Of all of the characteristics evaluated between
the ethephon-treated and untreated
plants, only the timing of the first floret was
affected (Table 1). Ethephon treatment had no
effect on the number of days to floret formation
and visible color of florets two through
six, and had no effect on peduncle length or
number of florets per inflorescence (data not
shown). Among ‘Kim’ plants, buds were visible
on the ethephon-treated plants 8 d earlier
than on untreated plants. Ethephon treatment
also resulted in a decrease in the number of
days until the observation of visible color from
the flower buds of ‘Kim’ plants. Untreated
plants showed visible color in 83 d while
treated plants showed color at 74 d. Ethephon
treatment also influenced the time to bud formation,
but not color in ‘Veronica’.