Growth suppression
Growth retardants have not commonly been used in cut foliage production where bigger
and/or longer products often bring a higher price. In fact, dwarf varieties of plants commonly
used for low maintenance landscaping are shunned by the cut foliage industry.
However, interest in growth retardants is increasing as a way to help control or maintain
crops at certain desirable stages of development. Growth retardants would be used to prevent
soft immature growth from forming. This would be done so that cut stems would not need to
have the soft tissues manually removed before shipping. Another potential benefit would be
the ability to prevent crosier emergence prior to clear cutting crops like leatherleaf fern.
Research has shown that the removal of immature fronds, which represent future harvests,
during clear cutting can result in significant yield reductions (17). The ability to delay a flush
of new growth until after clear cutting could conceivably reduce this problem.