Commercial bedding plant production in northern latitudes often begins in late winter and continues through spring, when average outdoor temperatures require growers to actively heat their greenhouses (GHs). High tunnels (HTs) offer energy savings as they are passively heated and cooled structures that have a low initial cost.
As a result, they have been used in northern latitudes to advance and extend the growing season and improve the quality of high-value horticultural crops. However, there is limited published information on growing bedding plants in HTs in northern latitudes.
The objectives were to quantify the effects of transplant date in an HT with or without a rowcover (RC) compared with a traditional heated GH on the growth and morphology of three cold-tolerant bedding plant species at two northern latitude locations, Purdue University (Purdue) and Cornell University (Cornell). Seedlings of snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus L. ‘Liberty Classic Yellow’), dianthus (Dianthus chinensis L. ‘Telstar Crimson’), and petunia (Petunia ×hybrida Vilm.-Andr. ‘Wave Pink’) were transplanted on weeks 13, 14, and 15 in 2012 (Purdue) and 2013 (both locations) and moved to either a glass-glazed GH or an HT without (HT) or with a rowcover (HT+RC).