China Aster

Booklet No. 336 Flower Gardening: FGS - 15

Contents Preface I. Introduction II. Origin and History III. Soil and Climate IV. Species, Types and Cultivars V. Growth and Flowering VI. Propagation VII. Cultivation VIII. Diseases and Pests IX. Harvesting and Post-Harvest Handling Preface China aster is an annual flowering plant. It is mostly grown for cut flowers which are used in vases. It can be grown throughout the year. Proper manuring, fertilization and plant protection measures are important aspects to be considered in order to get profitable yield in this booklet, cultivation of china aster has been given in a detailed form. Dr. K T. Chandy, Agricultural & Environmental Education I. Introduction China aster, botanically known as Callistephus chinensis is a half hardy annual. Plants are erect having a. hispid hairy, branches bearing alternate, broadly ovate or triangular-ovate, deeply and irregularly toothed leaves. Flowers are solitary and blue, lavender, rose and white in colours. It is one of the most popular of all garden annuals grown throughout the world. They cm easily be grown in the open fields for the production of cut-flowers. Cut-asters last long and are used in vases and floral decoration. Asters also make very showy bedding plants when grown in large masses and are valuable for filling up the gap in mixed herbaceous border, the dwarf types are put in front and the taller behind. Some strains are used as pot plants. Dwarf cultivars are also suitable for edging and window boxes. Several countries produced seeds in large quantities. In tropical and subtropical countries aster is extensively grown for bedding and cutblooms during the winter months and spring. II. Origin and History The genus Callistephus derived its name from two Greek words 'Kalistos' most beautiful, and 'stephos' - a crown, referring to the flower. It was first named by Linnaeus as Aster chinensis, and Nees subsequently changed this name to Callistephus chinensis. The present day asters have been developed from single form of wild species, C. chinenis, a plant native to China. The plant was introduced in Europe in 1731 by a Jesuit missionary, R P d' Incarville. The original plants had single flowers with two to four rows of blue, violet or white ray florets. The first change in the flower type had been the prolongation or

development of the central florets and the production of quilled flowers. French florists contributed much in the development of double forms. German growers also raised many double cultivars. These asters were then known as German asters because the first great advances in the evolution of the plant were made in Germany and the seeds then used came largely from that country. The comet types, introduced in 1886 or 1887 subsequently replaced the quilled types. With the introduction of new branching types by James Vick in 1893, the USA became the main centre of development of this plant as , well as for the production of seeds. Since its introduction into Europe, it is grown in almost all the continents of the globe as a garden annual. III. Soil and Climate China asters grow best in rich, well drained loamy soil and prefer open sunny situation. Although it is a winter season annual, it can be grown in summer. Asters can also be grown year round in areas where the night temperature can be maintained around 100 centigrades. Supplemetary lighting should be provided from the seedling stage until flowering where the day length is short. IV. Species, Types and Cultivars Considering various characters, different species, types and cultivars of china aster are described here. A. Species China aster is the member of the family Asteraceae and genus Callistephus having a single species C. chinensis. It was suggested that the most suitable character for the classification is the shape of the ray florets. B. Types and cultivars Annual asters have many types and cultivars, varying in growth habits, flower shape, size and appearance of florets; colours of the flowers are also very attractive in different cultivars in a particular type. Double flowered asters are classified broadly into 3 groups -tall, medium tall and dwarf. I. Tall The height of the plants under this group varies from 70 to 90 cm. The types and colom in different cultivars are given here. a. American branching Long-stemmed flowers have wide range of colours in different cultivars -dark blue, light blue, rose, salmon, scarlet, violet, white and pink. b. Bouquet powder puffs Medium-sized flowers on rigid stems have also the colour range in different cultivars as mentioned above. c. Princess and Giant princess Large extra double flowers on long woody stems are in blue, pink, deep yellow, creamwhite, citron-yellow, rose, carmine, deep red, white etc. This type is much branched and ideal for cut-flower. d. Paeony flowered

