THE INFLUENCE OF CHEMICAL FERTILIZERS ON SOME MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERS AND FLOWERING PERIODS AT EUPHORBIA PULCHERRIMA WILLD. EX KLOTZSCH

Abstract

Euphorbia pulcherimma is a shrubby plant that is of particular interest for pot culture. In order to enrich the knowledge on its culture, experiments were performed on the influence of chemical fertilizers in different doses and combinations on the height of the plants, the diameter of the inflorescence and the flowering season. The experiments were performed on two cultivars (Cardinal and Barbara Ecke) and included two variants with 20 plants in four repetitions each. The doses of chemical fertilizers were applied in two periods: in the growth phase (30 days after the last planting) and at the beginning of the differentiation of flower buds. Plant height increased in all variants where nitrogen fertilizers were administered. increases maximum growth was recorded in plants that in the first stage received only nitrogen, and in the phase of flower bud differentiation they received complete fertilizer with high doses of nitrogen. In plants that have received a complex fertilization, in parallel with the increase in the height of the plants, the diameter of the inflorescence also increases. Application of chemical fertilizers during the growing season extends the flowering period by 2 to 10 days, so the average duration of the flowering period increases from 78-80 days in the control plants to 85-89 days in the fertilized plants.