Stock ( Mathiola incana ) is a popular cool season cut bloom known for its fragrant showy flower spike in a motley of gloss . Stock is often reap with a portion of its root organisation still sequester and can be prone to wilt as well as challenging to hydrate . For this reason , some growers will embark these heyday in a shipping solution . Stock is also ethylene sensitive .
We wanted to look into the burden of wet versus dry shipping methods and with or without EthylBloc ™ discussion on consumer vase - life-time be simulated wholesale memory and exposure to ethylene gas .
MethodsThree varieties of stock were harvested and placed into FloraLife ® HydraFlor ® by a California grower . bunch were carve up into the following merchant marine intervention :
Each transport treatment include either a procona or a box . For wet merchant vessels , stems were processed into proconas filled with FloraLife ® 200 and capped with a composition board sleeve . For dry shipping , staunch were placed horizontally in a air out cardboard shipping box . Each procona held 4 bunches ( 40 radical ) each of 3 different variety show for a total of 12 crew ( 120 stems ) . Each box hold 3 cluster ( 30 stems ) each of 3 different varieties for a total of 9 bunches ( 90 base ) . All boxes were stored overnight in the farm cooler at 2C ( 36F ) until shipment .
EthylBloc ™ ( EB ) treatmentFor sloshed shipment , two 2.5 - gram EB sachet were bond to the composition board sleeve – peak of procona sleeve were spread over with a sheet of plastic and stored in the cooler overnight . For dry shipment , one 2.5 - gram EB sachet was place at each end of the transportation boxful and store in the ice chest overnight .
ShippingThe two proconas and 2 boxes were shipped via refrigerate hand truck to Canton Wholesale ( North Canton , OH , USA ) . Flowers were then delivered to the Smithers - Oasis post - harvest examination lab ( Kent , OH , USA ) for evaluation .
Simulated wholesale holding treatmentUpon arrival to the Smithers - Oasis post - harvest lab , stanch from each treatment were divided into separate bucketful containing FloraLife ® 200 and were keep in the flower tank at 2 - 3C ( 36 - 37F ) for 7 days .
Results
ConclusionsEthylBloc ™ sachets applied prior to wet or ironical cargo ships , followed by 7 Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of simulated wholesale holding handling , increased vase life in the royal and blank stock sort following 2 ppm ethylene photograph for 18 hour . No significant intervention effects were observed in the pink assortment which showed poor vase - life in all treatment . Wet shipped flowers not handle with EthylBloc ™ showed reduced vase - spirit equate to dry out shipped efflorescence not treat with EthylBloc ™ in this exam , advise that dry send flowers may be more resistant to ethene damage . Data point that EthylBloc ™ treatment lend oneself at the farm protected the bloom from ethylene harm after an extended wholesale repositing period .
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