The 2012 ASHS Annual Conference

Cut flowers are very perishable and deterioration begins as soon as stems are detached from the mother plant. Many researchers have investigated vase life of cut flowers by adding different preservatives. However, there is limited published information about the vase life of ornamental grasses. The objective of this study was to find the most effective vase solutions to maintain longer post harvest life of ornamental grasses. Two different grasses Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) and Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense) were used, and vase life was based on stem, inflorescence, and leaf color change as well as level of wilting. Treatments included 5 and 20 µL·L^-1 ClO₂, 10 and 20 µL·L^-1 bleach, 10 g·L^-1 and 20 g·L^-1 floral preservatives, and deionized water as a control. Sucrose (10g·L^-1) was added to each vase solution and all treatments were replicated three times. For Johnsongrass stems, control and floral preservatives at 20 g·L^-1 gave the highest vase life of 18 days and was found to be significantly different to floral preservative at 10 g·L^-1. However, in Switchgrass stems, bleach at 20 µL·L^-1 gave the highest vase life of 24 days and was significantly different to 20 µL·L^-1 ClO₂ and floral preservative at 20 g·L^-1 and 10 g·L^-1. Similarly, in Johnsongrass inflorescence, ClO₂ at 5 µL·L^-1 gave the greatest vase life of 17 days and was found to be significantly different to all other treatments except ClO₂ at 20 µL·L^-1 which gave 16 days of post harvest life. However, in Switchgrass inflorescences, ClO₂ at 20 µL·L^-1 gave maximum vase life of 17 days in comparison to control at 13 days and was found to be significantly different to bleach at 10 µL·L^-1 and 20 µL·L^-1, floral preservative at 10 µL·L^-1 and 20 µL·L^-1, and the control. In the same way, ClO₂ at 20 µL·L^-1 gave the highest vase life to Johnsongrass leaf ratings of 16 days followed by the control at 15 days, and was found to be significantly different than floral preservative at 10 and 20 µL·L^-1 and bleach at 10 µL·L^-1. In contrary , ClO₂ at 5 µL·L^-1 gave the greatest vase life for Switchgrass leaf ratings at 15 days in comparision to control at 13 days, but no treatments were found to be significantly different to each other.