| Summary: | Orchid is one of the highly prospective ornamental plants. Orchid cultivation
is one of the most popular ornamental cultivation. That is because the demand for
orchids are relatively stable compared to other plants that tend to follow the trend or
fluctuating. One form of massive utilization of orchids is the use as a cut flower. One
type of orchid that mostly sold as a cut flower is Vanda douglas. Orchid�s -including
Vanda douglas- advantage than other cut flowers are the vase life that tend to be
longer. Nonetheless, the effort to maintain even extend the vase life of the flower is
still needed. This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of cutting the
flower stem with a combination of cutting slope and conditions of the stem and
cutting frequency of the stem on vase life of cut orchid Vanda douglas.
The experiment was conducted at the Laboratory of Horticulture, Faculty of
Agriculture, Gadjah Mada University from July to September 2012. The first phase of
the study used a completely randomized design with 2 factors. The first factor was
cutting slope consisted of 0, 30 and 45. The second factor was cutting conditions
consisted of water cut and air cut. The second phase also used completely
randomized design with cutting stem frequency consisted of every day, every 2 days,
every 4 days and every 6 days. Presentations of flowers bloom, wilt, fall, respiration,
transpiration and visual quality rating of the cut flower were observed every day.
Flower�s shrinkage, stomata and relative water content were observed at the
beginning and end of the experiment.
The results showed there was no interaction between the slope and condition
of stem cutting on all parameters of the observations. Cutting stem with a slope of 45
caused longer vase life than the other slopes. Cutting the flower stem in the water
also caused a longer vase life than cutting through the air. Flower stem that was cut
at intervals of 4 days caused the longest vase life than any other time frequency.
Nevertheless, the extent of vase life of cut flowers only extend a day, therefore the
benefits for a florist should be reexamined.
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