Upright growth and chrysanthemum -like flowers have various attractive colours. Good as cut-flowers. e. Giant of California Large and late flowering type having good colour range. f. Totem Pole Large bouquet-type flowers, 10-12 cm across, rose pink, blue, scarlet-cerise and white in colour. g. Chikuma strain Fully double, ball-shaped pompon-type flowers ideal as cut-flower. Many cultivars have attractive range and shades of colour-red, rose, purple, white, red with golden yellow centre, yellow and salmon rose. h. Giant Massagno Large flowers with quilled petals about 10 cm across are, borne on bushy plant. Rose, scarlet, light blue, silvery blue, golden yellow are the flower colours in different cultivars. 2. Medium tall This group of aster has many types, height of which varies from 40-60 cm. a. Ostrich. feather Medium sized flowers with curved petals and a wide range of flower colour. b. Giant Comet Much branched, hardy plants, flowers with curled petals. c. Giant Grego Bushy and vigorous growth, flowers have curled petals. Colour of flower includes salmon, scarlet, white, shell-pink, deep rose, light and deep blue. d. Early Burpeana Early mum-like flowers about 7 cm across with semi-incurved petals, in blue, rose, white and scarlet. e. Pompon Globular shaped flowers with quilled petals having a wide range of colour-white, yellow, dark blue, lilac, scarlet, rose, light blue and also with white centre. f. Rubens It is an early flowering type with pompon-like flowers, 7 cm in diameter. Branches arise from base. It is mainly grown for cut-flower. g. Liliput Erect habit, fully double, small flowers. h. Unkum Large flowered with quilled petals. 3. Dwarf double

The plant height in the group ranges between 20 and 40 cm. It has also several types varying in growth habit and flower characteristics. a. Pinocchia Large number of star-shaped flowers appear on dwarf and compact plants, excellent for bedding edging and window boxes. b. Colour carpet Dwarf, uniform globular plants covered with mum-like flowers. c. Dwarf chrysanthemum Compact, bushy growth, good range of flower colour. V. Growth and Flowering Among the different environmental factors influencing the growth and flowering, light and temperature play major roles. Certain growth substances have also been used to regulate these processes. A. Environmental factors (Light and temperature) The duration of light has a remarkable effect on growth and development of aster. A day length of less than 14 hours was found to cause rosetting of leaves. Asters can be flowered: year round provided the seedlings are lighted during short days from the time of emergence to flowering. Supplementary light causes early flowering. Long photoperiods causes axis elongation followed by flower bud initiation but reversal to the short photoperiods after this stage resulted in quicker flower development than when long photoperiods are continued up to flowering. The number of leaves produced by plants before flower initiation is much greater in short day conditions than in the long days. In long days, floral induction is completed about 5 weeks after sowing. Inflorescence development is faster in short days than in long days and in continuous short days or long days plants flowers almost simultaneously. Red light interruption for 1 hour in the middle of the 16 hour dark period increases the area of leaf plus cotyledon leaf area ratio, specific leaf area and the dry weight of leaf plus cotyledon and also the total dry weight. It causes flower induction as well as stem extension. Temprature is another factor influencing the growth and flowering. Asters at the night temperature of 10C produce fully double flowers with strong stems. At higher temperatures they will grow reasonably well but will have weaker stem and less number of petals. Flower initiation requires higher temperature around and above 150 centigrades. B. Role of growth substances Gibberellic acid applied to stem apices or as foliar spray (10-100 ppm) hastened flowering in China asters. Induction of early flowering and increased stem length, branching and flower size with the application of GA at 0.01% was also noticed. Under long days, GA, will not affect the flower initiation but reduces the number of leaves appeared before the emergence of inflorescence in short days. Foliar application of SADH resulted in compact growth. The best time to apply the retardent is when the stem begins to elongate. It was observed that the number of flowers plant

