252 Effect of Harvesting Technique and Genotype on Cut Flower Production of Alstroemeria

Abstract

The effect of harvesting procedures on the production of cut flowers of Alstroemeria was determined by growing six different cultivars from three different response groups with three different harvesting techniques. The orchid-type cultivars tested were `Parigo Red' and `Parigo Pink', the butterfly-type cultivars were `FreedomP', `PatriotP', and `Patricia Lynn', and the hybrid-type cultivar was `Sweet LauraP'. The different harvesting treatments were “cutting,” “pull,” and “no harvesting” (control). Cultivars and treatments were evaluated for date of harvest, number of florets per flowering stem, stem length and number of flowering stems produced per plant. The harvest period covered week 14 to week 34 of 1999. The number of florets produced per inflorescence was not affected by any harvesting treatments. The average length of the flowering stems with butterfly-type and hybrid-type cultivars of Alstroemeria decreased over the period of harvest. These two types of cultivars did not differ from each other as a result of the harvesting technique, but did differ from the control plants that were not harvested. The stems from control plants of the butterfly-type and hybrid-type cultivars were longer than those of the harvested plants. The orchid-type cultivars did not exhibit this “short stem effect” as the other two types of cultivars. In both orchid-type cultivars (`Parigo Red' and `Parigo Pink') and in the hybrid-type cultivar (`Sweet LauraP') the total number of flowering stems that were produced was greater with the “cutting” technique than with the “pulling” technique of harvest. In the case of butterfly-type cultivars, there was no difference of the number of flowering stems produced between the two harvesting systems, but they differed from the control plants.