CHRYSANTHEMUM (Dendranthema grandiflorum) Fa: Asteraceae

“Queen of the East”. The cultivars have wide variation in terms of growth habit, size, color and
shape of flower.
Importance and uses
Chrysanthemum is grown as a commercial flower crop and as a popular exhibition
flower. They are used for background planting in borders, front row planting or pot culture, as
cut flowers, for garland making and hair decorations. In N. India, it is primarily grown for
landscape gardening either in ground or in pots. In S. India it is grown for loose flowers for
garland, hair decoration and for religious functions. Pot mum chrysanthemums are popular due
to excellent range of color, form, long-lasting quality of blooms and ease in handling.
Chrysanthemum is native to northern hemisphere ie Europe and Asia. Chinese literary works
have mentioned chrysanthemum as early as 500 BC. It is seen distributed throughout the world.
Varieties
Chrysanthemum bloom comprises two types of florets- disc florets and ray florets.
Disc florets: They are placed at center, tubular with 5 united petals. They are perfect flowers as
they have male and female reproductive parts.
Ray florets: They surround the disc florets. Comparatively longer, vary in shape, color and
distribution of growth. They are imperfect flowers as they have only female reproductive parts.
Different chrysanthemum cultivars are classified on the basis of bloom characteristics ie the
relative number of two kinds of florets, the physical shape of florets, direction of growth and
arrangement of florets.
I.Division A- Ray florets flattened to concave or convex, visible portions never tubular.
Disc prominent, circular in outline, composed of many disc florets.
Class 1 Single-Ray florets in a single row perpendicular to the stem. Disc flat to slightly rounded.
Class 2 Semi-double –Ray florets in more than one row perpendicular to the stem but may curve
downward at the tips. Disc flat to slightly rounded.
Class 3 Anemone- Ray florets are variable from flattened, broad and equal in length to refluxing,
pointed at tip and unequal in length. Disc is prominent with numerous tube like disc florets.
Disc florets may be entirely absent, concealed or not prominent
Class 4 Pompon- Globular bloom, flat or button type. Ray florets broad, incurved, smooth and
firm
Class 5 Incurve- Globular bloom. Ray florets narrow to broad, smooth and incurved without
producing an open center.
Class 6 Refluxing incurve - Globular bloom. Not entirely incurved nor refluxing. Lower florets
may reflux in some cultivars giving a skirted effect
Class 7 Decorative-Flattened blooms, lower ray florets reflux and upper ones tend to incurve.
Short and broad to long and pointed ray florets.
Class 8 Reflex- Globular bloom, flattened center. Narrow to broad ray florets, gracefully
overlapping and reflexed
II. Division B (Classes 9-11) –Ray florets tubular, coiled or straight, thread –like to coarse,
closed, flattened or crooked at the distal end.
 Class 9 Spoon-Prominent disc, ray florets tubular and straight, distal portion flattened and spoon-
like.
Class 10 Quill- Fully double bloom, disc not visible. Ray florets tubular, straight, either closed to
tip and pointed or open and spatulate
Class 11 Spider –Disc not prominent. Ray florets long and tubular, distal portion may be closed
or open and spatulate tips show definite coils or hooks. Based on fineness of tube there are
subclasses thread, fine, medium and coarse tube
III. Division C (Classes 12-13)- Ray florets flattened/ tubular. Disc may or may not be seen.
Class 12 Lacinated-Ray florets feathered at tips
Class 13 Brush or Thisle like- Disc nearly concealed. Ray florets are fine tubes grown almost
parallel to the stem in a brush or thistle like manner.
In India there are two broad groups-large flowered and small flowered. Large flowered ones
have 1-3 stems each with single flowers and grown as standards. Small flowered ones are with
multiple branches bearing large number of flowers and grown as bushes. More than 500 cultivars
are grown in India.
Color Varieties
I. Large flowered
White Snow Ball, Kasthurba Gandhi
Yellow Chandrama, Evening Star
Mauve Ajina Purple, Peacock
Red Alfred Wilson, The Dragon
II Small flowered (for pot culture)
White Jyotsna, Sharad Shobha
Yellow Archana, Aparajita
Mauve Mohini, Fantasy
Red Gem, Red Gold
III Small flowered (for cut flower)
White Himani, Jyotsna
Yellow Nanako, Sujata
Mauve Apsara, Nilima
Red Jaya, Flirt
IV. Small flowered (for garland)
White Jyotsna, Sharat Shobha
Yellow Basanthi, Meghdoot
Mauve Sharada
TNAU varieties
1. CO-1- Selection from Hosur type, single flower is 2.5 g and flower yield is 16.7 T/ha. Flowers
are canary yellow, early blooming, long lasting, so 2-3 additional pickings possible for farmers
2. CO-2- Selection from variety Jaya of Lucknow. Flower yield is 20 T/ha. Purple color,
vegetative character and yield better than CO-1.
3. MDU- 1-Flowers are large and attractive sulphur yellow color. Flower yield is 30 T/ha.
National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow
1. Shanti: small flowered, white cut flower and garland variety
2. Y2K: small flowered, white anemone type
3. Kargil 99: small flowered, spoon shaped variety with variegated leaves
4. Sadhavana: small flowered red, yellow, open disc, double, Korean type
Indian Institute of Horticultural Research, Hessarghata, Bangalore
1.Indira: Hybrid of open pollinated seedling of ‘Lord Doonex (LD114) and hybrid seedling of
‘Flirt X Valentenine’. Flowers double (6 cm area), Korean, yellow at bud and buttercup yellow at
picking
2.Red Gold: Cross of Flirt X Valentine. Flowers grey-orange fading to golden yellow, double
Koreans and measure 6 cm across. Very floriferous.
3.Rakhee: Open pollinated seedling of cv. Lord Doonex. Plants bushy, compact with shining
foliage, flowers anemone, prim rose yellow with red stripes on ray florets, measure 6 cm across.
Propagation
Propagation is through seeds, suckers and cuttings
Seeds: used for breeding new varieties and for annual types (Chrysanthemum conorarium). Seed
rate is 750 g/hectare.
Cuttings: Terminal cuttings of about 2 inches long is treated with IBA 2000 ppm and planted in
sand under mist. Ideal planting season is June-July.
Sucker: Commercial method. Suckers are adventitious shoots arising from underground portion
of stem. Suckers produce taller plants than that of cuttings. Suckers are separated from mother
plant when they develop 5-6 pairs of leaves. For one hectare, 1,11,000 suckers are sufficient,
which can be obtained from 15 cents of previous crop.
For large scale commercial cultivation, tissue cultured plants are used.
Cultivation
Well drained loamy soils are required for chrysanthemum cultivation. It prefers pH of 6-7. Being
a short day plant it requires day length of less than 8.5 hours for flower initiation. Flower bud
initiation occurs during Sept-December under S. Indian condition.
Planting
In South India planting is done during April-May for field grown chrysanthemum, to regulate
flower initiation during short day condition ie September to December.
Field preparation
Field ploughed thrice during March and beds or ridges and furrows are taken. Suckers are
planted at a spacing of 30x 30 cm on one side of the ridges.

