Studies on postharvest life of carnation, Dianthus caryophyllus L

The present investigation was carried out at the farm laboratory of the Department of Floriculture and Landscape Architecture, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP during 2011–2012. The three experiments on standardization of pulsing solutions, wrapping materials, storage durations and holding solutions were conducted under completely randomized design (CRD). Cut stems of carnation pulsed in solution comprising sucrose (10%) + 8-HQC (300 ppm) + GA₃ (50 ppm) for 12 hours stored, wrapped in cellophane for 48 hours in cool chamber at 4°C and finally packed in CFB (outer size 1000 × 415 × 220 mm and inner size 980 × 395 × 220 mm) of 5 ply strength exhibited a vase life of 8.00 days at Solan and 7.00 days at Chandigarh when kept in Al₂(SO₄)₃ 16 H₂O (300 ppm) + BA (50 ppm) as holding solution.