Coleus Premium Sun Foliage Colouration Information
Coleus Premium Sun Foliage Colouration Trial • Objective: to find out if PGR or light condition could affect Coleus foliage colour. • Varieties: Lime Delight, Chocolate Covered Cherry, Crimson Gold, Mighty Mosaic, Pineapple Surprise, Watermelon. • Sow date: week 30 (July 28th). • Plug tray size: 288 cells. • Transplant date: week 34 (August 24th). • Finish container size: 13 cm pot.
Treatments Light level inside greenhouse: • 65% shade by reemay sheet. • No shade. PGR: • A – ethephon - (2-chloroethyl) phosphonic acid (Florel): 2x 300 ppm spray. • B – daminozide (B-Nine): 2x 2500 ppm spray. • C – paclobutrazol (Bonzi): 2x 5 ppm spray. • D – Control.
Environmental conditions during plug stage DLI between no shade and shade treatments
DLI (mol/m2/d)
25 20 15 10 5 0 8/18/16
8/28/16
9/7/16
9/17/16 Date
No Shade DLI
Shade DLI
Average No Shade DLI=11.5 mol.m-2.d-1 Average Shade DLI= 4.1 mol.m-2.d-1
9/27/16
10/7/16
Pineapple Surprise A
B
C
D
65% shade
No shade
Lime Delight A
B
C
D
65% shade
No shade
Crimson Gold A
B
C
D
65% shade
No shade
Mighty Mosaic A
B
C
D
65% shade
No shade
Watermelon A
B
C
D
65% shade
No shade
Chocolate Covered Cherry A
B
C
D
65% shade
No shade
Summary • Coleus plants were generally greener when grown under shady conditions (DLI < 5 mol.m-2.d-1) : deeper green colour, larger green margin or area. Overall plants looked dull or pale. • Conversely, plants showed more intensive, brighter and vivid colour under no-shade conditions (DLI about 10 mol.m-2.d-1). • PGR did not show significant effect on foliage colour in all tested varieties except Pineapple Surprise and Watermelon. • When grown under low light conditions, Pineapple Surprise was sensitive to paclobutrazol 5 ppm spray, which could significantly reduce red colour. Daminozide also reduced red colour a little bit, but it did not have as strong an effect as paclobutrazol. • For Watermelon, it was more noticeable that the foliage colour was bleached by daminozide spray under both low and high light conditions.