Scheduling flowering in Clivia miniata Regel for different markets

In two experiments conducted over two growth seasons, potted plants of Clivia miniata Regel were forced to flower in a range of environments following cold storage at 6°C for durations of up to 212 days. Forcing environments included unheated greenhouses with frost protection, as well as temperature-controlled (13°C heat; 18°C vent) greenhouses. In both years, increasing durations of cold storage before forcing reduced the time to flowering by as much as 84% compared with no cold storage. As long as plants had initiated flowers before cold storage, flowering could be readily targeted for the Christmas market in the southern hemisphere, i.e. a delay in flowering of up to 5 months from control (late July). In addition to reducing the time to flowering, increasing periods of cold storage reduced the spread of flowering time from 173 days to less than 20 days. Given the type of techniques evaluated in these experiments, it would appear highly feasible to target a range of marketing times of plants in flower by combining early, natural and delayed flowering strategies in either hemisphere.