PROSPECTS FOR GROWING PLANTS OF THE GENUS EUSTOMA L. IN PROTECTED GROUND

Abstract

The article presents the results of studies on the cultivation of Eustoma L. plants in closed ground conditions on different substrates. As a result of the cultivation, the influence of the substrate on the passage of the main phenological phases of plant growth and development was determined, as well as data on the effect on plant height and flower diameter of different varieties. Four substrates were used in the study, namely: Domoflor; Compo; Peatfield; Generous soil and seven varieties of the genus Eustoma were studied: Aurora, Echo, Heidi, Flamenco, Mermaid, LittleBell, Florida Pink. It was found that growing plants of Eystoma L. varieties on substrates increases the duration of flowering from 3.39 % to 8.96 %, and accelerates flowering by several days. The size of the flower is a characteristic feature of the Eustoma species. The larger the flower size, the better the growing conditions. Most Eustoma varieties are characterized by the formation of flowers with a relatively large diameter. As a result of growing Echo and Florida Pink varieties, the flower diameter was the smallest and amounted to only 5 cm and was 3 cm or 37% less than the flower diameter of Aurora. A slight increase in flower diameter, relative to Echo and Florida Pink, but less than Aurora, was found for Echo, Heidi, Mermaid and LittleBell. In these variants, the flower diameter was at the level of 6-7 cm. The large size of the flower and similar diameter relative to the control was characterized by the variety Flamenco. The flower diameter of this variety was 8 cm. The use of the Compo substrate for growing tall flowers gave the highest plant height of 98 cm (+18.8 %), and in the case of short flowers 15.3 cm (+15 %) relative to the substrates: Domoflor – 89.5 cm (+8.5 %) for tall varieties and 14.3 cm (+7.5 %) for short varieties, Peatfield – 91.2 cm (+10.6 %) for tall varieties and 14.3 cm (+7.5 %) for short varieties, and on the substrate Generous Earth the plant height was 88 cm (+6.6 %) for tall flowers and 14.3 cm (+7.5 %) for short varieties. Experiments have shown that the substrate does not have a significant effect on flower diameter, with the exception of the Compo. In this variant, an increase of +2.1 % was found in the overall study, while in other substrates the indicator increased only by +0.76 %. Despite the different plant heights, the number of peduncles and buds on the experimental plants was almost the same. Their total number was in the range of 25-34 pcs. The largest number of buds was characterized by the varieties Eustoma, Echo and Heidi. In these variants, the total number of buds was 33 pcs. The same number of buds was characterized by the varieties Flamenco, Mermaid and Little Bell. As a result of growing the Florida Pink variety, the number of buds was the smallest and amounted to only 25 pcs. In terms of substrate use, the best performance was characterized by the Compo substrate, which on average had 1 more bud than the control (+3.5 %), while other substrates had slightly lower rates of increase in the number of buds, where their value ranged from (1-2 %).