Flowering Control and Production of Strobilanthes Dyerianus Mast

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Flowering Control and Production of Strobilanthes Dyerianus Mast Flowering Control and Production of Strobilanthes dyerianus Mast. (Persian Shield) Erin Elizabeth Gamrod Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in HORTICULTURE Dr. Holly L. Scoggins, Chair Dr. Joyce G. Latimer Dr. Ronald D. Morse April 8, 2003 Blacksburg, Virginia Keywords: photoperiod, temperature, ethephon, ethylene, ornamental © 2003 by Erin E. Gamrod Flowering Control and Production of Strobilanthes dyerianus Mast. (Persian Shield) Erin Elizabeth Gamrod (ABSTRACT) Grown for its distinctive foliage, Strobilanthes dyerianus is a popular bedding and container plant. A problem in production is that over-wintered stock plants often flower. Once the plant becomes reproductive, stem elongation slows and floral buds arise from every node, rendering the plants useless for propagation. The objectives of this research were to examine the effectiveness of manipulating environmental factors and the application of ethephon on preventing floral bud initiation, as well as determine optimal nitrogen rate for stock plant culture. The first experiment was performed in a glass greenhouse and ran 11 weeks, utilizing 8 h, 10 h, 12 h and a 4 h night interruption photoperiod treatments to determine critical photoperiod. None of the photoperiod treatments were significant for inhibiting flowering and there was a positive correlation between plant size and flowering. A second experiment was performed in growth chambers to create three photoperiods (8 h, 12 h and 16 h) with two temperature regimes (24ºC day/ 21ºC night and 17ºC day/ 14ºC night) for a total of six treatments. Neither photoperiod nor temperature inhibited bud initiation, and there was no correlation between plant size and flowering. The third experiment examined potential use of ethephon to maintain vegetative plants. Six rates of ethephon (0, 150, 300, 450, 600 or 750 mg·L¯¹) were applied at three frequencies (weekly, biweekly and monthly) over an eleven week period. Floral initiation was not totally inhibited, but flowering was highly correlated to plant size. Additionally, plant growth response to nitrogen was examined to determine the optimal rate for stock plant production. Plants were treated with 0, 100, 200, 300 or 400 mg·L¯¹ N from a 15 N – 2.2 P – 12.4 K fertilizer at each irrigation for eight weeks. There were no differences among plant quality ratings for plants receiving 100, 200, 300 or 400 mg·L¯¹ N, and plants grown with 200 mg·L¯¹ N had the largest leaf area and shoot dry weight. GRANT INFORMATION This research was funded in part by the Ohio Florists Association Research Foundation. Plants for this research were provided by EuroAmerican Propagators, L.L.C. (Bonsall, Calif.). iv DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my Mom, Elizabeth Gamrod, and to the memory of my Dad, Bruce Gamrod. Mom, I never could have done this without you. Thanks. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There have been so many people who have contributed to this. My deepest thanks go to my Mom, for being a rock and supporting me throughout my whole life. Thank you to my grandparents, Karen and Chris for believing in me and never letting me forget that you think I should have gone to medical school. To my advisor, Dr. Holly Scoggins – I know I never would have pulled this off without your constant support, help and patience. You’ve been a great teacher and friend; thanks for believing in me. Dr. Joyce Latimer and Dr. Ron Morse: thank you both for your help and guidance and for serving on my committee. Dr. Joel Shuman, you are my statistics guru! Thank you for the hours of stats counseling and SAS coding. My deepest appreciation to the rest of the floriculture crew of past and present: Velva Groover, Paul Westervelt, Sarah White, Shannon Hill, Brian Trader, Sadie Puglisi, Mary Benton and Rachel Bailey. I feel very lucky to have found a group of people who were as wonderful to work with as you. Velva, thank you for all your assistance and advice; and let me not forget the endless supply of raspberry chip brownies, baked goods and chocolate candy! Sarah, thanks for friendship, bike rides, trips to Radford and Stephanie Plum novels. Paul, you were the first person I met here, and you made these two years so much better. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend. I could not have pulled off the Raleigh trips without you. Of course, if I had gone without you, I probably wouldn’t have gotten lost. vi To Elizabeth McCord, Stephanie Perry and Kim Benn: without you girls, my sanity would have been lost long ago! Thank you for the countless hours of phone conversations and road trips. I will always treasure our friendships. And last, but certainly not least, to Matthew Melbert. Thank you for being a wonderful friend and confidant. We can never understand why things happen in life the way they do. I feel blessed every day that you came back into my life when you did. As far as I’m concerned, it couldn’t have had better timing. Thank you for sticking with me and believing in me. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Flowering Control and Production of Strobilanthes dyerianus Mast. (Persian Shield) ..................................................................................................................... 1 Grant Information...................................................................................................iv Dedication................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements.................................................................................................vi List of Tables ...........................................................................................................x List of Figures ...................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: Literature Review.................................................................................. 1 Introduction to Strobilanthes dyerianus.............................................................. 1 Photoperiod Effects on Plant Growth and Reproduction.................................... 2 Temperature Effects on Plant Growth and Reproduction................................... 6 Photoperiod and Temperature Interactions......................................................... 7 Ethephon to Keep Plants Vegetative?................................................................. 8 Proper Nutrition for Optimum Plant Growth.................................................... 12 Literature Cited ................................................................................................. 17 Chapter 2: Determination of the Approximate Critical Photoperiod and Effects of Temperature on Floral Initiation of Strobilanthes dyerianus Mast. ..................... 24 Introduction....................................................................................................... 25 Materials and Methods...................................................................................... 28 Results and Discussion..................................................................................... 31 Literature Cited ................................................................................................. 38 viii Chapter 3: Using Ethephon Sprays to Maintain Vegetative Stock Plants of Strobilanthes dyerianus Mast. .............................................................................. 53 Introduction....................................................................................................... 54 Materials and Methods...................................................................................... 56 Results and Discussion..................................................................................... 57 Literature Cited ................................................................................................. 61 Chapter 4: Determination of the Optimal Fertilizer Rate and Tissue Elemental Content of Strobilanthes dyerianus Mast. ............................................................ 72 Introduction....................................................................................................... 73 Materials and Methods...................................................................................... 74 Results and Discussion..................................................................................... 76 Literature Cited ................................................................................................. 81 Appendix............................................................................................................... 91 Vita........................................................................................................................ 99 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1. Correlation coefficients for bud initiation of Strobilanthes dyerianus and photoperiod, shoot dry weight and leaf area in the greenhouse photoperiod experiment. Shoot dry weight and leaf area were measured at harvest, 11 weeks after initiation of treatment.............................................. 41 Table 2.2. Mean shoot dry weight and leaf area for Strobilanthes dyerianus treated with photoperiod, harvested at termination of the experiment, 11 weeks after initiation of treatment, in the greenhouse photoperiod experiment. (n=9)......................................................................................... 42 Table 2.3. Analysis of variance
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