Abstract
There are no chemical plant growth retardants that may be used on containerized culinary herbs intended for consumption. Our objective was to quantify the effect of substrate moisture content on the growth of four commonly produced culinary annual herbs grown in containers in the greenhouse. Seedlings of basil (Ocimum basilicum L.), dill (Anethum graveolens L.), parsley (Petroselinum crispum (Mill.) Fuss), and sage (Salvia officinalis L.) were transplanted into 11.4 cm diameter containers filled with commercial soilless substrate comprising (by vol.) 75% sphagnum peat moss and 25% coarse perlite and amended with 3.0 kg·m−3 of controlled-release fertilizer. After the containers were thoroughly irrigated to container capacity, plants were placed into a sensor-controlled irrigation system, which maintained substrate volumetric water content (VWC) at 0.15, 0.28, 0.30, 0.38, or 0.45 m3·m−3. Chlorophyll fluorescence, photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and transpiration were measured 27 d after initiating treatments, and the results showed that chlorophyll fluorescence of parsley and photosynthesis of basil increased as substrate VWC increased from 0.15 to 0.45 m3·m−3; the remaining parameters for basil, parsley, and sage were unaffected. Additionally, height, width, leaf area, and shoot dry mass of basil, dill, parsley, and sage increased as substrate volumetric water content increased from 0.15 to 0.45 m3·m−3. Our results show that growth of basil, dill, parsley, and sage can be promoted or inhibited by providing or withholding water, respectively, with no signs of stress or visual damage resulting from reduced substrate volumetric water content. Therefore, restricting irrigation and substrate volumetric water content is an effective nonchemical growth control method for containerized culinary herbs grown in peat-based substrate.
Highlights
One of the primary challenges associated with growing containerized herbaceous plants is controlling shoot growth to produce plants that are proportional and aesthetically balanced to the container height
This variation reflects what is seen in the literature, where Water use efficiency (WUE) was found to increase with increasing substrate volumetric water content (VWC) for burkwood vibrurnum (Viburnum × burkwoodii Burkwood & Skipwith) and butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii Franch.); decrease with increasing substrate VWC for potato (Solanum tuberosum L.), salvia (Salvia splendens Sellow ex Roem. & Schult.), vinca (Catharanthus roseus (L.) G
The growth and development of containerized culinary herbs, including height, width, node number, leaf area, and branching, were all controlled by substrate VWC, with growth and development restricted at lower VWC compared to those at higher VWC
Summary
One of the primary challenges associated with growing containerized herbaceous plants is controlling shoot growth to produce plants that are proportional and aesthetically balanced to the container height. Controlling shoot growth is important to produce plants that are sized proportionally to containers for aesthetic appearance as well as to increase container density in the greenhouse and during shipping [1]. Nonchemical methods of controlling containerized herb growth must be used. There are several nonchemical growth control techniques that may be used to control containerized herb growth [3,4,5]. Compact cultivars are available for some herb species, including basil and dill [3], and may be more appropriately sized for container production.
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