Trial Started: 2005
Year of Trial: 2005
Good Qualities
Strong color pink (3), quite rich in color- much stronger color than 'Animation Pink Improved'; Thick stems, bloomed over a month - held up well in heat (85 degrees); Bloomed much earlier than my usual 'Spring Giants'; Very productive, good recovery after hot summer.Problems
Pinched them - wouldn't do this again; Prefer central great stem and the auxillaries seem better then also; Was not as robust in field and therefore less prolific; Bloomed at about 8 inches before croaking - apparently don't like weeks of 90°F+ - this was not the summer to try winter types in the field in summer; Stems somewhat short.Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant)¹ | Stem Length (inches)¹ | Market Appreciation Rating² | Repeat Again Rating² | Ease of Cultivation Rating² | Average Spacing (in2) | Average Postharvest Life (days) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||||
| Average | 6.3 | 16.8 | 3.0 | 3.7 | 4.0 | 3.4 | 4.0 | 206 | 6.6 |
| Range of Responses | 3-9 | 15-18 | 3.0 | 3-5 | 3-5 | 2-5 | 2-5 | 48-432 | 4-8.5 |
¹Data shown are from those respondents who harvested stems. Some respondents may not have harvested stems because they were too short. Flowering stems may be longer next year after plants are established. See comments section for more details.
²1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
General comments on trial (Zone 5, applied to all snaps varieties trialed): Trial grown outdoors on green plastic mulch (Solar mulch), trickle irrigation, 4 rows on a 9 x 9 inch spacing, one layer of Hortinova netting put up shortly after transplanting, season was hot most of the summer, but moderated into the fall, and did not frost until late October - during the summer heat, all varieties stopped producing flower heads, but the Group II varieties resumed production in mid-September, yielding about one third of their total production then.