COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PRODUCTIVITY IN CARNATION CULTIVARS OF DIFFERING GENETIC ORIGINS, CLASSIFIED BY CULTURAL TYPE.

Over the last three years, studies have been conducted on 163 carnation cultivars to ascertain their productivity (in terms of flowering stems) during the winter season (September to March). The number of stems produced was counted once a week, but the quality of the flowers was not taken into account. These cultivars are of three main types: large flowered carnations, spray carnations and dwarf flowered carnations.

Cultivars of the large flowered type exhibit overall productivity only slightly lower than that of the spray type. The difference is explained by the fact that the latter are more precocious in terms of growth than the former. Dwarf flowered cultivars produced twice as many flowers as those belonging to the other two categories. For all three types of carnations, the rythm of production slowed down appreciably during the months of January and February, especially for cultivars belonging to the third group.