Evaluation of Lisianthus as a New Flower Crop

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Abstract
Hybrid lisianthus [Eustoma grandiflora (Raf.) Shinn.] was evaluated as cut flower and flowering pot plants. Lisianthus is a day neutral summer blooming plant blooming earlier at high growing temperatures (18°/26°C night/day) than at low temperatures. It is a slow growing plant, requiring about 5 to 6 months from sowing to flowering. Forcing period is about 2 months. Three color variants are available: blue, pink, and white. Only the blue and white are suitable as cut flowers. About 3 cut flower stems are produced per plant in the 1st harvesting cycle, and retaining the plant for a 2nd crop is considered uneconomical. Keeping quality of the cut flowers can be improved by pulsing for 24 hr with a solution containing 5% to 10% sugar, and desirable blue and pink pot plants were obtained by spraying with butanedioic mono-2.2-dimethylhydrazide (daminozide, B-Nine). The white cultivar did not respond to daminozide but did respond to soil application of a-cyclopropyl-a-(p-methyoxyphenyl)-5-pyrimedine methyl (ancymidol). Flowering pot plants should be grown in the greenhouse until about half of the flower buds on the plants open, since buds do not develop properly under home conditions.

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