The Clovis Daisy Project

[clovis]

Not real sure why I am posting this, especially since I don't seem to get many views or replies.

So far, the Clovis Daisy Project has been wrought with a 99.9% failure rate. Yes, Houston, we have a problem.

Four years ago, I decided to plant some daisies. After experiencing extreme sticker shock when pricing small daisy plants, I decided to start some from seed.

The first year, I lost all my daisy sprouts to leaving them in the sun too long.

Year two, I must have bought bad seed. I only had two sprouts, and they died quickly without known reason.

Year three, I must have gotten a different daisy seed. I watered those seeds for weeks on end, without any germination I could see. I quit watering them. Then, DD8 poured water on the extremely dried out peat pots. Those things had been out for weeks in intense summer heat after I quit watering them. A few days later, those daisies sprouted!!!! I could not believe my eyes!!!

Since I had 10 daisy plants, I became excited. But those died off one by one, for some reason, most of them unknown. Since I felt it was too late in the season to set them out, I nursed them through the winter, indoors. Today, I have one lone daisy plant, and it is still young and small.

Year four, I now have 37 sprouted in starter trays. They are nearly all less than an inch tall. They need warmth and sunshine!!!!!

It would have been easier and cheaper to have paid the $6 price at Lowes, but those sure were tiny plants!!!!!

Any advice? Thoughts? Suggestions? Ideas?

This is becoming an obsession!!!! I normally have a pretty green thumb, but these daisy plants are driving me crazy!!!!!!

Clove

[Windy in Kansas]

Just as you have been---persevere.

[ejagno]

Clove; Google the particular daisy that you are trying so hard to grow. Read as much as you can about them, their preferences and feeding habits. Sometimes iit is the simplest tips that make all the difference with some plants.

[pamda]

I love love love daisys I how ever can not grow them to save my life. So i gave up and grow most anything else. If you figure out how to get them growing will you share please? It is so frustrating.

[prairiegirl]

I sure don't have any helpful advice, but have Daisy seeds waiting to be planted. This will be my first attempt at daisy. I'll be checking back to see how it goes for you.

I do wish you the best on your daisy project.

prairiegirl

[karsan]

Hehe, just to be obnoxious, I would never consider sowing daisies because they grow wild in our 'lawn' and in flower beds, a native here in Northern Europe. We don't treat our lawn as a lawn but as a meadow, letting it grow high until it is cut with a scythe late in June.

I googled the scientific name of this flower, which apparently has been changed several times, although referring to the same species. So it can be either Leucanthemum vulgare Lam or Leucanthemum praecox or Chrysanthemum leucanthemum or Chrysanthemum ircutianum. The site gave the British name as Oxeye Daisy.

In any case, our daisies are perennials. They flower in June, probably earlier where you live since I am almost as far north as Anchorage, Alaska. They die back in August-September or so and I never think about them, and survive without a trace under snow and in frozen ground, until their greenery reemerges in May. Our soil is still rather cool at that time, May 8-12 C, June 10-16 C. Although we usually do not have much rain in the spring, the soil retains humidity from the winter, and the weather is not hot - nights are cool anyway, almost certainly below 12C, and frost in May nights is not unusual. Sun is up 15-18 hours in May and June. Our daisies thrive in sunny spots, but can have grasses as tall as themselves all around.

So if that is the species you want to grow, such is their native habitat. There are cultivated varieties that are a lot bigger than our wild ones, but they behave in about the same way.

Good luck from Karsan, and now I will look at my daisies with even more appreciation when they come out in a few months!

[Tricky Grama]

Hmmm...I too love daisies. Had a big plot of maybe 'shasta' daisies coming up yr after yr. Then one year nada. So I may not be the one from whom to take advice.
Had sunflowers growing nearby & have heard that they are allopogenic (prolly not the right term) This may have done in the daisies.
Anyway, I have a pretty good batch of daisy seedlings going right now...if I get them in the ground & really growing...I'll send you some! I promise...I'll PM you or post here when that comes to fruition.

