a b s t r a c t
Generally, two to three years are required to produce bulbs of Lilium×elegans Thunb. from bulblets for
forcing in the greenhouse. During the bulb production phase in the field, virus infection often lowers
the quality of bulbs. The objective of this research was to investigate the feasibility of forcing bulbils to
produce plants with two to three flowers on a stem longer than 60 cm. Uniform bulbils of L.×elegans
produced naturally from the axils of leaves were used to investigate the effect of maturity and size
of bulbils, plant growth regulator treatment, sequential or constant temperature treatments given to
bulbils, and temperature, and high light irradiance treatments upon scaly leaf emergence on growth
and flowering. Further changes in shoot apex size as influenced by sequential and constant temperature
treatments and soluble carbohydrates as affected by temperature and plant growth regulators were
investigated. Cut flowers of Asiatic hybrid ‘Beni no Mai’ with two to three flowers and strong 60 cm
stems were produced in less than a year when mature bulbils weighing about 400 mg harvested 40 to
50 days after flowering, are treated with a sequential temperature treatment (SEQ CD) 14 to 20 days
each at 5 ◦C–15◦ or 20 ◦C–5 ◦C. This long growing period can be divided into two phases. The first phase,
similar to plug production, occurs from potting the treated bulbils, to senescence of scaly leaves, and to
shoot emergence and lasts about 200 to 230 days. The second phase proceeds from shoot emergence
to flowering and requires 90 to 100 days. The first phase could employ plug production technology by
growing plants pot to pot, and the second phase could be considered typical greenhouse forcing. The
observed increase in the number of flowers could result from the increased shoot apex. This procedure
eliminated the bulb production phase in the field and reduces the time from propagation to flowering by
one to two years.