Effect of different planting dates and climatic conditions on growth, flowering and seed production of candytuft (Iberis amara)

The effect of climatic conditions and planting dates on growth, flowering and seed production of candytuft (Iberis amara L.) under mid hill conditions of Himachal Pradesh during 2010-11 and 2011-12 were investigated. Six plantings were done at an interval of 15 days starting from September 17 in both the years with planting dates as; September 17, October 2, October 17, November 1, November 16 and December 1. The maximum plant height (34.81 cm), plant spread (33.23 cm), number of side stems/plant (6.25), earliest visible flower bud formation (55.43 days), flowering (77.80 days), duration of flowering (41.80 days), number of flower clusters/stem (15.46), number of siliquae/plant (3467.72), seed yield/plant (10.25 g) and 1 000 seed weight (2.18 g) were recorded with September 17 planting. However, earliest siliqua formation (157.58 days) was observed in December 1 planted crop.