gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: gardenwriters-on-gardening
List archive
- From: "Lon J. Rombough" <lonrom@hevanet.com>
- To: Gardenwriters on Gardening <gwl-g@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [gwl-g] FW: Salt-Tolerant Flowers
- Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2004 08:21:52 -0700
----------
From: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Reply-To: ARS News Service <NewsService@ars.usda.gov>
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2004 08:43:06 -0400
To: ARS News subscriber <lonrom@hevanet.com>
Subject: Salt-Tolerant Flowers
STORY LEAD:
Some Flowers Can Stand the Salt--and Save Precious Water
___________________________________________
ARS News Service
Agricultural Research Service, USDA
Erin Peabody, (301) 504-1624, ekpeabody@ars.usda.gov
August 2, 2004
___________________________________________
With their papery-thin petals and ornate blooms, many of the fresh-cut
flowers used to fill a florist's bright bouquet might seem high-maintenance
to grow. But Agricultural Research Service scientist Catherine Grieve has
found that some commercially important floral species--including cultivars
of stock and celosia--aren't necessarily fussy when it comes to the quality
of one of their key needs, water.
Grieve, a plant physiologist, works at the ARS George E. Brown Jr. Salinity
Laboratory in Riverside, Calif. In that state, greenery and cut flowers such
as daisies, sunflowers and statice make up a $300 million-a-year industry.
But flower growers, especially along the coast and in inland valleys, are
having a hard time accessing quality water that lacks potentially
plant-damaging salts.
Salts--including chlorides of calcium, magnesium and sodium--often become a
problem when growers recycle water repeatedly to irrigate their crops, a
common practice in water-scarce regions. Salts are also easing their way
into groundwater supplies along California's coastline where high demands
for water, often in the form of overdrawn wells, are literally pulling
seawater into freshwater aquifers.
Grieve is trying to find floral species that can progress normally through
their life cycles while being irrigated with waters containing a variety of
salts representative of those present in different parts of the state. Her
findings can help growers make use of waters once considered undesirable,
thereby cutting their costs and conserving higher-quality water resources.
With help from Donald Suarez, a soil scientist and director of the Riverside
laboratory, and Christy Carter, a halophyte biologist, Grieve is studying an
array of cut-flower species, including varieties of statice, sunflowers,
snapdragons and celosia.
Those that have fared well for Grieve, despite the salty conditions, include
cultivars of sweet-smelling Matthioloa incana, or stock; ornamental
sunflower, and the more exotic Celosia species.
Read more about the research in the August issue of Agricultural Research
magazine, available online at:
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/aug04/salt0804.htm
ARS is the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief scientific research
agency.
___________________________________________
* This is one of the news reports that ARS Information distributes to
subscribers on weekdays.
* Start, stop or change an e-mail subscription at
www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr/subscribe.htm
* NewsService@ars.usda.gov | www.ars.usda.gov/news
* Phone (301) 504-1638 | fax (301) 504-1648
- [gwl-g] FW: Salt-Tolerant Flowers, Lon J. Rombough, 08/02/2004
Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.