Cultivation Techniques of Carnation

Dianthus caryoPhylus) also known as carnation, carnation family, carnation genus. Due to its delicate flower color, long flowering period of single flower, good decoration effect and high yield per unit area, it is suitable for industrial production, transportation and storage and easy to preserve. It is the cut flower with the largest cultivation area and the highest amount in the world. At present, in addition to Italy, Holland, France, the United States, Colombia, Kenya, Israel and other countries have also become important carnation producing countries, China's Shanghai, Yunnan and other places have also been planted in large quantities, supply domestic and foreign markets.

(1) Morphological characteristics and varieties

Perennial root, plant height about 50 cm. Stems and leaves are white powder, similar to Chinese Dianthus. Flowers are usually solitary or 2~3 clustered, red, purple, white, yellow, stripes and other colors. There are semi-double, double and undulate flower type. Petals 5-notched, calyx cylindric, apex 5-lobed.

Carnation is the main strain, according to its origin divided into American carnation and Mediterranean carnation (also known as European carnation). American carnation has strong adaptability, vigorous growth, longer internodes and wider leaves, but poor cold tolerance, suitable for greenhouse cultivation. Mediterranean carnation origin Italy, France and other places, plant internode shorter, leaves narrow, calyx not separate, more resistant to low temperature, can be cultivated in the open field. And colorful. In recent years, some varieties with strong growth potential, gorgeous color, strong stem, low temperature tolerance and high yield have been bred by crossing American carnation and Mediterranean carnation.

(ii) Biological characteristics

Carnation is not cold or semi-cold, good cool, intolerant of heat. The optimum temperature for growth is 20C in the daytime, 10C~15C at night, higher than 25C in the daytime, lower than 5 C at night, and the growth potential is weakened. Suitable for cool summer, warm winter, low humidity areas planted. Likes sufficient light, good ventilation environment and soil rich in humus and good drainage, PH6.5~PH7.5, afraid of water damage, avoid continuous cropping.

(3) Reproductive methods

Carnation is easy to suffer virus disease and degenerate after 2~3 years, so tissue culture method should be used for virus-free culture of shoot tip. Italy has specialized companies producing carnation virus-free seedlings and virus-free cuttings, products sold at home and abroad. If new varieties or mother plants are introduced from abroad, sterile isolation areas should be specially established to collect first generation seedlings as cuttings. Cuttage time except July ~ August temperature is higher not suitable for all seasons, the best propagation time is 1 ~ March. The mother plant of selected cuttings should have good root system, strong growth, no diseases and insect pests, and the lateral buds born from the second and third nodes in the middle of the branches are good, with a length of 10 cm ~12 cm. The upper lateral bud flower bud has differentiated, after reproduction, the plant blooms when it is very short, and the quality decreases. Before cutting, the cuttings were disinfected with 1000 times solution of thiophane or chlorothalonil. If treated with rooting powder, the rooting rate could be improved. Naphthylacetic acid or indolebutyric acid treatment effect is also very good. Perlite or rice bran ash was the best substrate for cuttings. Before planting, the substrate is watered thoroughly and kept moist. The row spacing of cuttage plants is 1.5 cm ~2 cm, and the depth of insertion is about 1 cm.

There are two methods of management: one is strict shading until rooting; the other is full light seedling, the effect is better. Winter cuttage, cutting bed should be heated with electric heating wire, so that the matrix to maintain about 20C. Hot season to shade, ventilation, water spray to a small number of times more than good, in case of rotten roots. Cuttings take root in about 10 days, sprout in 20~25 days, leave the nursery too early, the roots are very thin, not easy to survive, too late, the roots are intertwined, vulnerable to damage. After the nursery to false planting, squatting seedlings 1 to 3 months to restore growth.

(4) Cultivation management

1. In open field cultivation, seedlings are usually planted in autumn and flowers are harvested the following summer after overwintering. Organic fertilizer should be applied when planting. In summer, in order to prevent heavy rain, plastic tents can be built to cover the roof, but there is no shelter around, which is convenient for ventilation. When cultivated as a biennial, the plant can be cut off at the first obviously elongated internode near the ground at the end of October and overwintered in the open field. When the temperature is above 0C, it can be left uncovered, but in East China, it is generally covered with heat preservation. The next spring sprouts new shoots and continues to bloom. To reduce disease and maintain soil fertility, rotation with other flowers should be used. The soil is disinfected once every three to four years.

