VEGETATIVE AND PRODUCTIVE BEHAVIOUR OF THE GERBERAS GROWN ON NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL SUBSTRATA

Gerberas seedlings in colour blend and with four leafs, have been trained for two years in cold greenhouse on natural substrata (vertisol and dune-sand) and artificial substrata (pumice and perlite), mixtured separately in proportion of 30% of their volume, with peat at pH 4.5 and distiller’s waste at pH 5.2.

The best productive and qualitative results have been obtained from the artificial substratum constituted by perlite which, however, did not differ from the ones with mineral component represented by vertisol and by pumice during the first year of cultivation, while, in the second year, the cultivation has given the highest yields when it has been effected on vertisol and subordinately on perlite.

Between the two types of organic matter, disteller’s waste can represent a valid alternative to peat, either in combination with artificial mineral substrata or with natural ones.

Substrata made with dune-sand, and, only for the second year cultivation, made with pumice have resulted not very suitable to the species.

International Symposium on Protected Cultivations in the Mediterranean Regions

A. Sciortino, U. Amico Roxas

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1986.176.15