ARS | Publication request: Flower bud formation in short-day strawberry cultivar under non-photo inductive conditions

Submitted to: Acta Horticulture Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: March 3, 2008
Publication Date: June 1, 2008
Citation: Takeda, F., Glenn, D.M., Stutte, G.W. 2008. Flower bud formation in short-day strawberry cultivar under non-photo inductive conditions. Acta Horticulture Proceedings. 842: 761-764.

Technical Abstract: A scheme for producing short-day type strawberry cultivars that initiate flowers under long-day photoperiod was used to investigate the flower bud induction. When runner tips of short-day type ‘Carmine’ were started as plug plants in early July and field planted 1 September 86 percent of transplants flowered by mid October. When the July-plugged transplants were retained in tray flats at high plant density during July and August the leaves formed a full canopy or high leaf area index above the plant crowns and the crown near the base of leaf petioles was completely shaded. Spectral analysis showed that wavelengths less than 700 nm did not reach the crown because of chlorophyll absorbance. Illuminating the crown for 16 h per day for 4 weeks in August with 662 nm light decreased transplants that flowered by mid October. The results suggest that fall-flowering transplants of short-day strawberries were produced by rooting runner tips in early July and having a plant canopy that alters the quality of light that illuminates the crown.