MARIGOLD
Tagetes erecta – African Marigold
Tagetes patula – French Marigold
Importance
♦ Marigold is easy to culture and has wide adoptability.
♦ Free flowering, short duration.
♦ Wide spectrum of colour, shape, size and good keeping quality.
♦ Marigold is native of Central and South American, especially Mexico.
♦Marigold is also known as friendship flower in the United States. Aztec
marigold in mexico, Rose of Indies
Uses
♦ Garland, Veni and decoration
♦ Long stem flowers used for vase arrangements/
♦ Used for flower beds and border making.
♦ French marigold used for rockery, edging, hanging baskets and window boxes.
♦ Has medicinal properties to cure boils and carbuncles.
♦ Flower extract used as a blood purifier and a cure for bleeding piles.
♦ Good remedy for eye diseases and ulcers.
♦ Some species of Tagetes used for essential oil extraction.
♦ Pigments (Xanthophyll) used as a natural colour.
Species
Tagetes erecta – African Marigold
♦ Plant is hardy, annual about 90 cm tall, erect and branched.
♦ Flower varies from Lemon yellow to yellow, golden yellow, orange.
Tagetes patula – French Marigold
♦ A hardy annual, about 30 cm tall, bushy type.
♦ Foliage is dark green with reddish stem.
♦ The flower colour varies from yellow to mahagony – red.
Other species
T .tenuifolia ([Link]) – Bushy type (less than 30 cm)
[Link] – Sweet scented Marigold
[Link] – Californian Marigold
[Link] – Shrubby Marigold
Types
Tagetes erecta – African Marigold
Dr. YATHINDRA,H.A., Asst. Prof of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Horticulture, Mysore
♦ Carnation flowered
♦ Chrysanthemum flowered
♦ Tall F1 hybrids, Semi tall F1 hybrids, Dwarf F1 hybrids, F1 triploid
Tagetes patula – French Marigold
♦ Dwarf double – (20-30 cm)
♦ Dwarf double – Scabious flowered (flowers with crested centre)
♦ Dwarf double – Petite (15-20 cm)
♦ French Dwarf single – (20-35 cm)
Varieties
Tagetes erecta– African Marigold
MDU-1, Giant double African orange, Giant double African yellow, Cracker
Jack, Climax, Dusloom, Golden Age, Chrysanthemum Charm, Crown and Gold,
Spun Gold, Pusa Narangi Gianda, Pusa Basanti Gianda, Arka Bangara
Tagetes patula – French Marigold
Red Brocade, Rusty Red, Butter Scotch, Valencia Sussana
Tagetes tenuifolia
Golden Gem, Lulu, Pumila, Ursula
MDU-1
♦ Selection from germplasm type.
♦ Light orange colour petals.
♦ Medium tall with moderate branching habit.
♦ 97 flowers weighing 561.40 gms.
♦ Stalk length 8.39 cm.
Culture
Soil
♦ Marigold can be successfully cultivated on a wide variety of soils.
♦ However, a soil that is deep fertile, friable having good water holding capacity,
well drained and near to neutral in reaction viz. pH.
♦ 7.0-7.5 is most desirable.
Climate
♦ Marigold requires mild climate for luxuriant growth and profuse flowering.
♦ It ceases to grow at high temperature thereby flower quantity and quality are
adversely affected.
♦ During severe winter including frost plants and flowers are killed and
blackened.
Dr. YATHINDRA,H.A., Asst. Prof of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Horticulture, Mysore
♦ Sowing and planting is carried out during rainy season, winter and summer
season.
♦ Hence, flowers of marigold can be had almost throughout the year.
Preparation of soil
♦ Land should be well prepared by ploughing 2-3 times and 50 tonnes of well
rotten farmyard manure should be well mixed.
♦ Beds of convention size be made to facilitate irrigation an other cultural
operations.
Propagation
♦ There are two common methods of propagation of marigold ie., i) by seeds ii)
by cuttings.
Seeds
♦ Crop raised from seeds is tall, vigorous and heavy bloomer; thus, it is preferred
over cuttings.
♦ For better seed germination, optimum temperature range is between 18 to
30oC.
♦ For raising seedlings for one hectare, about 1.5 kg. seed is required.
♦ Seeds of marigold can be sown in pots, seed boxes or on flat or raised nursery
beds.
♦ Nursery beds of 3 x 1 m size are thoroughly prepared and mixed with 10 kg of
well rotten farmyard manure per sq.m.
Cuttings
♦ This method is commonly followed for maintaining the purity of varieties.
♦ Normally, the presence of adventitious roots along the stem helps in the
establishment of cuttings.
♦ About 10 cm long cuttings are made and treated with seradix No.1.
♦ The cuttings are planted in the sand to strike roots easily and plants thus raised
are used for bedding and pot planting.
Transplanting of seedlings
♦ Marigold seedlings easily establish after transplanting in the field without
much mortality.
♦ At the time of transplanting, seedlings normally of about one month old should
have attained 3-4 true leaves and must be stocky.
Dr. YATHINDRA,H.A., Asst. Prof of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Horticulture, Mysore
Spacing
♦ Tagetes erecta requires wider spacing than [Link]
♦ [Link] – 40 x 30 cm
♦ [Link] – 20 x 20 cm
Manures and Fertilizers
♦ To get highest flower yield, 100 kg N, 100 kg P and 100 kg K 2O should be
mixed at the time of preparation of land.
♦ Remaining 100 kg N per ha should be applied one month after seedlings are
transplanted.
Weeding
♦ 3-4 manual weedings are done during the entire growth period.
Irrigation
♦ It takes about 55-60 days to complete vegetative growth and to enter into
reproductive phase.
♦ Season of planting determines the frequency of irrigation.
♦ If rainfall is normal and well distributed, irrigation is not frequently required,
but if the rain is scanty irrigation is needed frequently.
♦ From April to June, frequent irrigation at the interval of 4-5 days is required.
Pinching of Marigold plants
♦ In tall varieties of Tagetes erecta, emergence of side branches and their
flowering is influenced by the presence of apical dominance.
♦ It has been observed that the plants of marigold grow straight upwards to their
final height and develop into terminal flower bud.
♦ Pinching the plants 40 days after transplanting enabled the plants to yield more
flowers.
Harvesting of flowers
♦ Marigold flower should be plucked when they attain the full size depending
upon the variety.
♦ Plucking of flowers should be done in cool hours of the day i.e, either in the
morning or evening.
♦ Field should be irrigated before so that flowers keep well for longer period
after plucking.
♦ Flowers plucked should be covered moist gunny bags if kept over night before
taking to market.
Dr. YATHINDRA,H.A., Asst. Prof of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Horticulture, Mysore
Yield of flowers
♦ Flower yield depends upon season of planting and cultural practices adopted.
♦ On an average a fresh flower yield of 20-22 tonnes per ha during rainy season,
15.0 to 17.5 t per ha in winter and 11-15t/ha in summer can be obtained.
Seed production
♦ Marigold is a cross pollinated crop; hence, proper isolation distance of 1-1.5
km should be given amongst varieties.
♦ Seed yield 312 to 375 kg per ha in [Link] 1000-1250 kg per ha in [Link]
Dr. YATHINDRA,H.A., Asst. Prof of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, College of Horticulture, Mysore