The Flowering Behaviour of Carnation Cuttings Produced in Long and Short Days

Abstract

Cuttings of the glasshouse carnation, White Sim, were produced in long and short days, rooted and then grown on to produce terminal flower buds. So long as cuttings were made from vegetative shoots, the day- length in which they had been produced had little or no effect on the time of flower-bud appearance. In short days shoots of stock plants remained vegetative for relatively long periods but in long days induction of flowering occurred when the shoots had eight or nine visible leaf pairs. Cuttings made from shoots that had undergone induction flowered rapidly with relatively few leaves below the flower, even under short-day conditions where the flowering of vegetative cuttings was delayed. When cuttings were made from vegetative shoots of the same age, cuttings with higher leaf numbers flowered earlier and after initiating fewer new leaves.