Selection of nutrient solutions for soilless cultivation of Begonia semperflorens
In order to select the best formulations of nutrient solution for soilless cultivation of Begonia semperflorens,four formulations were selected to carry out hydroponic experiments of B.semperflorens.Several main growth characteristics including leaf number,plant height,crown diameter,inflorescence number,floret number,staminate flower diameter,growth amount were studied in this paper.The results showed that there were significant differences in leaf number,plant height,crown diameter,growth amount,inflorescence number,floret number between formulations of Hoagland and Snyde(1938)(T4) and B.massoniana formulation(T1),while there were not obvious differences in staminate flower diameter.There were obvious differences in inflorescence number,floret number,staminate flower diameter,plant height,crown diameter between Japanese YuanShi formulation(T7) and T1,while there were not obvious differences in leaf number.However,no obvious differences in growth were found between Begonia×argenteo-guttata formulation(T2) and T1.We suggests that T4 was selected to promote nutritional growth and T7 was selected to promote reproductive growth when B.semperflorens were cultured soilless.