2018 ASHS Annual Conference

Rose cuttings from the field are treated with floral cuts to reduce the number of eriophyid mites that drop off in transit to the laboratory. The theory is that the change in osmotic pressure within the cane can trigger a mite to abandon its host. To streamline the collection process and reduce sampling time, an experiment was developed to determine the necessity of floral cuts for the retention of eriophyid mites. Four groups of plants (healthy Knock Outs, RRV infected Knock Outs, healthy multiflora, and RRV infected multiflora) were evaluated at different time intervals (0.5, 2, 4, 8, 24, 48, 72, 96 hours post-harvest) to assess the number of mites per gram of tissue that were present. Cut type and rose species were not found to have a significant effect on the number of mites per gram of tissue found. Floral cuts are not needed for accurate recovery of eriophyid mites. RRV infected rose cuttings were found to have 42 times as many mites per gram as healthy rose cuttings.