Steps are being taken towards saving and repopulating the plant. In 1955, researchers attempted to shorten the breeding cycle of the Rhododendron "catawbiense album." They knew that if dormant buds of "R. catawbiense album" were dormant for too long, they were subject to breakage. They found that when keeping the plants at between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius, the number of growth periods was increased, and the speed of growth in many of the plants was twice that of a natural day. When applied to seedlings, this treatment cut the time taken to flower in half. (Doorenbos, 1955).