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- Author or Editor: Henry M. Cathey x
- HortScience x
Abstract
The origin of floriculture as a commercial enterprise arose from the practices developed by private estates and public parks. The motivation for excellence in crop production was for spectacular display effect at any cost. Fancy greenhouse structures were designed for growing plants which required labor-intensive techniques to bring flowering plants to the desired time of display. Secrets of growing were hoarded by growers. This was unlike the origin and the attitudes of other areas of agriculture. Field and fruit crop production evolved from a subsistence enterprise through barter or exchange to specialization and technological change. The nature of the origin of commercial floriculture was further handicapped in that its perishable products implied a limited need for duration.
Abstract
Chemical growth retardants are unique in the history of chemical regulation of plants. All types thus far used by growers have been synthetics. Unlike many other classes of growth regulators, we have thus far not detected the naturally occurring chemicals that account for the development of dwarf plants. For one reason, dwarf plants may result from reduced or degenerated biosynthetic pathways for the natural production of gibberellin-like compounds. Also, they may result from the synthesis of a number of interrelated compounds, which separately have little effect on growth. In certain combinations and concentrations, however, they affect cell division and expansion control systems. Chemical growth retardants permit a direct approach to growth control by retarding internode elongation without seriously disrupting the growth processes that involve chlorophyll and phytochrome. They permit growers to predetermine the size of the plant for many different uses and have become an integral part of many plant production systems (Fig. 1). Florists’ and nurserymen’s catalogs designate cultivars as particularly responsive to a specific chemical growth retardant.
Abstract
Alkvlnaphthalenes are used as solvents for chlorinated insecticides and herbicides. Johnson, Veomans, and Smith (2) reported that these solvents could cause the death of the apical meristems of chrysanthemums when applied in concentrated solutions or in mechanically or thermallv generated aerosols. Controlling the number of flowers and fruits on a stem is not only of academic interest but of practical importance. Thev are now controlled on chrysanthemums by removing the excess by hand. Research reported in this paper show that HAN,R a petroleum fraction containing a large percentage of alkvlnaphthalenes. can be used to control the number of flowers borne by chrysanthemum plants.