DIFFERENCES IN THE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF PRUNED AND UNPRUNED ‘SONIA’ CUT ROSE BUSHES

Four-week-old ‘Sonia’ combination plants, bench grafted onto R. canina ‘Inermis’ stocks, were planted in containers in a heated glasshouse and grown from February till December.
Plants were pruned either as cut rose plants (PP) in the traditional plant architecture, or left completely undisturbed (UP). Plants were dug up at seven dates when fresh shoot and root weights were determined.
The weights of prunings in PP were recorded.
Both in absolute (AGR) and in relative terms (RGR), the PP grew slower than the UP’s.
The total fresh weights of PP (including the weight of the prunings) was reduced to about 40% of those of the UP, but without the weight of the prunings this was only 17% of the UP. PP were about 2.5 times less shootier than unpruned ones at the end of the experiment.
Pruning affected neither the time of emergence nor the number of bottom-breaks (Bb), but in PP the diameter of these shoots was about 30% smaller; similarly their root collars (RC) were about 30% thinner.
The occurrence of a functional shoot/root equilibrium and the relation between total plant weight and pruned weights for cut rose growing are discussed.

XXIII International EUCARPIA Symposium, Section Ornamentals, Colourful Breeding and Genetics – Part II

D.P. de Vries, L.A.M. Dubois

bottom-break, fresh weight, growth analysis, harvesting, root collar, Rosa

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.855.10