Postharvest characteristics of Hebe 'Wiri Desire'

Hebe 'Wiri Desire' has racemes with c. 200 crimson flowers. This study of postharvest characteristics used cut stems, each with two racemes. Flower buds continued to open on stems cut just before first flower opening. Nearly all buds opened within 4 days of harvest. Flowers opened on racemes with less mature buds, 7 days later than on stems with mature buds about to open. Flowers started to fade c. 8 days after harvest, but 2% or 4% sucrose vase-solution greatly reduced fading. Ethylene only slightly increased flower fading. Flower drop in controls was only 1.2-2.4 flowers/stem. Ethylene (9 μl/litre) greatly increased flower drop during the 24h treatment and in the subsequent 24h. Silver thiosulphate (STS) pulse treatments before ethylene treatment prevented ethylene-induced flower drop. Hebe could be developed as a cut flower with STS postharvest pulse treatments and sucrose vase-solution or pulse treatments.