Deciduous Dendrobium Flower signaling?

[troy1191]

Hi!

So I know that this may be a question/topic that no one has an answer to but I thought I would try! I'm going to school for horticulture and am thinking about research topics and had a few ideas. I was wondering if anyone knew how deciduous Dendrobiums (ones with winter rests of some sort) signal flower bud initiation? Does anyone know if ethylene plays a part? Or if its a build up of another plant hormone over the course of the winter rest?

There is very little research to be found on the particular topic. My interest involves the use of ethylene treatments to induce regular/controlled flowering and flowering of juvenile specimens.

Any info is appreciated,
Troy

[WhiteRabbit]

[orchidsarefun]

I think ethylene induces the opposite !

See "Atmosphere" in link

http://www.aos.org/Default.aspx?id=121

[troy1191]

Well Ethylene certainly induces bud and leaf drop in the vast majority of plants, but in many plants it's also the catalyst for flowering as well. In mangoes and cycads, smoking the plants has long been used to induce early or larger flowerings of the plants and research has shown ethylene to be the key ingredient. It's also become very common in bulb production as bulbs beneath critical size can be made to enter flower bud initiation, in japan they burn bulb fields to achieve this.

I want to try and figure out what applications this may have in orchid production and in the popularization of certain orchids which are currently not suitable for the current market e.g. deciduous dendrobiums and other orchids for which leaf drop caused by ethylene would not be problematic or especially damaging to the orchid.