2021 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 101-108
Gerbera flowers are harvested by hand picking without scissors in Japan. Harvested gerbera flowers are cut and wet-transported, but some are not cut and dry-transported. We investigated the effects of stem cutting on electrolytes and sugars released from cut stems, the turbidity of vase water, and vase life in gerbera. The average stem length of ‘Minou’ gerbera at harvest was 57 cm. In this cultivar, electrical conductivity, sugar concentrations, and turbidity of vase water were affected by positions of stem cutting and the method of cutting. These values were relatively low in uncut stems and stems cut at the site proximal to the base of stems, whereas they were relatively high in stems cut at a distance of 40 cm from the flower head. Electrical conductivity, turbidity, and sugar concentrations in the vase water were significantly correlated. Variations in vase life, turbidity of vase water at 7 days after cutting, and water uptake were investigated using seven cultivars. The vase life was negatively correlated with electrical conductivity and sugar concentrations in the vase water at 2 days after cutting. Next, we investigated the effect of cutting on turbidity and sugars in ‘Pinta’ and ‘Picture Perfect’, whose vase life was the longest and shortest among the seven cultivars, respectively. In cut ‘Pinta’, turbidity and sugar concentrations in vase water were only slightly increased and the vase life was significantly extended by cutting stems. In contrast, these values were markedly increased and vase life was not extended in ‘Picture Perfect’. These results suggest that sugars and electrolyte were released into vase water by cutting stems, and difference in the amounts of these compounds may be associated with cultivar variations in vase life in cut gerbera flowers.