and the duration of flowering was enhanced by GA at 200 or 300 ppm, MH delayed flowering while NAA had little effect on growth and flowering. VI. Propagation Asters are propagated by seeds (12000 seeds/28 g) and will germinate in a week at about 21 centigrades. Seeds of aster have no dormancy and freshly harvested seeds have a narrower temperature requirement for germination than older seeds. Healthy seeds produced vigorous plants at temperature of 12, 16 or 20C after 4 days of sowing. Seed germination is limited by temperature conditions and water stress immediately following sowing, reduces seedling production. VII. Cultivation Practices like transplanting, application of manures and fertilizers, irrigation, weed control are important cultivation aspects. A. Transplanting Aster seedlings are usually transplanted when they have developed about three to four leaves, and danger of frost is over. Before transplanting, they should be hardened off. Planting should preferably be done in the evenings to avoid bright sunlight and the beds be well prepared by adding sufficient organic manure. After planting, the soil around the seedling is to be firmed and watered thoroughly. A spacing of 30 x 20 cm or 30 x 15 cm is recommended for maximum yield of good quality cut-flowers. Seedlings should be spaced 30 x 30 cm in cloth houses and 20 x 20 cm in green houses. In an experiment under field conditions, the highest yield of flowers and seeds was obtained when seedlings were first planted in the first week of October at a distance of 20 x 30 cm having density of 166,666 plants per hectare. B. Manuring and fertilization Proper manuring and fertilization are very important for aster cultivation. Deficiencies of different nutrients result in poor growth and flowering. Nitrogen deficiency causes the most marked symptoms, namely stunted growth and the pro- duction of fewer flowers which are dull in colour. Phosphorus deficiency also markedly retards the vegetative growth and delays the flowering. Application of a complete fertilization greatly improves growth, flowering and seed production and wilt resistance in asters. With the cultivar Hercules, best results will be obtained with 34 g ammonium nitrate, 50 g superphosphate and 18 g potassium salt per sq. m. An autumn application of decayed manure as 5-6 kg/sq m, followed by a preplanting application of 45-60 g sulphate of ammonia, 45-60 g/sqm superphosphate and 15 g/sqm potassium chloride produces strong plants with abundant bud formation and high quality flowers. Spraying the plants every 10 days with 0.02% KMnO4 increases plant height and flower yield. Nitrogen is the most effective nutrient, it significantly increases the flower number, diameter and yield of seeds. Top dressing with 120 kg/ha N, 80 kg/ha P2O5 and 1.20 kg/ha N at the 10-12 leaf stage gives better results than at bud formation or shortly before flowering. With increase in the levels of NPK, there will be a corresponding reduction in dry weight, leaf area and rate of leaf growth. Application of 400 kg N along with P2O5 @ 200) kg/ha produces the highest yield of flowers. For seed production, however, treatment with 300 kg N is adequate.

China asters respond well to micronutrients. Application of balanced dose of zinc, copper, boron and manganese improved the quality of flowers in case of deficiency. Asters are moderately sensitive to salinity caused by sodium salts which results in the decreased plant height and flower size. C. Irrigation Asters require a continuous soil moisture throughout the entire period of growth and development. It is observed that among the three soil moisture regimes of pF 2.0, 2.5 and 2.8, plants grew best with medium regime (PF 2.5). Similarly, supplementary irrigation is found to be highly beneficial. One or two application of 50 mm of water per month is the most suitable irrigation method. The next best method is growing the plants under glass and applying 20 mm water according to tensiometrically determined requirements. D. Weed control Control of weeds is essential in aster cultivation. Manual weeding, though easy and safe, is very expensive and may not be economic for large-scale cultivation. Applicaion of CDEC and chloroprophom @ 6-9Ib/acre, 4-6 weeks after transplanting is found to be very effective in controlling the weeds. All herbicides give good control. Treatment with napropamido and oryzalin give excellent control of grasses and broad leaved weeds, without any phytoxic effect. VIII. Diseases and Pests Asters are susceptible to a number of diseases and pests. Fusarium wilt, aster yellows, rust, Botrytis blight etc. can become problem in aster cultivation. Leaf hopper, aphids, spider mite, thrips, white fly, mealy bug and caterpillar are important among the pests. A. Diseases Some important diseases occurring in china aster are briefly explained here along with their suitable control measures. 1. Wilt The disease is caused by Fusarium oxysporum, f: callistephi, alone or with Acrostalagmus vilmorinii and Verticilltum albo-atrum. F. oxysporum frequently occurs with soil fungi viz. Botrytis cinerea and Rhizoctonia spp. which accelerate the withering. Aster plants succumb to Fusarium wilt when the disease is associated with a soil moisture deficiency. High proportion of aster plants succumbed to wilt or showed stunted growth when planted in land in which asters had been grown the year before while those growing in new land showed normal growth. Control Since the fungus is seed as well as soil borne, soaking of seeds for 30 minutes in a 0.1 % solution of mercuric chloride and steam sterilization of soil are proved to be very effective in preventing the disease. Soil disinfection with chloropicrin and fumigation with vapum (4%) at 3 litres/sqm have also been found very useful. Certain cultural practices reduce the infection. These include presoaking of seeds in micronutrient solutions, combined with additional spraying during bud development and early owing for seedling production. Autumn or early spring sowing outdoors decreases the infection

