Abstract
A technique of forcing bloom of carnation for special market demand was developed. It enables ornamental growers to produce a large amount of cut carnation flowers during the intended period at a low cost. The outline of the technique is as follows. 1) Pinching shoots at the higher node and level them. By this treatment, many axillary buds start to grow simultaneously. 2) Carrying out shoot thinning and temperature control based on the degree of shoot growth. The date of budding, the bud size and the distance from the top of the pre-budding stem to the tip of the leaves can be used as indices for the estimation of growth and for the prediction of the flowering time. During the intended period of 12 days, the cut flower yield by this technique was as high as 20 stems per stock and 134 stems in each 1 m2 bed area using standard type carnation cv. ‘Francesco’. The appropriate time of the last pinching extended from the end of October to the middle of November in the warmer regions of Japan. In addition to the advantage of cost reduction by decreasing the number of carnation seedlings and fuel expenditure, this technique is suitable for continuous culture for 3 years.
