Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) from dicotyledonous Caryophyllaceae family is one of the important floricultural crop is cultivated all-year-around in temperate areas.&nbsp;In addition, the lengthy vase life of carnations may have great implications for wholesale and retail markets. It is genetically a quantitative long day plant and sensitive to temperature, which is a major factor that influences the growth and flowering, color, grade and the quality of cut flowers. Commonly grown Chaubad and Marquerite carnation are propagated by seed and other different types can be propagated through different ways of propagations like terminal cutting and tissue culture. The soil should be ploughed thoroughly up to 80-100 cm. deep and organic manure is to be mixed with soil properly. Soil sterilization should be done prior to planting. Rooted cuttings of standard carnations are planted on raised beds with a spacing of 20&times;20 cm and spacing of 30&times;30 cm is ideal for spray carnations. However, the lateral shoot development is best at a density of 50 plants/m&sup2;. Apart from major nutrients like N, P and K, Ca, Mg, B and Fe also play a crucial role in carnation nutrition. Spray of 0.1% urea and potassium nitrate (KNO3) and 1 ppm Boron at 10 days interval till flowering produces good quality flowers. The plastic nets having a mesh of 7.5-10cm supported by stakes of metal fixed at the corner of beds is an ideal method. During pinching, the tip of the stem is removed to encourage the growth of the standard or Sim Carnations. Only 4-6 well grown lateral shoots will be allowed to grow. Splitting carnation flower calyces; is one of major limiting factor that affect both pre and post-harvest quality of carnation flowers. The problem of calyx splitting can be controlled by regulating temperature. Higher nitrate to ammoniacal nitrogen ratio during low light periods are recommended to reduce splitting. The optimum stage of standard carnation for distant market is paint brush stage when petals have started to elongate outside the calyx. The spray varieties are harvested with 2 open flowers on each stem. The flowers after harvesting and grading should be pulsed with 10% sucrose+1mm silver thiosulfate (STS) for 8-10hr before transportation to increase storability and vase-life of cut carnations.

Cultivation and Cultural Practices Followed in Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) for Better Production: A Review

<div>Background: India has been bestowed with wide range of climate and physio-geographical conditions making it suitable for growing various kinds of horticultural crops. Out of which the awareness on usage of cut flowers for various occasions has raised the demand for cut flowers in the market, especially Tamil Nadu. The overall objective of the study is to estimate the demand and supply of cut flowers in Tamil Nadu. 
 
Methods: Hosur block in Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu was purposively selected as it is the leader in area and production of rose flowers. A two-stage random sampling method was adopted to select the sample farms with a total sample size of 120. Simple percentage analysis and Data Envelopment Analysis were used to discuss the results.&nbsp; 
 
Result: The important period of demand for cut flowers in Hosur block are events like Navratri, Christmas, New Year, Valentine Day, Therthiruvizha, Ramjan and Bakrith. There were 164 days in a year which would be auspicious. On an average 450 bunches of rose, 320 bunches of gerberas and 150 bunches of carnations are used in an event in addition to some other flowers. The technical efficiency measures for Roses indicated that most farmers belonged to the least efficient category (&lt;90 per cent) with a proportion of 62.50 per cent to total.</div>

Cultivation and Cultural Practices Followed in Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) for Better Production: A Review

Demand and Supply of Cut Flowers Production in Krishnagiri District of Tamil Nadu - An Approach by Data Envelopment Analysis