Cyclanilide Increases Branching of Herbaceous Perennials
2011
Latimer, J.G. | Freeborn, J. | Groover, V.
Many herbaceous perennials would benefit from additional branching to provide fuller pots in shorter production times. Cyclanilide (Tiberon, OHP, Inc., Mainland, PA, USA), a new product recently labeled in the USA for branching of woody ornamentals, was evaluated on several herbaceous perennials over two seasons. Cyclanilide was applied as a foliar spray to established plants grown in 1.1-L pots filled with a peat-lite medium in late summer. Plant height and number of branches were determined at two week intervals after treatment (WAT). Cyclanilide improved the lateral branching of Phlox paniculata ‘Bright Eyes’ with an eight-fold increase in the number of lateral branches per plant at 6 WAT with 20 mg/L (control 2.2 vs. 20 mg/L 17.8 branches). Higher rates of cyclanilide did not further increase the number of lateral shoots but did increase the phytotoxicity symptoms. Echinacea ‘Ruby Star’ treated with 20 mg/L cyclanilide had twice the basal branches as the untreated control. Lateral branching of Coreopsis ‘Sweet Dreams’ was also doubled by treatment with 20 mg/L cyclanilide. However, even 20 mg/L cyclanilide resulted in unacceptable phytotoxicity damage. Therefore, the study was repeated in the spring with lower rates (0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 mg/L cyclanilide) applied to three cultivars of Echinacea, ‘Sunrise,’ ‘Sundown’ and ‘Double Decker’, Phlox paniculata ‘Blue Boy’ and Coreopsis ‘Sweet Dreams’. Only Phlox showed a significant improvement in branching for these spring-planted and spring-treated crops. Although cyclanilide may increase branching of some perennials, phytotoxicity may limit its use for spring production, and there are obviously production issues that affect its efficacy.
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