Effect of different growth media and fertilization methods on growth characteristics and yield of English daisy

The possibility of using some organic wastes as growth media for English daisy, plus some fertilization methods, was investigated in a factorial experiment, based on a completely randomized blocks design with 45 treatments and three replications. The first factor was different growth media and the second factor was three methods of fertilization including without fertilization (control), fertilization as leaf spraying and soil fertilization. In this research, 15 substrates were used by mixing different ratios of municipal-wastes compost, tea-wastes compost, azolla compost and garden soil. The garden soil was a mixture of 60% loam soil, 20% manure, 10% leaf compost and 10% sand (v/v). Results showed that maximum growth was observed in the medium containing garden soil, municipal-wastes compost, azolla compost, each substrate one-third (v/v), and the medium which contained garden soil and municipal-wastes compost in a 1:1 ratio. Azolla compost alone was not suitable for growth of English daisy as significant responses were not obtained in most growth indices. Although the effect of nutrition method was not significant on most growth indices in this experiment, the soil fertilization had better impacts as compared to other methods. Therefore, it seems that combination of garden soil, municipal-wastes compost and azolla compost, along with soil fertilization, is the most suitable substrate for English daisy, which improves the growth of this plant.