Articles
SHADING ORNAMENTALS WITH PHOTOSELECTIVE NETS: AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY METHOD FOR INCREASING THE YIELD AND IMPROVING THE ROOTING OF CUTTINGS FROM MOTHER PLANTS
Article number
1015_18
Pages
163 – 168
Language
English
Abstract
The sensitivity of plants to light properties can be exploited to improve the quality of ornamental products such as cut flowers and pot plants.
By filtering sunlight through photoselective screens, the characteristics and direction of light reaching ornamentals can be controlled.
We have introduced the use of photoselective plastic shade nets, affecting both the light spectrum and the ratio between direct and scattered light in the net house, as a method for improving ornamental growth.
Here we present an experiment carried out in a commercial pelargonium nursery producing pelargonium cuttings.
The effect of shading pelargonium mother plants with five different photoseletive nets was tested on the two cultivars, Samantha and Fernando. The results vary between the cultivars: the highest yield for Samanatha plants was under the Yellow net, with a 16% increase in yield in comparison to the Black neutral net.
The highest yield for Fernando plants was under the Red net, showing a 14% increase in the number of cuttings per plant.
The Yellow, Blue and Pearl nets increased the rate of rooting of Samantha cuttings, but had not significant effect on the rooting rate of Fernando cuttings.
By filtering sunlight through photoselective screens, the characteristics and direction of light reaching ornamentals can be controlled.
We have introduced the use of photoselective plastic shade nets, affecting both the light spectrum and the ratio between direct and scattered light in the net house, as a method for improving ornamental growth.
Here we present an experiment carried out in a commercial pelargonium nursery producing pelargonium cuttings.
The effect of shading pelargonium mother plants with five different photoseletive nets was tested on the two cultivars, Samantha and Fernando. The results vary between the cultivars: the highest yield for Samanatha plants was under the Yellow net, with a 16% increase in yield in comparison to the Black neutral net.
The highest yield for Fernando plants was under the Red net, showing a 14% increase in the number of cuttings per plant.
The Yellow, Blue and Pearl nets increased the rate of rooting of Samantha cuttings, but had not significant effect on the rooting rate of Fernando cuttings.
Authors
A. Nissim-Levi, R. Ovadia, I. Forrer , M. Oren-Shamir
Keywords
pelargonium, rooting time, light spectrum, scattered light, colored nets
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