2018 Volume 17 Issue 4 Pages 465-474
To force the blooming of cut Eustoma ‘Voyage (Type II) Blue’ flower stems harvested at the green-hued bud stage, we performed pulse or continuous treatment with 1% glucose and germicide solution with or without 1 mM methyl jasmonate (MeJA), in the presence or absence of light in autumn and spring. Both continuous and pulse treatments with MeJA led to a more uniform coloration of petals during flower opening. Pulse treatment with MeJA was effective for avoiding small petals and leaf injury. After pulse treatment with MeJA, light was necessary to improve petal pigmentation. MeJA was used to treat green-hued buds of six cultivars with yellow, green, lavender, white, and pink petals. In flower stems of the two white cultivars, pulse treatments with MeJA led to a more uniform coloration of petals. In other cultivars, nonuniform coloring was not observed irrespective of whether stems were treated with MeJA. MeJA and the control treatments led to similar flower diameters and color values. In addition, more than 50% of the cut flowers maintained their vase life for 10 days after flowering in both treatments. These results suggest that pulse treatment with MeJA is effective to force cut double-flowered Eustoma flower stems to bloom.
