Cleaned up stock of Bronze Gigantic, Duke of Kent, Yellow Duke & Cream Duke

As many chrysanthemum growers will know, the National Chrysanthemum Society has embarked on programe to clean up chrysanthemum varieties.  Quite a few of the Large Exhibition varieties I grow are with the micro-propagator.  The NCS have sent varieties to Gentech a micro-propagation company in Scotland.  The technique involves removing the meristem, a small bundle of cells right in the tip of the plant, where cells are dividing to increase the height of the plant. The purpose of this is to get clean cells free of virus diseases.  It's a skilled job involving an air flow cabinet and sterile test tubes with agar and nutrients.  Once the small tip has grown into a little plant, it is tested for virus and providing its clean, the plant is chopped up into leaf bud cuttings and rooted in tubes.  Then they are removed and weaned in small plugs.

This is the stage we are at now with Bronze Gigantic, Duke of Kent, Yellow Duke and Cream Duke.  I have boxed the young plants up and I am growing them on as Mother Plants. By February/March I should have nice young shoots I can use as cuttings. 

I'm quite excited about it because around 1990 myself and Howard Minns had all the Large Exhibition varieties we grow cleaned up. Of all the varieties we had done, the Duke of Kent family showed the most improvement.  So if the same thing happens again we should see good Dukes at the shows next year.

If anyone has ordered Dukes and Bronze Gigantic or would like to order the cleaned up stock, the cost will be an extra £1 per cutting. I pass this on to the National Chrysanthemum Society to offset some of the costs. 

                        Duke of Kent                                                             Yellow Duke

Duke of Kent Family