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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #200839
Title: PRODUCTION OF QUALITY WOODY AND FLORAL CROPS USING INNOVATIVE PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES

Author
item Roh, Mark
item JOUNG, YOUNG HEE - CHEONANM NAT'L UNIV,KOREA
item SUH, JUNG KEUN - DANKOOK UNIV, KOREA
item LEE, AE KYUNG - DANKOOK UNIV, KOREA

Submitted to: Acta Horticulture Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/15/2007
Publication Date: 3/2/2008
Citation: Roh, M., Joung, Young Hee, Suh, Jung Keun, and Lee, Ae-Kyung. 2008. Production of quality woody and floral crops using innovative production techniques. Acta Hort. 766:29-44.

Interpretive Summary: It is desirable shorten the total production time and produce quality plants in both woody and floral crops. For woody plants, promotion of seed germination and by-passing the juvenile period can be considered as means to shorten the production time. A juvenile phase exists in seedlings during which plants are unable to flower. Therefore, to speed flowering, seed germination should be accelerated by treating mature seeds and the duration of the juvenile phase should be minimized and if possible bypassed. Styrax seeds germination can be shortened from conventionally practiced 8 to 10 months to less than 4 months, which can reduce the total production time. However, 4-year long juvenile period in Styrax and also in Ardisia can be bypassed by propagating through cuttings and rooted cuttings can flower in less than 2 years. The loss of rooted cuttings of Styrax over the first winter and low rooting percentage of Ardisia must be solved to bypass the juvenile period and to produce quality plants. For bulbous plants such as Lilium and Ornithogalum, bulb production phase that may take 1 to 2 years should be reduced or combined with bulb programming phase which is given after bulb harvest to accelerate flowering of small propagules to flower. Quality plants of L. longiflorum (Easter lily), L. × elegans, and interspecific hybrids of these two, LAIH hybrids, was produced from seeds, stem bulbils, or tissue cultured plants, respectively, in a year. Temperature manipulation at the time of floral induction is a key for successful forcing of Lilium. This review article reports the research results of seed germination and production of Styrax and Ardisia from cuttings, and forcing Easter lilies from seeds, L. ×

Technical Abstract: For woody plants, accelerating seed germination by breaking seed dormancy and controlling flowering to bypass the juvenile period is a key to producing a quality plant in the shortest possible time. Germination of mature seeds of Styrax japonicus, as investigated by magnetic resonance imaging, was accelerated and germination percentage was increased with 1 to 2 months of warm stratification followed by 2 to 3 months of cold stratification. However, it requires 4 to 5 years to produce quality plants when started from seeds after germination. High quality Styrax plants can be produced in 2 years with vegetative propagation. However, over-wintering loss of rooted cuttings can be a problem and should be minimized. With Ardisia crenata, flowering plants require 4 to 5 years when started from seeds but less than 2 years are necessary when propagated from rooted cuttings. Traditionally, bulbous crops are forced using large bulbs grown in the field one to two years. Dormancy must be broken to induce flowering with bulb cold/shoot photoperiod treatments in Lilium and high – warm – low temperature treatments in Ornithogalum. It would be desirable if the bulb production phase could be bypassed to shorten the total production time. Quality plants of L. longiflorum, L. × elegans, and interspecific hybrids of these two, LA hybrids, can be produced from seeds, stem bulbils, or tissue cultured plants, respectively, in a year. Temperature manipulation at the time of floral induction is a key for successful forcing of Lilium. For Ornithogalum thyrsoides, selection of genotypes and combination of optimum concentrations of auxin and cytokinin for in vitro propagation using leaf explants are important to produce quality cut flowers and potted plants in less than a year.