SUPPLEMENTAL LIGHT QUALITY AFFECTS BUDBREAK, YIELD, AND VASE LIFE OF CUT ROSES

Rosa xhybrida 'Samantha' plants were grown under high-pressure sodium (HPS) lamps, HPS lamps fitted with blue gel filters to reduce the red to far-red (R : FR) ratio, or metal halide lamps. R : FR ratios were 1:0.95, 1:2, and 1:0.26 for HPS, filtered HPS, and metal halide, respectively. Although the R : FR ratio for metal halide was 3.5 times higher than for HPS, the total energy from 630 to 750 nm was 2.8 times lower. At a nighttime supplemental photosynthetic photon flux of 70 to 75 mumol.m-2.s-1, plants under HPS and metal halide lamps produced 49% and 64% more flowering shoots, respectively, than those under filtered HPS (averaged over two crop cycles). The quality index for flowers under HPS, metal halide, and filtered HPS was 25.0, 23.3, and 18.5, respectively. Vase life was 10 to 11 days, regardless of treatment.