Effects of temperature and timing/duration of night cooling treatments on flowering time and quality of cut flowers of standard type carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to develop efficient night cooling technology to produce high-quality carnation cut flowers. The effects of temperature and timing of night cooling treatments (applied using a heat pump) on the flowering time and quality of cut flowers were investigated for standard type carnation flowers grown in a greenhouse in hot conditions. In the first experiment, rooted cuttings of the carnation ‘Exceria’ were planted in a greenhouse on July 6, 2012. Night cooling treatments at 18°C, 21°C, and 24°C were carried out, and the harvested cut flowers were compared with those of a non-cooled control group. For flowers harvested in November, those from plants subjected to the night-cooling treatments had harder stems compared with those of the non-cooled control. In the next experiment, to determine the best timing and duration of the night cooling treatment, we applied three treatments to rooted cuttings planted on June 18, 2013; overnight cooling from sunset to sunrise, cooling for 4 h from sunset (End of Day cooling: EOD-cooling), and cooling for 4 h before sunrise (End of Night cooling: EON-cooling), and compared them with a non-cooled control. For flowers harvested in December, the node order of flowering was the same in the EOD-cooling treatment and the overnight cooling treatment, and was lower than those in the EON-cooling treatment and the non-cooled control. The number of days to flowering was shorter in the EOD-cooling treatment than in the non-cooled control. In October and November in the harvest season when the high temperature influenced the early growth stage, the stem quality of cut flowers was improved by night-cooling treatments, as indicated by a significantly smaller stem weeping angle than that in the non-cooled control group. These results suggested that an EOD-cooling treatment at 21°C for 4 h from sunset was as effective as an overnight cooling treatment to improve the quality of cut flowers by promoting stem hardness and flowering. This method is a cost-effective and efficient thermal management strategy to produce high-quality carnation cut flowers in hot conditions.