Articles
EXTENDING THE FLOWERING PERIOD OF LEUCOSPERMUM HYBRIDS THROUGH DISBUDDING
Article number
766_23
Pages
183 – 186
Language
English
Abstract
Some recent Leucospermum hybrids from the breeding program of the University of Hawaii have periods of flowering that are only 4 to 8 weeks in duration (Acta Hort. 545:55-60, 2001). Since previous South African research established that deheading of Leucospermum could delay flowering, this approach was used in an effort to extend the flowering (and marketing) period of ten cultivars.
Twenty distal axillary buds on mature plants growing at the Maui Agriculture Research Center (at 1,000 m elevation) were removed at each of three dates during fall 2004, and the return flowering from the next axillary bud was compared to non-disbudded controls.
Flower harvests were made weekly.
Plants disbudded 18 October mostly flowered at the same time as non-disbudded plants with similar stem lengths and flower diameters.
Disbudding on 15 November delayed the average time of flowering by a few days to a month, depending on cultivar.
Disbudding 15 December delayed the average time of flowering by 2 weeks to a month or more, depending upon the cultivar, and flower head diameters were similar to controls. ‘High Gold,’ a commercial cultivar developed in South Africa, began flowering two weeks later than the controls when disbudded in December and finished out two weeks later.
Late disbudding also provided information about the time the top axillary bud required to develop into a mature flower head.
Such information provides a guideline about how late disbudding can be done and still return a marketable flower head since day lengths <12h are needed for much of the development period.
Twenty distal axillary buds on mature plants growing at the Maui Agriculture Research Center (at 1,000 m elevation) were removed at each of three dates during fall 2004, and the return flowering from the next axillary bud was compared to non-disbudded controls.
Flower harvests were made weekly.
Plants disbudded 18 October mostly flowered at the same time as non-disbudded plants with similar stem lengths and flower diameters.
Disbudding on 15 November delayed the average time of flowering by a few days to a month, depending on cultivar.
Disbudding 15 December delayed the average time of flowering by 2 weeks to a month or more, depending upon the cultivar, and flower head diameters were similar to controls. ‘High Gold,’ a commercial cultivar developed in South Africa, began flowering two weeks later than the controls when disbudded in December and finished out two weeks later.
Late disbudding also provided information about the time the top axillary bud required to develop into a mature flower head.
Such information provides a guideline about how late disbudding can be done and still return a marketable flower head since day lengths <12h are needed for much of the development period.
Publication
Authors
R.A. Criley, K.W. Leonhardt, D. Oka, P. Shingaki
Keywords
delayed flowering, flower initiation, pincushion protea, Proteaceae
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