Comparison of Several Chemical Pinching Agents on Greenhouse Forcing Azaleas, Rhododendron cv.1

Abstract

Abstract Applications of 0.5% dikegulac sodium (sodium salt of 2,3:4,6-bis-0-(l-methylethylidene-L-xylo-2-hexulofu-ranosonic acid) sprays produced significantly more new shoots on ‘Red wing’ or ‘King fisher’ azalea plants than manual pinching and other chemical pinching agents in 2 experiments. In 5 other experiments involving 5 other cultivars, dikegulac sodium-treated plants generally produced the most shoots, however, the shoot number was not different from shoot number on either manually pinched or 4.2% Off-Shoot-O-treated (mixture of C6 to C12 methyl ester of fatty acids) plants. Sprays of dimethyl dodecylamine caprylate at 0.2% and 0.5%, n-decanol at 2.5%, ethephon [(2-chloroethyl)phosphonic acid)] at 0.08%, and UBI-P293 (2,3-dihydro-5,6-diphenyl-1,4-oxathiin) at 1.0% gave inconsisent results but yielded shoot number comparable to dikegulac sodium in some tests. Off-Shoot-O, dimethyl dodecylamine caprylate, and n-un-decanol were destructive pinching agents at some concentrations and caused considerable plant injury. Dikegulac sodium caused minor injury and transient chlorosis. Ethephon, PBA [6-benzylamino-9(2-tetrahydropyran-2-yl)-9H-purine], and UBI-P293 did not produce any visible phytotoxicities. Shoots of plants sprayed with 0.5% dikegulac sodium and 1.0% UBI-P293 were of similar length or shorter than shoots of either manually pinched or untreated check plants 3 weeks after treatment.