The Effects of Fertilizer Application Methods on Cut Flower Quality and Nutrient Uptake of Spray Chrysanthemums in Bench Culture

Abstract

The effect of fertilizer application methods on cut flower quality and nutrient uptake of spray chrysanthemums were investigated in bench culture. Plants were fertilized once a week by the following four application methods with the same amounts of total fertilization. 1) NASC: nutrient application based on the nitrogen application standard curve, 2) Three concentrations: 3 application levels calculated by the simplified NASC, 3) One concentration: same application levels at all fertilization time, 4) First term high concentration: half the nutrient amounts were applied 4 weeks after pinching and the other half were applied 8 weeks after pinching.
High quality cut flowers were produced regardless of the nutrient application method. In all treatments, there was only slight accumulation of nutrient elements in the medium at harvest.
Thus, we concluded that to produce high quality cut flowers in spray chrysanthemum bench culture, NASC methods were not always necessary and it seemed to be possible to simplify fertilization methods by same concentration application.