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Five woody ornamentals Rosa rugosa, Cotoneaster acutifolia, Malus baccata, Picea glauca and Pinus contorta var. latifolia, were grown for 4 seasons mulched with one of five treatments: 2.5 cm or 5 cm of crushed basaltic quarry stone, 5 cm or 10 cm of quaking aspen wood chips, and an unmulched control. Maximum soil temperatures at the 10 cm depth on the wood chip plots were decreased by as much as 8°C over control plots, and soil moisture was increased. Stone mulch plots showed a slight increase in both temperature and moisture. Soil minimum temperatures were lower on the wood chip plots than the other treatments early in the season, but were slightly higher in September. Soil pH and available N, P and K did not differ among mulch treatments. Weed growth was suppressed by all mulch treatments but was best controlled on the wood chip plots followed by the 5 cm stone plots. Plant growth for all species except Rosa rugosa was greatest on the stone mulch plots. Roses growing on the stone mulch plots and the control were subject to significant dieback from winter injury and did not show any difference in total growth after 4 years when compared with the wood chip plots. Plants grown on the wood chip plots exhibited varying degrees of nitrogen deficiency which may be related to reduced nutrient uptake in cooler soils or to a significant amount of rooting in the mulch-soil interface.
60 ORAL SESSION 10 (Abstr. 064–071) Water Stress/Water Utilization–Woody Plants
Silicon (Si) is the second most-abundant element in soils, and its concentration in soil solution ranges from 0.1 to 0.6 mm, which is the same concentration range as some of the major nutrient elements such as calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and sulfur. Increasing evidence has recently suggested that Si plays important roles in improving plant growth. However, little information is available on Si effects on container-grown ornamental plants, particularly since most are grown in soilless media where Si sources are greatly limited. The objectives of this research were to evaluate Si absorption and translocation in diverse container-grown ornamental plants and to determine whether Si absorption could improve plant growth. Liners from 39 plant species were potted in peat and pine bark-based soilless media and grown in a shaded greenhouse. Plants were fertigated with a Peter's 24–8–16 water-soluble fertilizer containing 0, 50, and 100 mg·L–1 of Si. Once marketable sizes were reached, plants were harvested and fresh and dry weights determined; Si and other nutrient elements in roots and shoots were measured. Results indicated that 32 of the 39 evaluated species were able to absorb Si, with large quantities further transported to shoots. Of the 32 Si-responsive species, 17 showed significant dry weight increases, whereas the other 15 only exhibited Si absorption and translocation with no apparent growth responses. The seven non-responsive plant species showed no significant increases in neither Si absorption and translocation, nor dry weight.
The growth of the ornamental plant industry has rapidly increased over the past several years, creating a strong demand for well-trained graduates and industry workers. It is vital for a person entering this industry to have a solid and broad plant material background. The best ways to learn, sell, and teach plants are through visual materials. Currently, there are few cost-effective resources that provide a person with all the visual information needed to learn plants. To better serve the students and industry workers, the Univ. of Connecticut has developed a free multimedia ornamental plant database on the World Wide Web. The plant database focuses on plants for the New England area (USDA zone 6 and lower). This website brings detailed textual information, thousands of pictures, and audio pronunciations together in one complete package. Plant characteristic information (textual and pictorial) consists of habitat, habit and form, summer foliage, autumn foliage, flowers, fruit, bark, culture, landscape uses, liabilities, ID features, propagation, and cultivar/variety. The major factors and decision processes involved in developing an educational Web site, with emphasis on usability and accessibility are considered. The target audience for this Web site is students as well as the nursery and landscape industry workers, agricultural consultants, extension personnel, landscape architects, and the gardening public.
Seeds of herbaceous ornamental accessions conserved by the USDA National Plant Germplasm System (NPGS) are traditionally produced in summer field cages with honey bees (Apis mellifera) when pollinators are required. Efficient methods to produce high-quality seed in greenhouses may allow for year-round seed production. Flower quantities and effects of pollinators on number and weight of seed produced were studied in field cages and greenhouses at the Ornamental Plant Germplasm Center in 2003 in a randomized complete-block experiment. Honey bees, bumblebees (Bombus impatiens), or blue bottle flies (Diptera calliphoridae) were used as pollinators. Field cages and greenhouse compartments with no pollinator were controls. Cultivars used were Antirrhinum majus `Gum Drop', Coreopsis tinctoria `Plains Bicolor', Dianthus chinensis `Carnation' (NPGS accession NSL 15527), Rudbeckia hirta `Indian Summer', and Tagetes patula `Jaguar'. Seeds were harvested, cleaned, weighed, and 100-seed weights calculated. On average Antirrhinum, Dianthus, Rudbeckia and Tagetes produced more flowers in greenhouses, Coreopsis produced more flowers in the field. Coreopsis and Rudbeckia produced more seed per flower on average with field pollination by honey bees, Antirrhinum and Dianthus produced most with bumblebees in the field, and Tagetes produced most with blue bottle flies in the greenhouse. Each genus had similar 100-seed weights on average in all treatments. Results show pollinators other than honey bees are useful for herbaceous ornamental seed production and that seed production in greenhouses may be an alternative method for seed production of herbaceous ornamentals.
