An Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) research team that conducted studies on the environmental, nutritional and physiological factors governing in vitro flowering has developed a complete and effective method for producing micro roses that will flower inside sterile minicontainers. The marketable product is a live plant that will flower for about three weeks. After the flowering period, home gardeners will be able to acclimatize the plants ex vitro and transfer them to their gardens. Since this new product is poised to come onto the market, no competition exists at present. The new technology has been developed for several hardy cultivars—’Champlain’ (red blooms), ‘Royal Edward’ (pink blooms) and ‘Morden Sunrise’ (yellow blooms)—that are part of AAFC’s Explorer and Parkland series. A fourth cultivar, which produces pale pink roses with deeper pink contrast, has also given promising results and will soon be marketed in the “Canadian Artists” series. All the roses that have been developed by AAFC are prized by consumers for their hardiness, their disease resistance and their long flowering period. The possibility of purchasing these roses as tiny plants that will flower in vitro should add to their popularity.

The technology has several characteristics that will appeal to a vast clientele: Aseptic production (hospitals, restaurants and quarantine-free exports); Small containers (corner stores, hotel industry, restaurants, grocery store chains); Specialty shops (florists); Unique items for high-end boutiques (jewellery stores, fine lingerie, etc.). The rose plants hold promise as ideal gifts for home gardeners and ornamental horticulture enthusiasts seeking a new challenge. They can also be used as an advertising or promotional tool or as a distinctive gift for visitors. In addition, since the roses are produced under aseptic (disease-free) conditions, they are exempt from quarantine and can be readily distributed to export markets. With this technology, producers who carry out in vitro propagation will be able to stagger their production activities and market their stock over a longer period of time. Their operations will no longer be tied to the spring season when demand for plantlets is high because nurseries are gearing up to sell soil-grown plants.

Disclaimer: Although care has been exercised to ensure the accuracy of the material presented in this brochure, the contents are provided for information purposes only. Neither AAFC nor the inventor offers any written or implied warranty as to the accuracy of the contents.

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With the development stage completed, the technology is available for licensing.

The technology has been developed for the production of the above-mentioned cultivars. Floral induction takes about six weeks and begins after the nodal sections have been pricked out into in vitro culture tubes. Flowering can last as long as three weeks in these sterile containers. To date, the technology has been used successfully with glass in vitro culture tubes. Additional tests will be necessary if other containers are to be used to market the plants. Since the roses are grown in a sterile medium, the containers that are used must be suitable for autoclave sterilization.

No patent has been filed for this technology and this technology is under industrial secrecy. As owner of property rights, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada would like to transfer this technology under license agreements in return for fees and royalties.