Specialty Cut Flower Production Guides for Florida: Sunflower

Herbaceous Peony (Paeonia): Genetics, Physiology and Cut Flower Production

Peony (Paeonia spp.) is one of the most popular garden plants in temperate regions. They were introduced into cultivation in China hundreds of years ago, and have since been spread widely to many countries. According to morphological traits and life form, the genus is divided into tree and herbaceous peonies. Numerous cultivars of herbaceous peonies have been developed to satisfy demand for col...

Postharvest Assessment of Lignifying Enzymes Activity, Flower Stem Lignification and Bending Disorder of Gerbera Cut Flower

Scape bending disorder is the most important factor affecting postharvest loss of gerbera cut flowers. One of the ultimate reasons for gerbera stem bending is lignin, with deformation structural functions and defensive mechanisms. This postharvest experiment was conducted to evaluate the role of phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and peroxidase (POD) enzymes activity in stem bending of two gerbe...

Pinching and Spacing Effects on Cut Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) Production in East Texas

Autonomous Orchard Vehicles for Specialty Crops Production

Comprehensive Automation for Specialty Crops (CASC) is a four-year project to develop crop intelligence and agricultural automation technologies for the apple and nursery tree industries. Supported by the USDA Specialty Crop Research Initiative, CASC aims at impacting industry where it matters most: increasing production efficiency and reducing labor costs. In this paper we present our most rec...

Effects of Shoot-bending in Relation to Root Media on Cut- Flower Production in Roses

Cut-flower production of Rosa hybrida ‘Kardinal’ and ‘Fire and Ice’ were compared between two canopy management regimes: shoot-bending and hedgerow without shootbending, and between hydroponics and non-hydroponic (UC Mix) culture with a tensiometer-based irrigation system. We observed the number and length of all harvestable flowering shoots from September 1997 to August 1999 in order to assess...