DILTA, B.S.JUJHAR, SINGH2017-02-152017-02-15201047249http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/5810001112Abstract The present investigations were carried out at the Experimental Farm of the Department of Floriculture and Landscaping of Dr. Y.S. Parmar university of Horticulture and forestry, Nauni, Solan during 2009-2010 to work out the most suitable growing media and paclobutrazol dose for producing the best quality and most presentable potted geraniums .The experiment was laid out in Completely Randomized Design (factorial) having 21 treatment combinations of growing media and paclobutrazol doses replicated thrice with five pots per treatment. Seven growing media viz.; Rhododendron forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (1:1:1, v/v); Rhododendron forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (2:1:1, v/v); Rai forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (1:1:1, v/v); Rai forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (2:1:1, v/v); Mohru Oak forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (1:1:1, v/v); Mohru Oak forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (2:1:1, v/v ); Soil : FYM : Sand (1:1:1, v/v) and three doses of paclobutrazol i.e., 0, 10, 20 ppm were used. The observations were recorded on plant height, plant spread, number of shoots per plant, shoot length, days to flower bud formation, number of days taken for first flower opening, length of inflorescence stalk, inflorescence diameter, number of inflorescences per plant, maximum number of inflorescences opened at a time, number of flowers per inflorescence , duration of flowering and pot presentability. Maximum plant height (25.58 cm) was recorded in Mohru Oak forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (1:1:1, v/v). The growing media consisting of Rai forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (2:1:1, v/v) recorded maximum values in terms of shoot length (21.39 cm), number of shoots per plant (6.71), plant spread (24.27 cm), days to flower bud formation (117.00 days), number of flowers per inflorescence (17.33), duration of flowering (123.60 days) and pot presentability (77.00), respectively. Whereas maximum inflorescence diameter (8.74 cm), number of inflorescences per plant (14.10) and maximum number of inflorescences opened at a time (9.67) were recorded in Rai forest soil : FYM : Vermicompost (1:1:1, v/v). Among the paclobutrazol doses used, 0 ppm paclobutrazol exhibited maximum plant height (30.43 cm), shoot length (25.52 cm), plant spread (26.96 cm), length of the inflorescence stalk (13.78 cm), inflorescence diameter (10.11 cm), number of flowers per inflorescence (20.24) and duration of flowering (125.30 days). However, maximum number of shoots per plant (7.02), days to flower bud formation (124.80 days), days to first flower opening (135.30 days), number of inflorescences per plant (12.56) and number of inflorescence opened at a time (8.33) were obtained with 20 ppm paclobutrazol. However, drenching of the geranium plants with 10 ppm paclobutrazol dose recorded maximum pot presentability (79.00). Hence, it is concluded that geranium plants grown in growing media consisting of Rai forest soil: FYM : Vermicompost (2:1:1, v/v) and drenched with 10 ppm dose of paclobutrazol yielded the most desirable and presentable potted geraniums.ensowing, intercropping, wheats, tillage equipment, seed drilling, crops, mustard, fertilizers, land resources, chickpeasThesis