the same careful manner for the
house. They do not do well in hot rooms. In cool rooms, not above 60 to
65 degrees by day, they thrive. They like some sunshine, but will get
along with little of it if they have good light beside. They do finely
in halls and bedrooms where the temperature is almost to the frost line
at night, and no fire heat at all during the day. An Aster will not
bloom all winter. Its period of bloom is quite long enough, however, to
make it a welcome guest in the plant window, and when through blooming
it can be thrown away.