Dianthus 'Sweet White'
Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2004
Year of Trial: First (from 2004 report)
Good Qualities:
Great color (2): Easy to grow (2); Uniform growing habit, strong stems; Lasted long time infield and in cooler; Good for bouquets, nice dark foliage, quick to produce; Initial spike was very strong with a globular shape - almost perfectly round, nice old spice fragrance, strong growth; Very productive; Was started and planted in field the same time as ‘Amazon Neon’ dianthus and it bloomed 2 weeks earlier than the Amazon, this was a nice clean white Dianthus; Germinated great; Great fragrance; In the tunnel, early, similar to ‘Sweet Purple’, second flush in fall, but short (Zone 5), color nice contrast to others in series, and to ‘Neon’; Outside, similar to other Sweet series in earliness and height and productivity, color unique to this series so far; Strong stems, doesn’t need support net, nice compact clump of bright white flowers, no fragrance, I am hoping this overwinters and has more stems next year; Fragrance, multiple stems produced during flowering season.
Problems:
: Too short (2); Some mildew but did not treat; Secondary stems a little weaker than the king flower, but still very good quality and not so tightly round as the initial spike; They weren’t as big and beefy as the ‘Amazon Neon’ but were still nice, not really a problem, just information; Blister beetles ravaged the flowers, picture is on www.hightunnels.org, Sevin controlled the beetles, had to spray twice in August; Thin stems in the tunnel; Outside, height compared to Amazons; Blossoms browned easily; Sometimes the flowers were pink rather than white; this cultivar was not as floriferous as red and purple; this cultivar had shorter stems than the red and purple cultivars; secondary stems are sometimes weak.
Postharvest:
Did not use any postharvesting - cut into plain water; They were pretty easy to take care of, they do have a tendency to snap at the joints when I was handling them to strip leaves.
Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating - Wholesale (1) | Market Appreciation Rating - Retail (1) | Market Appreciation Rating - Consumer (1) | Repeat Again Rating (1) | Ease of Cultivation Rating (1) | Average Spacing (in2) | Average Postharvest Life (days) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Average | 4.5 | 14.8 | 3.5 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 106 | 8.4 |
| Range of Responses | 1-8 | 8-28 | 3-4 | 3-5 | 1-5 | 1-5 | 2-5 | 16-216 | 7-11 |
(1) 1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Supplier
PanAmerican Seed
P.O. Box 438
West Chicago, IL 60186
Comments:
Looks like the same genetics as ‘Neon Duo’ which is good; Similar to other dianthus; Good cut flower; Flowering without a chill requirement is a real plus, white is always a good cut flower; Good germination, sowed in greenhouse 2/3/04, transplanted to 128 cells, harvest period from 6/30-7/14/04; I really liked (and so did my customers) all the colors in the sweet series of Dianthus; Support wire was necessary; Dianthus barbatus is a biennial; flower production per plant during the first year was very good; however, we have left these plants in the field over witner to determine if they will flower better the second year.