PRE-PLANT BULB DIPS FOR HEIGHT CONTROL IN LA AND ORIENTAL HYBRID LILIES

Height control is a crucial element for successful production of containerized lilies (Lilium sp.). While it has long been known that pre-plant dips in chemical Plant Growth Regulators (PGRs) can be effective for height control, new active ingredients, new cultivars, and new classes of lilies have necessitated a re-examination of this technique for height control.
Advantages of pre-plant PGR dips are time and labor savings, accurate dosages, reasonable cost and perhaps most important, legality (at least in the United States). Disadvantages are that the treatment is applied well before there is a known height excess and questions of disposal of the used dip solution (environmental concerns). In this work, we investigated several commercial products (ancymidol, paclobutrazole and uniconazole) and a range of concentrations on the Oriental hybrid cultivars ‘Aubade’, ‘Berlin’, ‘Sissi’, ‘Stargazer’, ‘Tom Pouce’ and ‘Muscadet’ and the LA’s ‘Royal Perfume’, ‘Best Seller’, ‘Royal Dream’, ‘Aladdins Dazzle’, ‘Salmon Classic’ and ‘Royal Parade’. From these experiments, we have determined that 1) bulb dips, especially with paclobutrazole and uniconazole, can be a highly effective means of height control, 2) LA hybrid lilies are much more sensitive than Oriental hybrids and require lower rates, 3) care to not over-dose should be exercised in a commercial setting.

VIII International Symposium on Flowerbulbs

W.B. Miller, A. Chang, G. Legnani, N. Patel, A.P. Ranwala, M. Reitmeier, S.S. Scholl, B.B. Stewart

ancymidol, Lilium, paclobutrazole, plant growth regulators, uniconazole

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2002.570.49