No abstract

Various durations of rooting at 15C and storage at 5.X and exogenous GA, (1000 ppm) application were used on dormant unrooted peony (Paeonia lactiflora Pall.) tubers of `Sarah Bernhardt', `Festiva Supreme' `Krinkled White', and `Scarlet O'Hara'. Four weeks of cooling were sufficient to break dormancy. Days to emergence, first bud color, and anthesis were reduced as the length of cold storage increased from 4 to 20 weeks. Height and number of shoots emerging per pot increased with increased cooling. All flower buds aborted when tubers were cooled for 20 weeks. When noncooled tubers were given a 1000-ppm GA, soil drench, shoots emerged within 7.5 days; untreated tubers failed to emerge after 5 months. When tubers were treated with GA,, all flower buds aborted.

No abstract

Easter lily (Lilium longiflorum Thunb. `Nellie White') bulbs were exposed to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 weeks of cold before shoot emergence; 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 weeks of long days (LD) upon shoot emergence; or a combination of cold followed by LD: 1/5 (weeks cold/weeks LD), 2/4,3/3,4/2, or 5/1. Experiments were repeated for three consecutive years. LD did not substitute equally for cold; at least 3 weeks of cold were required before LD treatments resulted in anthesis. Depending on the year, 100% of the plants flowered when treated with 3 to 6 weeks of cold alone or in combination with LD. Days to first flower anthesis from planting increased with decreasing weeks of cold in years 1 and 3, but was similar for all treatments in year 2. Decreasing weeks of cold in combination with LD, however, decreased days to anthesis in years 1 and 2, but had no effect in year 3. Regardless of LD, days from emergence to visible bud increased with decreasing weeks of cold in all years, and days to emergence from placement in the greenhouse increased with decreasing cold in years 1 and 3, but not in year 2. Increasing weeks of cold, regardless of LD, decreased leaf count, but had no effect on plant height. Flower count was unaffected by cold when combined with LD, but was significantly reduced by increasing weeks of cold.

Lily plants were exposed to natural daylight (ND), 50% ND (50% saran), ND plus 16 hours of incandescent (Inc) or ND plus 16 hours of high pressure sodium discharge (HID) lamp light at both University of Minnesota and Michigan State University. Light intensity had no significant horticultural effect on plant development rate that could not be readily explained by temperature. The Inc or HID light source hastened flowering by 5 to 8 days over the ND plants when given from emergence to flower. However, the rate of development from visible bud to flower was not influenced by light intensity. Plant heights were increased by all light treatments when compared to the ND plants. These increases appeared due to photoperiod for the HID treated plants, photoperiod and light quality for the Inc treated plants, and light quantity for the 50% saran-treated plants. The number of flower buds initiated was not affected by light treatment but Inc lighting increased flower bud abortion. Final plant height was highly correlated with height at visible bud; final height being about double the height at visible bud when plants were grown continuously under ND, HID, or 50% saran.