Flowering of Containerized Field-grown Garden Roses is Affected by Dig Date, Chill Hours, and Forcing Location

Abstract

Rose (Rosa sp.) cultivars Blue Girl and Mister Lincoln were harvested bare-root on 1 Nov. 2001 and 22 Nov. 2002 from a commercial nursery in Arizona. Grade 1 plants were then potted and forced to flowering in either Tucson, Ariz., or Tyler, Texas. Total chilling hours were calculated as the number of hours that the plants were exposed to a temperature below 7 °C in the field and during shipping and cold storage. Data were recorded when the petals on the first flower beg an to reflex. Overall, the number of flowering shoots and plant performance was positively correlated to digging date, weeks of cold and total chilling hours received. Days from potting to flower were negatively correlated to weeks of cold storage and chilling hours. However, when the data were separated by location, the number of flowering shoots, the percentage flowering shoots, and plant performance was positively correlated to weeks of cold and chilling hours in Arizona, but was positively correlated to digging date in Texas. Days from potting to first leaf unfolding were recorded in Arizona only and were negatively correlated to weeks of cold storage and chilling hours. Days from potting to flower were negatively correlated to chilling hours at both locations and also to weeks of cold storage in Texas. The increase in chilling from two or four weeks of cold storage increased the number of flowering shoots and performance rating of plants forced in Arizona during both seasons, but only for the 2001 season in Texas. During the 2002 season in Texas, these responses were not influenced by cold storage, but were greater than those seen during the 2001 season. In Arizona, days from potting to flower were greater in 2001 than 2002, and decreased in response to cold storage in 2001, but not in 2002.