MODERN PLASTIC MATERIALS START
REVOLUTION IN FLORICULTURE

July 19, 1964 - Asbury Park Press

EATONTOWN --- A revolution has taken place in floriculture over the past 30 years as knowledge of light in relation to plant development has grown.

Militant in the battle to thwart nature's undesirable aspects, X S SMITH, INC has produced materials that have aided growers by allowing them to triple crops of cut flowers, grow jungle plants in quantity and raise roses in tropical areas where formerly the light intensity made this impossible.

A discovery made in 1932 enables us to buy cut chrysanthemums from our florists year round.

At that time, chrysanthemums were a fall flower only, and fields at a given latitude would produce bloom on the same day whether on the East Coast or in California

Suddenly cut blooms began to arrive on the market a full month before the expected date.

Cornell University sent Gustave Poesch to detect where and how these early birds were grown. He discovered that these chrysanthemums were growing on the west slopes of the Sierra Madres, so received sun three hours later in the morning. Also, the Pacific fogs rolled into the fields cutting hours of afternoon light. This lead to the realization that the plants grew at night.

The university approached X. S. Smith, asked him to develop an opaque cloth that would deprive growing chrysanthemums of all light and fool them into thinking days had become short and that it was time to bloom.

It was learned that three crops of chrysanthemums a year could be produced in a controlled light greenhouse. Now these flowers are raised on 13-week schedules and calculated so closely that plants will be forced to bloom on a given morning.

Even a pin hole in the black cloth will prevent bloom over an area three feet in diameter, so sensitive are chrysanthemums to light.

Since World War II, great strides have been made in plastics and these materials have been influential in creating a boom in world floriculture.

The development of a clear plastic film has brought greenhouse costs, whether temporary or of a permanent nature, from the $4 - $7 per square foot of covered area for a standard steel, glazed house to a low 80 cents to $1.50, depending upon structure.

The Smith company's 8 to 12 mil film has become a popular covering and they have been able to guarantee it pro rata for five years in this climate from wind, hail and other severe weather.

"The heat loss with a plastic greenhouse is 20% better than glass," said Mr. Smith, "and if you line the underside with two mil film in winter, you can save 40% on your heat."

Another innovation in horticulture and agriculture has been the black plastic mulch, still in the infancy of it's commercial use.

Richard W. smith, with his father in the business, was delighted with the results of this in his own home garden.

"I put in 18 tomato plants, had 15 pounds of fruit a day for six weeks," he said. "The total cultivation is in soil preparation. You put half the fertilizer in the soil, spread half on top. You plant through the plastic, water for three days after planting, then forget it. You don't have to stake. The fruit won't rot. You can leave the plastic there, the ground stays soft even when you walk on it. The heat of the sun warming the plastic draws water from the surrounding soil. In spring, the soil warms earlier because the plastic absorbs warmth."

Perhaps the most revolutionary of all the new products is Saran shading fabric, for which the Smith company is a master distributor.

This material is supplied, thousands of square yards at a time, to such exotic spots as Madiera, Los Palmos, Kenya, South Africa, Malta, Sardinia and the West Indies as well as throughout this country and in Europe. They sell it where ever large scale operations in floriculture are carried on, and to coffee growers who use it to shade delicate, newly propagated plants from the hot tropical sun.

The Saran shading material looks and feels like flexible green or straw colored window screening. Shade can be produced from 18 to 100 per cent with different weaves, or can give the same effect as wooden lath.

The natural, straw colored Saran, in weaves depending upon the sun's strength, is used to shade chrysanthemums, carnations, roses and other flower crops grown in summer or in tropical areas where, direct light would fade flowers or burn plants.

1,500 acres of chrysanthemums are grown under Saran shading in Florida alone, many more in California.

Tape with grommets is stitched to the shading with a unique machine developed by the Smiths. Strips are 50 feet wide and 200 feet long and there may be 50 to 100 of these in a field. The shading cloth is tied to frames, the black cloth rolled over it at the indicated time to make the plants flower as desired.

According to Mr. Smith, an acre of chrysanthemums, so grown, can gross $10,000 to $12,000 per year.

Such large scale growers insure not only their crops but the shading cloth and black cloth from windstorm and other hazards.

In Stewart, Florida, three acres of roses are grown for cutting year-round under the natural Saran, and the acreage will soon be greatly increased. Formerly roses were a near total failure as a Florida crop.

Before Saran, the company manufactured the old famous Storm King, aster cloth. Now the plastic is used for shading asters.

A South Jersey geranium grower has been experimenting with the Saran as a greenhouse shading, finds his plants have altogether different characteristics. He is highly enthusiastic, plans to install more of the material.

The green Saran breaks ultra-violet rays, is used extensively to grow such plants as philodendron and orchids in the greenhouse. The shading simulates the affect of their native rain forests.

The Saran is also used for such diverse things as leading fish up ladders around dams, to cover swimming pools against insects and when not in use (Joseph P Kennedy uses a Smith cover on his Hyannis Port Pool).

The many forms of synthetic materials have enabled the industry to cut loss due to pests and weeds through allowing soil fumigation under gas-impervious tents, to extend the truck garden season with the use of temporary greenhouse-like covers for tender crops, to grow delicately colored flowers in hot sun by cutting direct light but allowing passage of filtered light and air.

All these ingenious uses not only bring higher profits and loss risk to commerical growers, but makes gardening easier for the amateur and brings greenhouse gardening to the hobby grower with a limited budget.

Editor's Note: X S SMITH, INC is not an outlet for small retail sales. The materials mentioned here are available through garden centers and seed and nursery supply houses.