Effect of time of planting on the growth and flowering of popular bedding plants
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Date
1990
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Department of Horticulture, College of Agriculture, Vellayani
Abstract
A field experiment was conducted at the college of Agriculture, Vellayani during 1988-89 to study the effect of time of planting on the growth and flowering of popular bedding plants namely Marigold, Zinnia , Balsam, Phlox and Salvia. For reasons not absolutely known stand of adequate size could not be obtained for Salvia and Phlox and hence the two crops were not carried over through the remaining part of experiment.
Time of planting had profound influence on characters like plant height, number of branches per plant, number of days to flower, number of flowers per plant, size of flowers, longevity of flowers and duration of flowering in Marigold, Zinnia and Balsam.
In Marigold the number of days taken for 50 percent germination of seeds and the percentage of germination of seeds were not much influenced by sowing dates. Transplantation during the months of September, October and November is ideal for early flower initiation, maximum number of flowers and branches and less plant height. February and March planting gave longer duration of flowering with medium sized flowers and good flower longevity.
In Zinnia the number of days taken for 50 percent germination of seeds were not much affected by sowing time. But the sowing time influenced the percentage germination of seeds. May sowing gave the highest percentage germination of seeds. Transplantation during the months of February, March, April and May is ideal for getting maximum number of large sized long lasting flowers with longer duration of flowering. However, it was noticed that incidence of leaf blight disease was more during these months, as compared to other months. September, October and November gave lesser plant height with more number of branches and earlier flowering.
Sowing time did not influence the number of days taken for 50 percent germination of seeds in Balsam. However sowing time influenced the percentage germination of seeds. June sowing gave the highest germination percentage. Plant height was reduced by planting in September, October, November, December and January. Transplantation during the months of February, March, April and May is ideal for getting maximum number of large sized flowers with maximum number of branches. However, it was noticed that incidence of leaf spot disease was more during these months, as compared to other months. November, December, January and February transplanting are ideal for getting maximum duration of flowering.
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