post harvest management of anthurium cut-flowers

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Anthurium variety must have

Compact plants with short internodes producing suckers profusely

Bright coloured, showy, heart shaped spathe with plenty of blisters and symmetrical overlapping of basal lobes

Spadix shorter in length than spathe, reclining to the spathe on an angle of less than 300

Erect, long flower stem about five times the length of the spathe

Resistant to common diseases and pests

Stage of Harvest

Anthurium blooms throughout the year. The flowers are harvested when spadix is almost fully developed and cut

preferably in the morning. The best stage of harvesting flowers is one-third to two-third of the true flowers on the spadix

open. Flowers are cut with sharp knife/secateurs leaving 3 cm on the mother plant to prevent basal rotting. The flowers

should be placed immediately in water after cutting.

Pre-Cooling

Anthurium is stored in water at 13 C for 3-5 weeks. Flowers are very sensitive to low temperature. Storage below 13

C causes darkening of spathe. Red coloured cultivars are more susceptible to chilling injury.

Pulsing

Pulsing with 100 ppm silver Nitrate for 45 minutes maintain water uptake and respiration. Before transportation, pulsing

with 25 ppm Silver Nitrate for 10 minutes or Benzyl Adenine (BA) at 150 ppm for 8 hours improves the vase life of cut

flowers.

Grading

Anthurium f lowers are graded on the basis of the size of their spathe. The minimum spathe size should be 3-9 cm with

stem length of 30 cm. Hawiian cultivars have four grades namely extra, fancy, choice and standard. The spathe size

(L+W/2) may be specified with conjunction to the grade as miniature (less than 7.5 cm), small (9.5-10 cm), large

(12.5-15 cm) and extra large (more than 15 cm).

Packaging

Flowers are packed in corrugated cardboard boxes. The box is lined with polythene sheets and layers of newspaper.

120 Nos. of cut anthurium are packed in a 102x43x29 cm box with their spathe face down and their stem interwoven.

Moist shredded newspaper is inserted to provide cushion and maintains humidity. Covering each flower with waxed

tissue or polyethylene envelop to reduce mechanical damage, before packing is also practised.

Harvest Management of Anthurium Cut-Flowers http://www.krishisewa.com/cms/articles/pht/306-anthurium-cut-flo

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Packaging of cut flowers Packaged anthurium cut flowers

Storage

The temperature during storage greatly determines the postharvest life of flowers. High temperature in storage declines

the vase life of flower due to high rates of transpiration and respiration, whereas, low temperature is subjected to chilling

injury. Therefore, optimum storage temperature for anthurium cut flowers should be 13 C.

Maintenance of Cool Chain

It is important to maintain the cool chain while transporting the flowers. Reefer vans should be preferred for

transportation. In the absence of reefer van, ice can be used to bring down the temperature in the box. Overall

pre-cooling of flowers and maintaining the cool chain with appropriate packing will help in realizing better price for the

flowers in the market.

Vase life

Anthuriums survive without much deterioration for about two weeks by nature. Commercial floral preservative viz.

floralife, everbloom and roselife increases vase life 2-3 times in compare to normal condition. Waxing and use of

anti-transpirants on the spathe also improves longevity of cut flowers.

PHYSIOLOGICAL DISORDERS


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Flower abortion, flower deformation and rosette formation:

Flower on spadix aborts, growth of the spathe is stunted and stem of the flower is short. This disorder is mainly genetic

dependent, but can be prevented by restricting root pressure, promoting plant activity, reduction in temperature, rapid

ventilation, cooling and humidification systems. Excessive root pressure can be restricted by reducing irrigation and

raising EC of the media.

Cracks:

This disorder often occurs at the margin of the spathe during active growth period with temporarily higher relativehumidity. Lower humidity during the night is best possible remedy to reduce cracks.

Folder Ears: The basal lobe of the flowers is not fully unfolded during the early stage. This disorder is variety

dependent. There is no known remedy.

Sticking:

In this case, flower does not open because the spathe is stuck. Sticking is variety dependent and occurs specially during

rapid growth period. Lower relative humidity is best possible remedy to reduce sticking. Loosening of the flowers by

hand at early stage can also minimise this disorder.

Jamming:

Jamming is strong variety dependent characteristics that more frequently occurs under arid conditions. The flowers jams

in the sheath, since, the leaves is wound too tightly around the flower. Such disorder occurs more frequently in cultivars

with long sheaths. Keeping the growing media relatively moist is the best remedy.


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Packaged Anthurium flowers in boxes

Authors:

KRISHNA S. TOMAR

College of Horticulture & Forestry, Central Agricultural University,

Pasighat 791 102 (Arunachal Pradesh)


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E-mail: [email protected]


post harvest management of anthurium cut-flowers

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