Vol. 71 No: 3

Title:
Long-Term Flower Production of a Rose crop. I. The Influence of Planting System and Rootstock Clone

Authors:
M.T.N. KOOL and P.A. VAN DE POL

pp: 435-444

Abstract:
The effect of planting system and rootstock clone on plant development and flower production of R. hybrida ‘Motrea’ was studied for more than four years. Initially rootstock Ludiek gave the highest number of flowers as compared with the rootstocks Multic and Moonlight. However, the decline in flower production for ‘Ludiek’ after two years of culture was more severe than for the others. Plants on ‘Moonlight’ outyielded those on the other rootstocks during the third and fourth year of culture and this result is discussed in relation to their high renewal cane production. Death of basal shoots during four years of culture was mainly due to competition between numerous shoots. No influence of rootstocks on the longevity of rose plants could be detected during this period. Comparison of basal-shoot formation during the early period of plant development in single stemmed plants at double plant density and with a two-stemmed planting system at normal plant density showed that intra-plant competition between basal shoots was greater than inter-plant competition. During subsequent years of production no differences in basal shoot competition occurred between or within plants, as reflected in equal total flower fresh weight production, numbers of new basal-shoot formation and numbers of dead basal stems. However, higher plant density increased the number of harvested flowers and decreased individual flower weight.

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