Improvement of Vase Life and Flowering Quality of Cut Freesia (Freesia refracta) ‘Gold Rich’ by Combination of Pretreatments and Holding Solutions

This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of pretreatment and holding solutions on the vase life and quality of cut freesia ‘Gold Rich’ flowers. The pretreatment solution contained 10% sucrose, 200 mg･L-1 Al2(SO4)3, 200 mg･L-1 GA3, and 150 mg･L-1 citric acid. This solution significantly increased the water uptake and fresh weight of the flowers, but did not significantly affect vase life. The holding solution contained 5% sucrose and 300 mg･L-1 8-HQ significantly improved the flowering quality of the plants, extended vase life (by 1 day or more), resulted in a high percentage of flowers (82 - 89%) and a high percentage of full blooms (71 - 84%). These results suggest that a combination of the pretreatment solution and the holding solution could effectively increase the flowering percentage, the full bloom percentage, and the vase life. In particular, treatment of a holding solution containing sucrose will be very useful to improve the commerciality of the cut freesia ‘Gold Rich’.