Pinching technique influences lateral shoot development in poinsettia.
Berghage R.D. | Heins R.D. | Karlsson M. | Erwin J. | Carlson W.
Lateral shoot growth and plant morphology of poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd.) were influenced by the pinching technique used for apical meristem removal. Plants were pinched in one of four ways: 1) soft (removal of the apical meristem plus stem and leaf tissue associated with leaves less than or equal to 2 cm long); 2) medium (removal of the apical meristem plus stem and leaf tissue associated with leaves up to 7 cm long); 3) hard (removal of the apical meristem plus stem and leaf tissue associated with all immature leaves); and 4) leaf removal (LR; soft pinch as defined above plus removal of all immature leaves but not the associated stem tissue). Initial growth of lateral shoots on soft and some medium-pinched plants was less than initial growth of lateral shoots on hard- or LR-pinched plants. Shorter lateral shoots and longer primary stems at anthesis on soft-pinched plants resulted in vertical plant architecture. Hard- and LR-pinched plants had a more horizontal plant architecture. The average height : width ratio of soft-, hard-, and LR-pinched plants at anthesis was 0.77, 0.68, and 0.63, respectively. Of 10 commercial cultivars tested in 1987, 48% of the inflorescences of soft-pinched plants developed below the bract canopy, compared with 27% and 31% for hard- and LR-pinched plants, respectively. These results show that the use of a soft pinch to increase inflorescence number in the bract canopy is not productive if immature leaves are left on the plant when pinching.
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