- THE FLORICULTURE VEGETATIVE CUTTING INDUSTRY 147
(Argyranthemum frutescens), calibrachoa, coleus (Solenostemon
scutellarioides), double impatiens (Impatiens× hybrid), geranium,
New Guinea impatiens, Perovskia atriplicifolia, petunia, and ver-
bena. The optimum bag oxygen permeability rates varied with the
species, which was likely due to the variable respiration rates among
species. The high diversity of species, cultivars, and tissue ages in the
cutting-propagation industry will probably make practical modified
atmosphere storage difficult to implement commercially.
D. Transport
Frozen gel or ice may be included in the packed boxes of cuttings to
maintain cool temperatures during transit. Friedman and Rot (2005)
showed that the presence of 2–3 ice packs (0.35 kg each) in the con-
tainers reduced temperatures inside the container by 5–8◦C. For inter-
national shipments, the packages may be re-iced at the port-of-entry,
that is, the melted ice packs are replaced with frozen ice packs.
The United States Department of Agriculture—Animal and Plant
Health Inspection Service inspects the cuttings at the port-of-entry, and
if acceptable, the boxes are transported to the customer via express mail
carrier or in a temperature-controlled, refrigerated truck. Express mail
carrier typically requires 48 h from the time of the cutting harvested
for delivery, whereas truck delivery may require an additional day, or
72 h in total; however, despite the additional time required for truck
delivery, these cuttings tend to have fewer temperature-related shipping
problems compared to airfreight transport, which typically experiences
greater temperature fluctuation in route.
E. Packaging
Shipping containers usually consist of corrugated cardboard boxes
lined with polystyrene sheets to provide temperature insulation. The
outside of the box may be white to reflect sunlight and thus to limit
the heat build-up inside the box while the boxes are being transported
outdoors to and from the cargo planes (Faust et al. 2006). In a com-
parison of containers, insulated cardboard boxes lined with polyethy-
lene bubble plastic warmed up the quickest, thin polystyrene (2 cm)
second fastest, and thick polystyrene (3.2 cm) the slowest (Friedman
and Rot 2005). The thick polystyrene box maintained temperatures
0.5–2.0◦C lower than the thin polystyrene box, and the temperature
stayed low for 6 h longer. However, insulated boxes can actually cre-
ate a poorer temperature-management situation than uninsulated boxes