Temperature, Irradiance, Photoperiod, and Growth Retardants Influence Greenhouse Production of Angelonia angustifolia Benth. Angel Mist Series

Abstract

The influence of temperature, irradiance, photoperiod and growth retardants on growth and flowering of Angelonia angustifolia Angel Mist series was evaluated. When temperature was increased from 15 to 30 °C, time to visible bud and time to flower decreased in a quadratic manner but total plant height and flower stem dry weight increased linearly. As irradiance increased, time to flower, time to visible bud, and height decreased quadratically. Changes in photoperiod had no effect on growth or flowering, suggesting that A. angustifolia is a day-neutral species with regards to height and flowering time. Daminozide, ancymidol, and paclobutrazol resulted in significant reduction of plant height compared with control plants but did not influence flowering time. Chemical names used: K-cyclopropyl-K-(4-methoxyphenyl)-5-pyrimidinemethanol (ancymidol); butanedioic acid mono (2,2-dimethylhydrazide) (daminozide); K-[(4-chlorophenyl)methyl]-K-(1,1-dimethyethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-ethanol (paclobutrazol).