Abstract
Stock plants of 23 cultivars from 12 species of specialty annuals received one or two spray applications (500 mg . L) of ethephon [(2-chloroethyl) phosphonic acid] following transplant. Cuttings were harvested weekly from the stock plants and cumulative cutting yield of treated plants was compared to untreated plants. The ethephon treatment resulted in a 22 to 25% increase in cutting yield of Impatiens hawkeri cultivars and a 41 to 54% increase in cutting yield of I. walleriana cultivars. Cutting yield of Sutera cultivars decreased from 54 to 85% with the ethephon treatment. Ethephon had no significant effect on the cutting yield for the cultivars of Antirrhinum, Argyranthemum, Brachyscome, Bracteantha, Chrysocephalum, Nemesia, Osteospermum, Scaevola, and Verbena. The results of this study suggest that ethephon has the potential to increase cutting production on stock plants of species when flower initiation and development is inhibited and axillary buds produce shoots rather than flowers. However, no yield benefit was observed on species that produce vegetative lateral shoots without ethephon or species that had no inhibition of flowering following ethephon applications. Negative responses to ethephon occurred when stem elongation was excessively reduced. Ethephon
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