Flowering Quality of Polianthus tuberosa var. Fancy white as Affected by Planting Dates in Agro Metrological Conditions of Islamabad

The research study was conducted to investigate the effect of different planting dates on the flowering quality of Polianthus tuberosa in agro metrological conditions of Islamabad.The experiment was laid out in the research field of Floriculture programme, Horticultural Research Institute (HRI), National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad, during March, 2014 to May, 2014.The tuberose bulbs of approximately three cm size were sown with a week's interval, starting from 19th March to 7th May, 2014, containing eight treatments in total, each of which was replicated three times.The statistical analysis at 5% LSD revealed that less days to emergence were taken by T 4 (2.88 days), maximum plant height was noted in T 6 (56.18 cm), maximum plant spread was 60.18 cm, maximum number of recorded leaves was 45.42, the spike length of 107.71 cm and most number of florets per spike (35.02) were recorded in T 4 .Maximum spike diameter (2.40 cm) was observed in T 2 , while flower diameter of 3.11 cm was contributed by T 5 .The study revealed that the best planting time that contributed to maximum quality parameters was T 4 (9th April 2014).