The present study was undertaken to make clear the effect of planting time on the growth and quality of cut flowers as well as the effect of the storage period of cut flowers on the keeping of retarded lily plant cv. 'Ehchantment' ; 750 bulbs per case in 1980 and 800 bulbs in 1981.
1. In 1980, the percentage of flowering was high and the quality of cut flowers was good, as the initial growth temperature after planting was suitable for lilies. In 1981, however, the initial growth temperature was so high that the blind plants appeared remarkably.
Thus, the percentage of flowering was less than 40% when planting time was early, and about 60% even when the planting time was late.
2. The number of days from planting to flowering increased and the mean temperature became low with, the planting time being late. However, the cumulative temperature from planting to flowering was about 1,150℃･days.
3. The plant length for lilies planted on September was higher than that for lilies planted on August, but the other characters were similar to those of other sections. The number of flower per plant was below 3 in most sections.
4. The coloring of flowers had proceeded during cold storage at 4℃. A regression equation of Y=4.34+0.70X (r=0.968***, ***: significant at 0.1% level) was obtained between the Hunter a value (Y) and the storage period (X).
5. The longer the storage period, the shorter the keeping of the cut flowers was. A regression equation of Y=11.79-0.42X (r= -0.916***) was obtained between the keeping of cut flowers (Y) and the storage period (X).
These results indicate that it is desirable to use bulbs larger than 700 per case and to keep the initial growth temperature under 23℃ after planting for the retardation of 'Enchantment'. The limit of cold storage period for cut flowers with commodity value is about 4 days. It is necessary to shorter the cold storage period upon considering the condition of transport from a production place to a market.