Factors determining the quality of tulips

Eight tulip cultivars were used to study the quality of cut-tulips after harvest. Flowers of these cultivars from commercial crops were kept under different post-harvest storage conditions before being put into water in a lighted room for. observation. This affected different characteristics of the flowers, the leaves yellowed sooner, the stem-growth was less and the longevity of the flowers diminished. The effect on longevity was cultivar dependent. The same cultivars were also studied as "ice"-tulips. Flowers of commercial crops produced in September, October and November were compared in flower quality. The longevity of the flowers and the colour of the leaves were different for the various harvest periods, this was cultivar dependent