253 Influence of the Timing of Propagation and Cold Storage on the Growth and Development of Alstroemeria Pot Plants

Abstract

Two butterfly-type cultivars of Alstroemeria were used to evaluate the effect of different dates of propagation and cold storage techniques on the growth and flowering of potted plants. The cultivars used were `Patricia Lynn' and FL-101. Plants were propagated during four different dates of 1997 (weeks 39, 41, 43, and 47) in large nursery pots (3.8 L) or in small nursery pots (1.4 L). Following division, all plants were grown for 4 weeks. After this period of establishment, plants in the large nursery pots were transferred directly to the final growing greenhouse (16 °C nights) and plants in the small pots were refrigerated at 4 °C for 8, 6, 4, or 0 weeks with either complete light or complete dark conditions. Once the cold treatment was accomplished, all plants were transferred on the same date to large nursery pots for finishing with those plants that had been initially propagated in large pots. All plants were cut back on week 3 of 1998. Plants were evaluated for date of harvest, visual evaluation, fresh aerial weight, number and length of flowering stems, and number of florets per flowering stem. Refrigerated treatments delayed the time of flowering when compared to plants that were grown with no refrigeration. Fresh weight and stem length values of plants that were not refrigerated were less than or equal to those of plants that were refrigerated, with the exception of plants that was propagated on week 47. In addition, the number of flowering stems that were produced from plants that were refrigerated was either greater than or the same as plants that were not refrigerated. The presence or absence of light during refrigeration had no effect on subsequent plant growth and development. There were no differences observed among treatments for visual evaluation and number of florets produced per inflorescence. This research demonstrated that potted Alstroemeria plants can be propagated early and stored under cold conditions without these procedures affecting final plant performance, but the process will affect the scheduling of the crop.