Articles
An indoor cultivation system for the production of virus free lilies in the Netherlands – turning lily cultivation outside in
Article number
1435_8
Pages
67 – 76
Language
English
Abstract
The traditional cultivation of lilies outside requires the use of multiple chemical plant protection products, given the high disease pressure.
The reduction in available plant protection products due to EU legislation and increasing societal demand, requires a new and sustainable cultivation system.
In the project Vital Lily Cultivation a prototype one way cultivation system is developed to produce healthy commercial-size bulbs.
Virus free bulblets from tissue culture are grown and propagated several cycles in the greenhouse.
This system yields planting material which requires only one or two outdoor cultivation cycles to reach the commercial size.
At Wageningen Plant Research Greenhouse Horticulture & Flower Bulbs, trials were conducted to investigate 1) lily bulb growth under greenhouse conditions and 2) steering lily plants into senescence and ripening.
The research was done with an LA, OR and OT cultivar.
The results show that it is possible to grow bulbs greater than size 14 from tissue culture bulblets in one greenhouse cycle of seven to nine months.
An issue still to tackle in this system is the senescence and the preparation of bulbs for the next season.
If this is not done correctly, sprouting in the next growing cycle is reduced to 50% and plants with only leaves and no stems are formed.
In a pilot experiment, a period of 50 days at a temperature below 13°C at the end of the growth period improved the sprouting in the next season.
However, plants were not completely senesced yet.
Fast growth of bulblets in the greenhouse is possible and growth parameters should still be optimized per cultivar.
Lily plants require a trigger for ripening and senescence in the greenhouse for optimal growth in the following season.
A better understanding of ripening is necessary.
The reduction in available plant protection products due to EU legislation and increasing societal demand, requires a new and sustainable cultivation system.
In the project Vital Lily Cultivation a prototype one way cultivation system is developed to produce healthy commercial-size bulbs.
Virus free bulblets from tissue culture are grown and propagated several cycles in the greenhouse.
This system yields planting material which requires only one or two outdoor cultivation cycles to reach the commercial size.
At Wageningen Plant Research Greenhouse Horticulture & Flower Bulbs, trials were conducted to investigate 1) lily bulb growth under greenhouse conditions and 2) steering lily plants into senescence and ripening.
The research was done with an LA, OR and OT cultivar.
The results show that it is possible to grow bulbs greater than size 14 from tissue culture bulblets in one greenhouse cycle of seven to nine months.
An issue still to tackle in this system is the senescence and the preparation of bulbs for the next season.
If this is not done correctly, sprouting in the next growing cycle is reduced to 50% and plants with only leaves and no stems are formed.
In a pilot experiment, a period of 50 days at a temperature below 13°C at the end of the growth period improved the sprouting in the next season.
However, plants were not completely senesced yet.
Fast growth of bulblets in the greenhouse is possible and growth parameters should still be optimized per cultivar.
Lily plants require a trigger for ripening and senescence in the greenhouse for optimal growth in the following season.
A better understanding of ripening is necessary.
Authors
P.M.M. Ruigrok, G. Slootweg, N.M. Moreno-Pachón
Keywords
Lilium, cultivation, propagation, senescence, sustainability
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