Optimum harvest moment and water temperature for Calendula vase life

Cut flower standards for harvesting and marketing vary according to individual crops, growers, production areas, and marketing systems. The most important aspects of cut flower quality are freshness and vase life which depend on optimum harvest time and postharvest handling. The purpose of our study was to define the optimum harvest shape and to illustrate the influence of water temperature on vase life and quality in Calendula officinalis. By measuring the fresh weight of flower stems with different lengths, we found that weight rapidly increased before 41h and then slowly decreased with a stem length of 21 cm, which was better than those of 25 cm and 17cm. Although the increase in weight with stem diameters between 3 mm to 4 mm was slower than those between 4 mm to 5 mm and 2 mm to 3 mm, their vase life was the longest. Compared with stems with 7 leaves and 2 leaves, stems with 5 leaves were better for maintaining the fresh weight. When the flower head was considered, the fresh weight with diameters between 25 cm to 35 cm maintained astable increase after 34h and its vase life was the longest among the diameters assayed. Analysis of different temperatures of vase water determined that 4?C enhanced the water absorption of the stems. In conclusion, the optimum harvest shape of Calendula officinalis is a stem of 21 cm length, 3-4 cm diameter with 5leaves, and a flower head between 25 cm to 35 cm. The most suitable temperature for vase water was 4 ?C. SourcesINFLUENCE OF FLOWER STEM SHAPE AND WATER TEMPERATURE ON VASE LIFE AND QUALITY IN CALENDULA OFFICINALISHe, XQ1, Liu, Y1, Jia, H1Hexueqin2013@yahoo.com1Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, Huhhot, ChinaIHC 2014, International Horticulture Congress, 17-22 August 2014, Brisbane, http://www.ihc2014.org/Picture by maisonterre.net