Influence of the photoperiod, daminozide application and fertilization on New England aster

Abstract

The species Aster novae-angliae L., New England aster, is a short day perennial, flowering from the end of August to the end of October. It is branched out and reaches a height to 1.2 m. New England aster is grown in gardens and for cutting production. It has a flowering pot plant potential, but many of its cultivars are too tall to be grown in pots. Regulation of the day length may affect its flowering period while the application of growth retardants may regulate the shoot length and branching, as well as induce flowering in this Aster species. Growth regulators are applied in floriculture to reduce the vegetative growth of plants and to improve their aesthetic value by inducing shorter internodes (Gibson and Whipker, 2003 ; Marosz and Matysiak, 2005 ; Pinto et al. 2005 ; Pobudkiewicz and Treder, 2006). Balanced nutrition is an important tool in cultivation of agricultural plants as well as for flowering pot plants and it has to be adjusted to the plant requirements during particular development stages for which only orientational values are available for the majority of ornamental plants (Macz et al. 2001 ; Kant et al. 2005 ; Berzsenyi and Dang, 2006 ; Sharma and Sharma, 2006 ; ). The objectives of this work are to define the possibility of growing Aster novae-angliae L., ‘ September Ruby’ , as a flowering pot plant in the late summer period, determine the effect of day length and the cultivar’ s response to one time application of growth retardant, as well as topdressing with liquid mineral fertilizer on its growth and flowering.