Articles
POST-PRODUCTION HANDLING OF BEDDING AND POTTED PLANTS
Research on foliage plant species began nearly 20 years ago at research institutions throughout the U.S. and Europe.
But, only limited work was conducted on flowering potted plants until the late 1970’s, and on bedding plants before the early 1980’s.
Postharvest flowering potted plant research has increased during the last 5 years at several U.S. universities and in The Netherlands and Denmark.
Very little work on bedding plant longevity has been reported or is currently in progress.
Research reports on potted plant longevity are scattered throughout several scientific journals and numerous popular magazines.
Unfortunately, much of the information in magazine articles lacks a scientific basis, making it difficult to use for industry recommendations.
Postproduction plant longevity research has been conducted under a wide range of climatic conditions and diverse interior conditions.
In addition, research institutions have not used the same cultivars, thus limiting the value of the data in establishing universal care and handling practices.
However, Conover and Poole (1984) did an excellent job of summarizing the work on potted foliage plant acclimatization, and comprehensive manuals on the care and handling of bedding plants, foliage plants and flowering potted plants are being completed by Armitage, Blessington, and Nell, respectively.
These manuals will be available in the summer of 1989 from the Ohio Florists Association.
Postproduction research on foliage and flowering potted plants and bedding plants have been related to the following areas:
- Environmental factors and cultural practices during production which affects longevity.
- Shipping conditions.
- Interior conditions.
Bedding plants have not been evaluated as interior plants, but evaluations have been made to simulate environments encountered in commercial garden centers.
Limited research has related bedding plant production or handling conditions with performance in the landscape.
This paper will review the current knowledge on longevity of potted plants, but only those papers will be cited which demonstrate the importance of certain postproduction principles.
It is essential in all postproduction longevity research to accurately measure plant quality and the impact of various treatments.
Quality has become a universal word to represent the value and aesthetic beauty of a plant product.
Conover (1986) identified quality as "Cultural Perfection" and few would argue with this interpretation.
But, definitions aside, quality is no easier to measure today than it was 20 years ago, so many researchers resort to quality evaluations using a sophisticated numerical scale and