Section 1: Introduction
Quality standards dictate that containerized plants should be proportional to the container in which they are grown. Elongated or excessively tall plants are considered to be of lower quality. Excessively tall plants easily fall over which makes irrigation difficult and they are also difficult to ship and for consumers to handle. Growers must be prepared to prevent excessive stem elongation (stretching) before it occurs because undesirable stretching can be a production reality. Growth must be managed and growers have a number of excellent tools, both non-chemical methods and chemical plant growth retardants (one classification of plant growth regulators), to control excessive stretch. Used together, they can be used to manage plant growth and produce well-proportioned and compact plants.
