Vernon, Texas, USA
August 13, 2009
He may study grasses by
profession, but Texas
AgriLife Research forage agronomist Dr. Dariusz Malinowski
has a passion for flowers, particularly winter hardy hibiscus.
And it is that passion that has created his latest research
project – propagating unique winter-hardy hibiscus.
Malinowski said he’s very much a grass and forage researcher,
but this falls in line with his master’s degree in horticulture.
“I like the hardy hibiscus and have been crossing them for four
years,” he said. “I started getting crosses that were unique in
my yard.”
A collaboration of Steve Brown, Texas Foundation Seed Service
program director, and Malinowski determined commercialization of
the flowers would fit in AgriLife Research's effot to work with
non-traditional or under-utilized crops that have value because
of drought tolerance.
The hardy hibiscus also is a great candidate because it is a
carefree plant. It doesn’t have to be watered once it gets
established, it is low maintenance and has little disease or
insect pressure, he said.
To date, Malinowski has produced about 500 crosses. From that
number, he has planted about 150 of them around the Vernon area
in yards of fellow researchers and at the Texas Foundation Seed
facilities.
Only about 25 percent to 30 percent of those have bloomed so
far, but 12 have exceptional qualities, Malinowski said.
“The hardy hibiscus found on the market are primarily white, red
and pink and are mostly of the same size and shape,” he said.
“I’m trying to give them diversity, with some spider-type
petals, and some new colors, such as lavender, and combinations
of colors.”
Brown said this research is really another example of how plant-
improvement programs at AgriLife Research extend beyond what
most think as conventional crops.
The nursery and greenhouse industry in Texas is a $2 billion
industry, Brown said.
The green industry has a $13.5 billion financial impact on the
state, according to the Texas Nursery and Landscape Association.
“This research touches not only the producers of agricultural
products but most homeowners and consumers throughout the
state,” Brown said. “We’ll be working with some of our corporate
programs to look at public/private partnerships as we do with
other things.”
Malinowski said he has gathered many native hibiscus and
already-released cultivars, and he is crossing them to
accumulate the traits that he prefers in the plants.
He is cross-pollinating the flowers by hand. If successful, a
fruit will develop at the bottom of the stem within three days,
he said.
“Now it depends on how fast we can propagate them,” Malinowski
said. A new cultivar can’t be propagated from a seed. The new,
promising lines must be propagated from cuttings.
“That’s the only way we are able to multiply each unique plant
that we have now,” Malinowski said. “It’s not an easy task. We
are experimenting with different variables.”
He said being able to do tissue cultures in a lab, as the
commercial industry does, would be much faster.
Brown said vegetative propogation is the only way to make sure
the new plant looks exactly like the selection that the cutting
comes from rather than having a segregating population or
differing plants, which occurs when seed is planted from a cross
between two different plants.
The hibiscus can basically be grown from San Antonio north to
Canada, as long as the required winter period is long enough for
them to go dormant after the first frost, Malinowski said. The
plants resprout from the root the following spring.
Malinowski said he believes the new crosses will be sold as
potted plants and can be planted in yards. They will begin to
bloom when the night is short, around late June, and continue
flowering all season long until a frost.
He also is trying to develop dwarf plants with huge flowers for
patios and smaller gardens.
Brown said it could be three years from the time commercially
acceptable selections are made before Malinowski’s propagations
could be available in a nursery or retail outlet.
Timing for the market will require some greenhouse work, Brown
said. Cuttings must be taken in the fall or early spring and put
into a greenhouse to increase the numbers. In early spring,
rooted plants will need to be exposed to extended day-lengths
and elevated temperatures to change the timing of the bloom.
“If we get 60 to 100 mother plants, then at that point we would
license it to a commercial greenhouse or nursery to expand it
from there,” he said.
“Then they will do cuttings and greenhouse day-length
adjustments and so forth to multiply the variety to the retail
strength needed,” Brown said.
He said to target the flowering-plant market in retail and
garden stores, they will try to get the plants to bloom in early
June, rather than July, "because typically consumers want to see
a budding plant, not a picture of what they are buying.” |
|