EVALUATION OF THE POTENTIAL FOR PROTEACEAE PRODUCTION IN NEW CALEDONIA

In 2003, while initiating an investigation into the potential of New Caledonia’s native Proteaceae flora for ornamental purposes, we introduced 17 commercial taxa of South African and Australian Proteaceae as cut flowers and foliage in order to diversify the local floriculture industry.
These taxa included Leucadendron ‘Brook’s Red’, ‘Inca Gold’, ‘Safari Sunset’, ‘Wilson’s Wonder’ and ‘Long Tom’; Leucospermum ‘Caroline’, ‘High Gold’, ‘Purple Gem’, ‘Scarlet Ribbon’ and ‘Sunrise’; Protea cynaroides and P. cynaroides ‘Australis’, Protea laurifolia ‘Rose Mink’, Protea neriifolia ‘Silvertips’ and Protea ‘Pink Ice’; Serruria florida and Telopea ‘Dawn Fire’. An experimental site with supposed adequate pedoclimatic conditions was identified in Northern New Caledonia.
Soil analysis showed a silt loam texture with pH 5.6 and a very low level of 7 ppm for plant-available phosphorus.
Average temperatures recorded throughout the trial were found to be the coolest (17–18°C) during the months of July and August, with the hottest (25–27°C) months being January and February.
Preliminary results indicated that Telopea ‘Dawn Fire’, Serruria florida, Leucospermum ‘Purple Gem’ and L. ‘Sunrise’ were clearly not adapted to the growing conditions of the experimental site.
In terms of yield, the Leucospermum cultivars, i.e. ‘Scarlet Ribbon’, ‘Caroline’ and ‘High Gold’ yielded the best results, whilst the two top performing Leucadendron cultivars were ‘Inca Gold’ and ‘Safari Sunset’. Amongst the Protea species, P. neriifolia ‘Silvertips’ and P. cynaroides showed exceptional production potential.

IX International Protea Research Symposium

G. Gâteblé, P. Bourjade, B. Gomen

Protea, Leucadendron, Leucospermum, Serruria, Telopea, stem length, yield, mortality

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2010.869.15