2004 ASCFG Seed Cut Flower Trials
John Dole
North Carolina State University
Overview:
With 58 cultivars from seven companies, it was another great year for the seed trials. We added a new question about postharvest to the survey this year. Respondents listed the postharvest life they were able to obtain and any treatments they had been using. Please keep in mind that most folks have not had the time to do any testing so the treatments listed are those that they have been using for other cultivars or species. Please also note that we conducted postharvest testing on a number of the cultivars in the trials and our results are included in the article on page ??.
Highlights of this years trials included the release of several series which are likely to become important for cut flower growers: 'Procut’ sunflowers, ‘Sweet’ dianthus, and ‘Camelot’ digitalis. The Sunflower ‘Procut’ series from SeedSense did very well in the trials. This well matched series includes orange, yellow and bicolor cultivars. All were uniform, reliable and fast. For example, ‘Procut Orange’ flowered up to two weeks earlier than ‘Sunrich Orange’. These single-stem cultivars produce medium -sized flower heads with a long postharvest life, averaging 7 to 9 days (see also Postharvest article for more information). One respondent wrote that it was their AFavorite new sunflower and another said it was the ABest sunflower I’ve grown in a few years! Sunflower ‘Double Quick’ from SeedSense also scored very high in the trials. This large double flowered sunflower had a short crop time but not as fast as the Procut series.
One of the trends in ornamental breeding has been to shorten crop time by eliminating cold requirements for flowering. Delphiniums and ‘Amazon’ dianthus are two examples. The next genus to get the star treatment is digitalis. With the release of ‘Camelot’ from Goldsmith, digitalis has become a vigorous, rapidly flowering plant that does not require a cold treatment for flowering. We had uniform flowering in May from a late January sowing. Other digitalis, such as ‘Foxy’ will flower the first year from seed, but ‘Camelot’ was fast and uniform. Plants were very productive, averaging 4 to 5 stems per plant, with some trialers harvesting up to 20 stems/plants. Stems were a bit short, averaging 19 to 22 inches, but long enough for most growers to use. Goldsmith notes that if the plants survive the summer heat, they will flower the next year with much longer stems, up to 3 feet tall. Digitalis can be grown as a summer or fall planted biennial for maximum stem quality and ‘Camelot’ should be tried this way also. Postharvest is acceptable for local sales, averaging 6 to 9 days, but too short for some trialers. The main problem was that the lower florets dropped. Certainly this series would be good for further postharvest testing.
Pan American has been busy remaking Sweet William type dianthus. Their hybrid ‘Amazon’ dianthus was quite a milestone. These robust plants flowered first year from seed, exhibited great heat tolerance, and produced long stems The ‘Sweet’ series is a bit of a step towards traditional Sweet williams with shorter stems and less heat tolerance than Amazon. This is not surprising considering that the Sweet series is not a hybrid. However, ‘Sweet’ dianthus still has much to offer the grower. It is uniform, rapidly flowering B generally about two to three weeks before ‘Amazon’, and productive. Stem length averaged around 15 inches with some trialers getting up to 28 inches. Postharvest life averaged 8 to 10 days.
This trial was the year of the snapdragon with 22 cultivars submitted from three companies. Snapdragons have traditionally not done well in the trial program because they generally should be planted earlier than we can get the seed from the suppliers and out to the growers. However, that did not appear to be a problem this year as a number of the cultivars did very well. The Opus series from Goldsmith, in particular, received high marks from trialers. ‘Opus Plum Blossum’ and ‘Opus Yellow’ did well enough to be nominated for the 2005 cut flower of the year. Plants produced 6 to 8 stems per plant and stem lengths averaged 22 to 28 inches long. Certainly snapdragons are most impressive when grown in the greenhouse or tunnel, but many of these cultivars were producing wonderful cuts outdoors.
For a number of years Sakata has been working on campanulas. Most growers are familiar with their Campanula medium ‘Champion’ series, which has become a staple greenhouse or tunnel cut flower. This year Sakata released Campanula rapunculus ‘Heavenly Blue’. This cultivar produced sprays of small pale purple, upright facing, bell-shaped flowers. Plants were productive, averaging 7 stems per plant and 23 inches long, with some folks getting up to 31 inch stems. Stems are thin but strong and easy to use in bouquets and arrangements. Vase life ranged from 7 to 14 days with the averaging being 11 days.
The old standby cut flower, larkspur, received some attention this year. American Takii took the larkspur in a different direction with their ‘Chorus Violet’, the first spray type larkspur. It produced numerous stems topped with small purple flowers. Stems averaged 27 inches long with a vase life of more than 10 days. Our plants showed a variety of plant habits but this could be remedied by pinching plants when young. Kieft submitted Larkspur ‘Sydney Lilac’ as part of their series bred for greenhouse or tunnel production. Several trialers used them in tunnels with great results. Stem length averaged 25 inches, a bit short for larkspur B however, some folks had stems 39 inches tall, showing the potential for this cultivar. The ‘Super Single Imperial Orchid’ larkspur from Gloeckner also did well. Trialers loved the beautiful color and one person noted that it flowered well into summer. Stem length averaged 23 inches.
Benary has expanded the colors available in its very productive Zinnia ‘Oklahoma’ series. ‘Carmine’, ‘Yellow’ and ‘Ivory’ were tested in the trials and received high marks for productivity, over 12 stems per plant, good stem length, and high degree of doubleness. The color of the ‘Oklahoma Carmine’ also received a lot of attention.
Based on trial results, the top five performers are automatically nominated for the ASCFG Cut Flower of the Year competition. The rankings are based on the combined ratings score: market appreciation (average of wholesale, florist, and consumer) + repeat again + ease of cultivation for those cultivars where more than three trialers responded. Thus, from the 2004 trials Campanula ‘Heavenly Blue’, Digitalis ‘Camelot Cream’ and ‘Camelot Lavendar’, Snapdragon ‘Opus Plum Blossum’ and ‘Opus Yellow’, and Sunflower ‘Double Quick’ and ‘Procut Yellow’ are nominated as Cut Flowers of the Year and will join other nominations from ASCFG members. Seven cultivars were nominated this year because of a three-way tie. Experimental varieties are eligible for nomination if they are named and released.
Interpreting the trial results:
The numbers reported are averages of all the respondents and many factors will affect the success of any plant species. Our participants are growing and harvesting the trial plants in a wide variety of ways. For example, with annual asters some people harvest the entire plant as one bunch while others harvest each individual flowering branch, giving very different stem lengths and yield data. After looking at the average, check the range of responses listed below each number to see how the cultivar performed at its best and its worst. If the range of responses in the ratings is narrow and high, i.e., 3-5 or 4-5, the plant was a winner for most of the respondents and is likely to do well for you. The ‘Repeat Again Rating’ is particularly important because it indicates if the trialer would take the time, money, and space to actually grow the cultivar again. Review the trial results carefully. If a cultivar sounds interesting but did not appear to do well, try it anyway. The cultivar may work well for you.
Acknowledgments:
A hearty thank you to all of the evaluators who returned their trial reports and to the seed companies for providing such great cultivars. I would also like to thank Betty Coleman for laboriously typing in everyone’s comments, Ingram McCall and Diane Mays for taking care of the North Carolina State University portion of the trials, Ingram McCall for data entry, and Leslie Tichner, Aliya Donnell, Brad Holland, and Tim Ketchie for assisting with the NCSU trials. In preparing the report I have edited the participants’ comments for space and clarity; my apologies if I've altered the tone or content of anyone's comments. Also, in a few cases we could not determine what was written.