We assessed the capacity for nutrient removal of ornamental water garden plants being grown in treatment-production wetland biofilters. Plant biomass, nutrient uptake, tissue nutrient content, and production potential were compared for five popular ornamental water garden plant species: Typha latifolia L., Iris pseudacorus L., Phalaris arundinacea L. `Picta', Canna glauca L., and Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott. Plants were grown in triplicate 0.3 m2 × 0.3 m, deep gravelbed mesocosms fed with 20N-20P-20K Peter's fertilizer (Scotts-Sierra Horticultural Products Co., Marysville, Ohio) reconstituted to 100 ppm N. After 120 days, mean species total biomass ranged from 1.4 to 5.6 kg·m -2, while producing 105 to 206 divisions per square meter. Growth for Canna and Colocasia was greatest, while Typha produced the most divisions. Mean tissue N and P concentrations ranged from 18 to 29 and 2.1 to 3.0 mg·g -1, respectively. Maximum plant accumulation of 144 g N/m 2 and 15.6 g P/m2 accounted for 70% of the N and 15% of the P supplied by fertilizer. Mean removal of total N and P ranged from 42% to 90% and 18% to 58%, respectively, and was positively correlated with plant biomass. Nutrient removal ability was ranked as Canna = Colocasia > Typha > Iris = Phalaris.
In 1991, the USDA–ARS North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station made available for distribution 129 accessions of germplasm representing 31 genera of herbaceous ornamentals. This number increased to 329 accessions of 42 genera by 1995. During 1991–95, more than 500 seed packets were distributed to fulfill requests for these plants received from a diverse array of public and private researchers. An analysis of this demand together with expert advice from Crop Germplasm Committees and technical considerations, such as ease of culture and seed production, can help set priorities to plan germplasm regeneration to meet future demand. A recent analysis of demand at U.S. National Plant Germplasm System active sites indicated that demand ranging between 0.23 and 0.97 distributions per available accession per year was typical. Of the 42 ornamental genera analyzed in this study, 9 were demanded more frequently than was typical, 10 were demanded less frequently, with the remainder in the typical range. In order of increasing frequency, the nine genera with the highest distribution rates were Verbena, Gypsophila, Echinacea, Lapeirousia, Delphinium, Cerastium, Baptisia, Lilium, and Tanacetum. Six of these genera are represented only by a single available accession. Notably, Echinacea and Tanacetum are of research interest both as ornamentals and as medicinal/industrial crops. This poster gives a brief overview of the economic value of these genera, display the results of the demand analysis, discuss the results relative to recommendations from Crop Germplasm Committees and requestors, and consider how demand can shape management plans for the acquisition and regeneration of ornamental germplasm.
In Sonora, Mexico, a new crop is emerging as a potential and alternative crop industry: the bacanora plant (Agave angustifolia Haw). The bacanora plant belongs to the Amaryllidaceous family and is a type of agave with a low water requirements, growing as a wild plant in Sonora, Mexico. It is different from the one used to produce the most famous Mexican liquor in the world—tequila. Some time ago, the bacanora plant had been used to distill and produce a kind of liquor known by Sonoran people as bacanora. However, this activity was prohibited by the Sonoran government during the past century. Now, in order to encourage job growth, the Sonoran government has given permission to producers for new bacanora plantations. To protect the originality of both bacanora plant production and the bacanora distillation industry, the Federal Mexican government issued a law that prohibits all activity for growing bacanora plant and bacanora distillation outside of Sonora, Mexico. The law was approved in 2005 and now, all natural areas where wild plants of bacanora grow are known as “origin denomination,” which means that some Sonoran areas are unique locations where the bacanora industry can be legally established for plant production, distillation, refining, and labeling. Currently, there are about 20,000 ha of bacanora plants located in Sonora. Some producers estimate that, in the near future, there will be more than 60,000 ha of bacanora plants. Although bacanora plants are used mainly for producing liquor, they could be considered ornamental plants for establishing home desert gardens together with desert plants, such as cacti.
In spite of its rapid growth in recent years, the floricultural industry in Korea is rather small with respect to total acreage and number of growers engaged, product value, international trade, and production facilities and technics involved. The production status will be introduced with slides. Nevertheless, variable climatic conditions of the temperate zone such as the distinctive 4 seasons favor the prosperous growth of a variety of vegetation throughout the Korean peninsular. Thus, it has been wellknown that many ornamental plants native to Korea have good potentials for horticultural use. The morphological characteristics of a few selected plants will be introduced along with slides. These plants include Aster spp, Iris spp, Gentiana soabra, Chrysanthemum zawadski, Pulsatilla koreana, Cymbidium spp, Calanthe spp, Dendrobium moniliforme, Abeliophyllum distichum, Ardisia spp, Hibiscus syriacus, and many others.
Containerized ornamental plant production represents extremely intensive agricultural production. An average of 200,000 containers may occupy 1 acre of surface area, to which a large amount of chemical fertilizers will be applied. Because of the use of high-drainage soilless potting mixes coupled with excessive fertigation, a great amount of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, are leached, which increases the potential for ground and surface water contamination. Over the past 2 decades, research has been centered on developing fertigation delivery systems such as nutrient film techniques, ebb-and-flow and capillary mat systems, for reducing leaching. Relatively limited research has been conducted on improving potting medium substrates to minimize nutrient leaching. The objectives of this study were to determine the adsorption isotherm of six different zeolites to ammonium, nitrate and phosphorus, identify and incorporate desired zeolites in a peat/bark-based medium for reducing nutrient leaching in ornamental plant production. Results indicated that the zeolites possess great holding capacities for ammonium, nitrate, and phosphorus. Compared to control, ammonium leaching was reduced 70% to 90%, phosphorus 30% to 80% and nitrate 0% to 60% depending on zeolite species and quantity used per pot. Zeolite amended media caused no adverse effects on plant growth. Conversely, biomass increased significantly when compared to that of the control.