2. The planting time of greenhouse and greenhouse depends on the market. Generally September to October planting, flower picking time for April to May, May to June planting, flower picking time for winter and Spring Festival. Before planting, the soil should be moist, because carnation is a shallow root flower, avoid planting too deep, as long as the root is covered and does not fall. After planting, the first water should be irrigated thoroughly, and the cultivation density varies according to the cultivation conditions and varieties. The row spacing is 17 cm ×20 cm or 15 cm ×17 cm for annual cultivation and 20 cm ×25 cm or 17 cm ×20 cm for biennial cultivation.

After the plant grows tall, it is necessary to erect a grid to fix it and make it grow upright. Generally, the first layer of grid is about 10 cm from the ground. Later, with the growth of the plant, two or three layers of grid are added. The distance between layers is 20 cm ~25 cm. The density of each layer of grid is also different.

Carnation planting after 2 to 4 weeks, that is, to start picking. Later on, it is used to control flowering, for example, to make December to January of the following year flowering, can stop picking at the end of July. After topping, the temperature is gradually increased to stimulate the germination of new buds. Diluted liquid fertilizer shall be applied every 10 days after young seedlings are picked, and the concentration of fertilizer shall not be too high, otherwise salt substances shall aggregate on the soil surface, causing physiological drought of carnation and occurrence of growth stop, leaf curl, new root failure, severe yellowing of lower leaves and other symptoms.

The flowering period of carnation can be controlled by the length of illumination. Carnation planted in September in the north of Yangtze River can bloom in May of the next year by artificial illumination for one month when the plant grows to 5~6 pairs of leaves in winter, or in June if artificial illumination is not given. Greenhouse and greenhouse with artificial light, generally every 13 square meters with 100 watts bulb 1, in the plant above 1 meter irradiation for about 3 hours.

In terms of temperature management, the temperature in greenhouse or greenhouse is too high from July to September, so attention should be paid to ventilation and cooling. After the middle of October, when the night temperature is below 10C, attention should be paid to heat preservation. From the first ten days of November, the night temperature should be kept at 13C~15C. If conditions permit, the night temperature should be kept at 13C~15C. In this way, the first full bloom can be from the middle and late December to the first ten days of January, and the second full bloom can be from the middle of March to the first ten days of April. At this time, it is the off-season of cut flowers, and the benefit is the best.

Carnation due to long cultivation time, large growth, the need for continuous topdressing, an average of 1 ~2 times a month, solid fertilizer and liquid fertilizer used between. Especially in September to October and March to April, when the growth is vigorous, a lot of nutrients are needed, such as soil surface hardening, can be combined with fertilization shallow hoe, promote root growth.

In the process of growth, flowering branches on the re-occurrence of lateral buds to be removed early, good quality can be used for cuttage. When there are several flower buds at the end of the stem, leave a large flower bud in the middle, and the rest should be removed as soon as possible, so that nutrients are concentrated in the middle flower bud.

Carnation often appears calyx phenomenon, which is related to the heredity of varieties and temperature difference changes. Temperature difference between day and night exceeds 10C, or indoor temperature fluctuates high and low, change too much, can cause calyx crack. To prevent calyx cracking, one should choose varieties that do not crack calyx, and the other is to control the temperature difference between day and night should not be too large.

harvesting and storage

Flowers should be picked in the afternoon, when the first petal just exposed a little bit can be harvested. After collection, sorting out unqualified ones, grading and packaging good ones, and marketing them in the next morning. If it is not sold temporarily, let it absorb enough water first, and then store it in 3C~SC cold storage. But be careful not to put them together with vegetables, fruits, roses, tulips and violets.

Preservation is an important measure to regulate market and annual supply. Carnation has the characteristics of concentrated flowering, a large number of flowering in the season of suitable temperature, and few flowers in winter and midsummer, foreign countries also generally use refrigeration to store flowers. Commonly used are wet storage method and dry storage method, the former is to insert flowers into bundles of water or preservation solution, temperature control at 1C~4C, relative humidity of 90%~95%, this method can be stored for 5~30 days; The latter is to harvest the buds before they bloom, package them in polyethylene film bags or boxes, and transfer them to cold storage (0C~IC) after precooling in cold rooms. This method can be stored for 4~6 months.