Patty
Oh, PS-where (what zone) are you?

[freegal]

I admire your perserverence! I have tried to grow daisies from purchased plants with no luck. I want drifts of black-eyed susans and daisies like the ones that grew outside my bedroom window when I was a child. Those flowers were always there, came up every year. I guess I will be content with the chamomile, violets and yarrow that grows wild here.

Keep at it, though. It will be worth it!

[clovis]

Thank you for your replies!!!!!

Someone suggested that I google the plant name. That is a good idea, but every website says "daisies are one of the easiest flowers to grow". Yeah, right. Whatever. For me, growing successful, thriving plants is akin to putting a man on the moon or mapping the human genome, LOL.

Karsan, they grow wild there? That is simply not fair!!!!! FWIW, when perusing the seed selection at the store, several packages of daisy seeds said "Product Origin: Sweden".

Patty...if your daisies thrive, I would LOVE to have some. Will you keep me in mind?

Thanks again everyone!!!!!! It is nice to hear that I am not the only one that has problems with daisies!

[okiemom]

do dasies have problems with wilt? Like what petunias can get?

[Rocky Fields]

Maybe you should grow mums instead...

[LovPRQueen]

I love daisies.

No suggestions here... Just wishing you good luck!

[clovis]

Originally Posted by Rocky Fields

Maybe you should grow mums instead...

I am ready to try mums too if I could find a good place to buy rooted stock!

Can anyone recommend a seller for garden mums?

Clove

[Rocky Fields]

Clove,

Visit this site for mum cuttings and good info:

http://www.faribaultgrowersinc.com/wholesale.php


Visit this older link about selling mums:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...423224252.html


RF

[clovis]

RF-
Thank you for the links!!! Know of any more?

[clovis]

Update on the C-D-P (Clovis Daisy Project)

A few more sprouting today, but I have already lost a few plants! It is frustrating! Even with the new sprouts, the net gain is zero.

Should I consider replanting the cells that haven't sprouted with daisy seed I have left over?

BTW- These have germinated fast. About 7-8 days, even though the package says 15-21 days.

The name of the plant is Shasta Daisy Alaska, Margarita Gigante by Burpee.

[Tricky Grama]

Originally Posted by clovis

Thank you for your replies!!!!!

Someone suggested that I google the plant name. That is a good idea, but every website says "daisies are one of the easiest flowers to grow". Yeah, right. Whatever. For me, growing successful, thriving plants is akin to putting a man on the moon or mapping the human genome, LOL.

Karsan, they grow wild there? That is simply not fair!!!!! FWIW, when perusing the seed selection at the store, several packages of daisy seeds said "Product Origin: Sweden".

Patty...if your daisies thrive, I would LOVE to have some. Will you keep me in mind?

Thanks again everyone!!!!!! It is nice to hear that I am not the only one that has problems with daisies!

I sure will remember...i've sent cuttings of things b/4 thru the mail -damp in a plastic bag & they thrived...it's raining now & my seedlings are out in it! I'm betting I'll have some make it.

Patty

[Rocky Fields]

Clove,

Two more links for you:

http://flowerpostharvest.ifas.ufl.ed...ingPotMums.pdf

http://www.grolink.com/

RF

[Mid Tn Mama]

Clovis, I too love daisies! I could never start things successfully from seed until I learned about winter seed sowing. Daisies are very easy to do that way.

If you are growing the seedlings indoors, they are probably getting "damping off disease." I find this doesn't happen with growing things in mini greenhouses outdoors.

I put drainage slits and air slits in a deli container. Fill with three inches of soil and drench with boiling water. Let the soil cool and sow your seeds. Close the top and keep out of the sun (I keep mine on a shady porch) Once they have sprouted, take the top off and gradually expose to sun.

-----------
On another note, shasta daisies are not long-lived perrennials. They will die out after a few years. Save seed and sow a little every year.

[chickenista]

Another way to prevent damp off is to water with chamomile tea instead of water...
Works every time!