Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2004 Year of Trial: First (from 2004 report)
Good Qualities
Unique color (8); Tolerated heat well, good fragrance; Problem free, grows under hot conditions, valuable addition to complement Neon; Still blooming in Sept. (although shorter stems), nice branching, color mixes well with so many things; Easy, good for bouquets, nice dark foliage, quick to produce; Best color of the series; Initial spike was very strong with a globular shape-almost perfectly round, some old spice fragrance, very nice colorCgood OOOOH factor, strong growth; Also bloomed 2 weeks earlier than Amazon Neon; Germinated great; Great fragrance, we especially liked the coral variety, great color, especially since coral is predicted to be a popular color next year; Nice for variety of color within arrangements, early flowering, ease of bouquet; Very strong.Problems
Too short (3); Petal color fades too quickly; Secondary stems a little weaker than the king flower, but still very good quality and not so tightly round as the initial spike; Blister beetles ravaged the flowers, picture is on www.hightunnels.org, Sevin controlled the beetles, had to spray twice in August; Plants lasted longer than Dianthus ‘Sweet Red’, but still had problems with several plants rotting.Postharvest
hey 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. Editor’s note: see separate postharvest article in this issue for more information.Trial Data
| Yield (stems/plant) | Stem Length (inches) | Market Appreciation Rating¹ | Repeat Again Rating¹ | Ease of Cultivation Rating¹ | Average Spacing (in2) | Average Postharvest Life (days) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wholesale | Retail | Consumer | |||||||
| Average | 5.9 | 15.2 | 4.0 | 4.6 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 97 | 10.0 |
| Range of Responses | 2-12 | 8-28 | 4 | 4-5 | 2-5 | 1-5 | 2-5 | 36-216 | 7-16 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
Similar to Neon series (2) or other dianthus; Loved it!; Flowering without a chill requirement is a real plus, Sweet Coral is a softer color than very bright Neon Amazon series, that it resembles in growth habit; This one was my customers favorite.