THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509220248
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Red, yellow, ginger and purple chrysanthemums are brightening up the beans and other vegetables that grow in Jim Bright's fields down off Princess Anne Road.
It's a sight you aren't likely to see anywhere else around here because Bright thinks he's the only local farmer so far to venture into field-grown chrysanthemums.
Most chrysanthemums in this area are grown in greenhouses. But mums that are grown outside in good old Princess Anne County soil turn out to be hardier and bushier than the greenhouse variety, Bright explained.
``They are a larger plant with more blooms,'' he said. ``The only drawback is that they are heavy.''
The root ball is all dirt, and that makes a field-grown mum considerably heavier than hothouse mums, which are grown in lightweight potting material. Bright's plants take two hands to lift.
Bright digs his plants with a shovel the depth of the plastic 3-gallon containers he uses for potting. With two digs of the shovel on four sides he comes up with a big square root ball that just drops into the pot. The transition from ground to pot is easy, he said.
``If you water it,'' he went on, ``it never wilts.''
Full and bushy, the tops of the chrysanthemums measure 2 to 2 1/2 feet in diameter. Almost shrub-like, they are showing their color and are full of buds, ready to burst. Bright sells them roadside at his home at $5 apiece for the big ones. He has a smaller group of plants he sells for $2. He also sells to vendors at the Farmers Market and to local landscapers. Call him at 426-7832.
Bright got the idea for field-grown mums from several fields on the Eastern Shore he had been seeing for several years. Last spring, he took the plunge, ordering 500 plants from an Ohio nursery.
In some respects, the mums have been easy to raise. Bright planted them in rows the same width as the adjacent rows of green beans. He was able to cultivate both crops with his tractor. Another plus: Insect pests weren't a big problem. Although the Eastern Shore farmers use overhead irrigation, he found that drip irrigation worked fine, too.
``If they lived this year, they'll live most any year,'' Bright said.
This year's success has convinced him to continue with his new-found crop next year. Despite his enthusiasm, however, raising mums is not all easy. To keep the plants from blooming until fall, buds must be hand picked off each plant several times in the earlier part of the season - a real chore when you have 500 plants spread over several acres.
``You have to pinch the buds off,'' Bright said. ``They want to bloom as soon as they hit the soil. and you have to hold them off. Then you got to know when to stop.''
Bright said the young plants arrive, each with about six buds. By the time the plant has been pinched back and branches out as a result and then gets pinched back again and branches out once more and so on, it has an estimated 200 blooms, come fall.
Bright, who's a chief forest warden with the Department of Forestry, and his wife, Anne, a teacher at Kellam High School, also raise vegetables for the Farmers Market, and Bright grows a few soybeans and corn. In all they cultivate about 70 acres.
``We have a little bit of land,'' Bright said. ``We're part-time farmers and we want to farm, but a part-time farmer can't make it on soybeans and corn.
``The will to be here will make you do strange things,'' Bright said, ``and this may be one of them!'' MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
Jim Bright in a field of chrysanthemums. Most mums in this area are
grown in greenhouses.
by CNB