Trial: Annual
Years Trialed: 2001
Good Qualities
Great color (9); Long flowering period (3); Tall (2); Stiff stems, little bit of leaf spotting but no other disease, long lived flower; Easy to grow; Made a great filler early in season when production in field is low; Good texture, nice shape in arrangement, lots of stems; Beautiful, bronze foliage; Interesting flower shape; Relatively pest free, uniform, long flowering period, doesn't need support; Customers loved it; Nice in mixed bouquets; Stem length; Pods.
Problems
Aphids (3); Droopy in buckets and bouquet - postharvest a challenge (5); Wilts when 1st cut; recut, change the water; 2nd they will re-hydrate; None; Bleeding of stems; Sold better after pods developed and as dry, smell not liked by all; Early budding in flat required pinching to prevent bolting, but this may have been a fertility issue; Sometimes not enough color at once – made determining when to harvest difficult; Sap can be irritating to the skin; Rust; We had poor germination but what we got produced very well and was great.
Comments
Similar to 'Scarlet' (3) and to 'Red Butterfly'; 7 day vase-life in tap water at room temperature; Aphids love this plant; even after frost burn back, aphids were drawn to them; All the asclepias sold extremely well for me this year – I don't know if it was the expanded color range or if people are just enjoying reds, oranges and yellows more than they used to.
Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant)¹ | Stem Length (inches)¹ | Market Appreciation Rating² | Repeat Again Rating² | Ease of Cultivation Rating² | Average Spacing (in2) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | ||||||
| Average | 6.9 | 25.4 | 3.2 | 4.6 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 190 |
| Range of Responses | 1-20 | 12-36 | 1-5 | 4-5 | 3-5 | 2-5 | 1-5 | 36-432 |
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.
Supplier
Kieft Seeds P.O. Box 618 Conway, WA 98238