and increases flower production. There are some resistant cultivars which should be used for cultivation. Cultivars bouquet scharbach and balls blue are resistant to the callistephi race of F. oxysporum and suitable for growing repeatedly on the same site. 2. Collar or root rot Symptoms caused by Phytophthora cryptoyea are similar to those caused by wilt fungus. Stems and roots of infected plants appear water soaked and black. The rot caused by this fungus is more pronounced and lacks the pink coating of spores characteristic of plants infected by wilt. Control The control measures include strict limitation of irrigation and avoiding planting in the vicinity of alternative hosts. If possible, planting should not be done in the field which has shown the disease in previous years. If it is necessary to use the same beds, the soils should be sterilized. 3. Gray mould A fungus namely Botrytis cinerea is responsible for the occurence of this disease. It may appear 3-4 days after sowing or 10-12 days after pricking out the seedlings, and spreads rapidly during cool and humid weather. It has been known to cause or accompany a blossom blight. Control The disease can be reduced by using light well drained soil, thorough removal of residues and weeds, drying the seeds at 18-20 C, eliminating small and light seeds and by treating the sowing medium with NIUIF -2 @ 1 g/ I of water. 4. Rust This disease is caused by a fungus, Cole os parium solidaginis. This also one of the major diseases causing severe damage to the plants. Bright yellowish-orange spots appear on the lower surface of the leaves, particularly on those of young plants. Control Spraying of wettable sulphur during the growing season is effective to control the disease. 5. Yellow The causal organism of this disease is a virus called Chorogenus callistephi which is transmitted by a leafhopper, Macrostetles Jawifrom. The development of pale yellowish :tinge on the leaves and a large number of adventitious shoots are the main symptoms. Plants become dwarf and blooms are off-colour, the rays being usually yellowish green. Control Control of leaf hoppers with suitable insecticide and destruction of diseased plants immediately after the appearance of the symptoms are helpful of minimizing the spread of the disease. Disease development can be suppressed by the use of antibiotics like chlorotetracycline and tetracycline. Similarly, development of disease symptoms can be checked by root treatment with oxytetracycline during the incubation period of the disease agent. B. Pests Some important pests on china aster are described here.

1. Leaf hopper The causal organism is Macrosteles fascifrons (leaf hopper) which is the most important pest, feeding on aster plants, and is capable of transmitting the virus, Chlorogenus callistephi. Control Treatment with parathion or any other suitable insecticide will control this pest. 2. Black blister beetle The blister beetle Epicauta pennsylvanica , is also known as aster beetle, feeds on foliage and flowers, often completely destroying the plants. Control Sprays or dust with methoxychlor at an interval of 5-7 days during the period of peak infestation was found to be effective in eliminating the pest. 3. Leaf miner This pest feed on leaves as a result of which foliage becomes badly disfigured. Control The use of parathion proved to be more beneficial than chlordane, toxaphene, BHC and ethyl-p-nitrophenyl thiobenzene phosphonate. 4. Nematodes Asters are susceptible to root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita. The growth of infested plants is checked and the leaves are dwarfed. Another nematode, Aphelenchoides ritzema -bosi also infects the plants. In seedlings the nematode population increased rapidly in 4 weeks at 20C, causing severe leaf malformation. Soil treatment with suitable nematicide control the infestation. IX. Harvesting and Post-Harvest Handling Since the stage of development of flowers at harvesting determines its keeping quality, they should be harvested at the right stage. Aster flowers along with stalk are cut when they develop their original colour. For distant markets, they should be harvested earlier as compared to those for local markets. Immediately after harvest, they are put vertically in a container having clean water. Lower leaves attached to the stalk should also be removed to minimize transpiration. Grading is done accordin to stalk length, size and shape of flowers, freshness and other qualities. While packing, care should be taken that there is no direct contact between the flower and packing material. Clear plastic films apart from providing adequate protection, improves the attractiveness of flower. The vase-life of aster cut-flowers, in general, is more than other annuals grown for cutflowers. Microbial population in vases determines the life of cut-flowers. Slow release chlorine compounds, sodium dichloro-isocyanurate and 1,3, dichloro 5, 5- dimethyldydentoin markedly reduces the population of bacteria in vase water. A preservative containing 60 g/1 sucrose + 250 mg/18-HQS (chinosol) + 70 mg/1 CCC + 50 mg/1 AgNO3 (silver nitrate) extends the vase life of cut-flowers by 30.6%. Another preservative, Zwetin, will also improve the vase-life of flowers of cvs. Schnittaster Xenia and Enzett Kranellaster. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%