SPECIAL CULTURAL TECHNIQUES

1. Pinching: Removal of terminal portion of the shoot is called as pinching. The terminal
portion having 1.5-3 cm long shoot tip is removed. Pinching is done 4 weeks after planting. It
reduces plant height and promotes axillary branches and improves yield. Application of
chemicals replaces manual pinching. Eg: alkyl esters, maleic hydrazide
Types of pinching
Soft pinching-removal of two leaves
Hard pinching-removal of hard shoot
In pot mums pinching is done when new growth from cuttings have reached 4.5 -5 cm ie., 12-14
days after planting
2. Desuckering: is removal of sucker. It is done to avoid loss of vigour during vegetative
phase.
3. Disbudding: Removal of undesirable immature flower buds to provide either a small
number of large flowers or large number of small flowers. Buds are removed when they can be
rolled out between the thumb and fore finger. Production of high quality blooms depends on
correct time and methods of disbudding operations. The method varies in different types of
chrysanthemums.
Standard type: Terminal bud is retained and all axillary buds removed.
Spray cultivars: large apical bud alone is removed and axillary buds are allowed to develop.
Three weeks after the first or when the lateral shoots from first pinch have 4-6 leaves, second
pinch is performed
4. Ratooning: Plants are cut to ground level during November –December. The ratooned
plants will flower in 4 months.
Nutrition
FYM is applied at the rate of 25t/ha. The recommended fertilizer dose is 125:120:25 kg /ha. Half
nitrogen is applied as basal and full P and K are applied as basal. Second dose of N is applied 30
days after first application. The same dose is given to ratooned crop in December.

Plant protection
Several diseases and pests are reported in chrysanthemum plants. Various control measures
employed are roughing, selection and maintenance of healthy stock plants, soil sterilization,
spraying of suitable fungicides and biological measures.
Diseases
Fungal: Basal stem rot, Phoma root rot, Fusarium stem rot and wilt, Grey mould, Septoria leaf
spot, Chysanthemum ray blight, Powdery mildew, Rust, Verticillium wilt, Ray speck
Bacterial: Leaf spot,
Viral diseases: Stunt
Pests: Aphids, Thrips, leaf miner, caterpillar, red spider mite, nematodes

Harvesting and marketing.

Harvesting commences 3-4 months after planting and should be done once in 4 days. Correct
stage of harvesting depends on cultivars, marketing and other facilities of the grower.
Standard cultivars are harvested when flowers are fully open, but before the disc florets begin to
elongate.
Spray cultivars are harvested when flowers are fully open, but before shedding pollen.
Anemones are harvested when flowers open, but before the central disc florets of the top most
flowers begin to elongate.
Pompons and decoratives are harvested when center of oldest flower fully open.
Stems should be cut at least 10 cm above the soil line to avoid taking woody plant tissues.
Immediately after harvest lower 1/3 portion of stem removed and placed in water or acidifying
solution like citric acid (300 ppm) to keep the flowers and stems turgid.
Post harvest quality requirements
-Straight stiff stems
-Freedom from foreign material, dirt, defect, injury and abnormalities
-Flowers at uniform stage of development and uniform stem length
-Size and shape of flower should be representative of cultivars
-Stem length is 60-90 cm and flower diameter is 10-20 cm
Grading: done on the basis of flower diameter and stem length.
Standard chrysanthemums are graded into blue, red, green and yellow
Spray types are graded into gold, silver and bronze.
Storage: flowers can be stored for 3 to 4 weeks at -0.5 to 1 0C in moisture retentive boxes.
Yield
Cut flowers-30 -40 lakhs/ha
Loose flowers-7.5 to 15 tonnes/ha