Effects of temperature, day length and light intensity on eucomis development and flowering

Eucomis spp. commonly called 'Pineapple Flower', is a frost-tender bulbous plant, native to South Africa. The plants are grown mainly for cut flowers and flowering potted-plants, with high demand by the European and North American markets. E. autumnalis was introduced as a new cut flower and flowering potted plant less than a decade ago and considered a small scaled crop. The objective of this study was to improve and optimize E. autumnalis growth conditions for the production of high quality potted plants. Growth temperature and day length experiments were conducted using two cultivars 'Cherub' and 'Van der Merry'. Higher day/night temperature of 28/22°C increased stem length, while, lower growth temperature of 22/16°C resulted in higher quality plants and better proportion between flower, leaves and pot size. In the phytotron, all 'Van der Merry' plants flowered 96 days, and 'Cherub' plants 116 days after planting, independently of the growth temperature and day-length. Reducing light intensity throughout the growth period advanced flowering and improved plants' appearance, stem length and leaf vigor.