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Control growth of Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch ‘Sonora Jingle’ and ‘Sonora White’ using ethephon

Horticulture, Environment, and Biotechnology volume 52, Article number: 351 (2011) Cite this article

Abstract

Ethephon was sprayed on Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch (poinsettia) ‘Sonora Jingle’ and ‘Sonora White’ to control their height and produce more compact potted plants. The results showed that Ethephon could effectively control the growth of ‘Sonora Jingle’ and ‘Sonora White’ poinsettia. Height was reduced by was 33.4 ± 0.8% for ‘Sonora Jingle’ and 30.8 ± 1.3% for ‘Sonora White’ poinsettia, when 700 mg L−1 Ethephon was sprayed three times on 29 August, 20 September, and 13 October 2005, respectively. Similar to other plant growth retardants, side effects including phytotoxicity and delays to first bract color were also observed on Ethephon treated poinsettia. However, all plants produced were still of a marketable quality.

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Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469, USA

    Youping Sun, Lois Berg Stack, Donglin Zhang & Zhanying Gu

  2. Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha, Hunan, 410004, China

    Youping Sun

  3. Colleges of Forestry, Central South University of Forestry and Technology, Changsha, Hunan, 410004, China

    Zhanying Gu

Authors
  1. Youping Sun
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  2. Lois Berg Stack
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  3. Donglin Zhang
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  4. Zhanying Gu
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Correspondence to Youping Sun or Donglin Zhang.

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Sun, Y., Stack, L.B., Zhang, D. et al. Control growth of Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. ex Klotzsch ‘Sonora Jingle’ and ‘Sonora White’ using ethephon. Hortic. Environ. Biotechnol. 52, 351 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-011-0219-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13580-011-0219-y

Additional key words

  • foliar spray
  • height control
  • phytotoxicity
  • poinsettia