Abstract

Chilean nurseries make important efforts to develop new native crops for landscaping, with emphasis on species suitable for wa-ter-saving conditions. Bromeliads are naturally adapted to low water soil conditions; the genus Puya is widely used as a garden plant. Worldwide, commercial bromeliads are forced to bloom by treating them with ethylene, either as a gas or liquid preparation. The family Bromeliaceae in Chile includes six genera with 24 species and five subspecies; the cultivated species are sold in nurseries mainly in the vegetative stage, and ethylene has not been tested to promote flowering. The capacity of ethylene to promote flowering in Fascicularia bicolor was investigated in a nursery near Santiago (33°21'13'' SL and 70°41'26'' WL) by spraying plants growing under a shading net or in a cool greenhouse with Ethylen® 48 SL (0, 2.5 ml L-1 or 5 ml L-1 ethephon) in autumn, 2012. A similar experiment was conducted by spraying in the middle of the winter, using different plants growing in the open with full sun and under a shading net with constant shade or with morning light, testing 0 and 2.5 ml L-1 ethephon. Untreated plants did not show any change in phenology, either in the autumn or winter spraying times. After some months all au-tumn-treated plants showed the bright red color that precedes flowering, although not all plants reached anthesis. The winter-treated plants did not turn red, but flowering was 100% after four months.