Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2009Good Qualities
Prolific flowering (4); Beautiful bright color (3); Early to bloom (2); Smaller heads more floriferous; No pest or disease problems; Long lasting in the field, easy to cut in clumps; Persistent grower, many stems to cut each week; Color mixed well with many other flowers for bouquets, nice accent, germination was good.Problems
Plants were too short (4); Was so much shorter than my regular QIS purple and pink gomphrena that I did not bother to cut it as stem length was 6 to 8 inches; A few taller stems but not many; Somewhat wobbly stems; Flower heads small, weak and floppy, especially later in the season; No problems; Difficult to know where to cut to keep new growth coming, was affected more by disease than Gomphrena ‘Audray Pink’ and ‘Purple Red’; Not a problem, but I think the stems were so full that when I tried to cut them they easily got tangled up; It is on the short side but not so short it made it unusable.Similar Cultivars
'Audray Pink’; ‘Las Vegas Purple’ and ‘Las Vegas White’, different colors but grew similarly and were affected the same by disease; Growing the same as other gomphrenas.Postharvest
Floralife; Cool water, Floralife, cool after cutting and don't leave in heat of the field; None; Water; Postharvest life “forever”.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 | 14.5 | 14.3 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 4.3 | 109 | 9.6 |
| Range of Responses | 3-60 | 10-22.5 | 2-4 | 4 | 3-5 | 1-5 | 3-5 | 36-168 | 6-14 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
I think it was too wet and cold for this crop this year; All the same height; During trial, contracted a bacteria (was never officially diagnosed), this was determined because the plants that were cut were much worse than the ones that were not cut, the leaves curled and turned red and brown on the edges, stems and leaves also turned crispy, my hands felt powdery after I cut them which came from the stems and leaves, however, this did not affect the flowers, the color was only a little washed out, and the plant still kept the same average number of stems per plant, after not cutting for 3 weeks, leaves and stems look much better, to where it's hardly noticeable, affected vase life by 2 days; I liked the flower for it's color and the plant grew very nice, it was full and had many blossoms per stem each week; It got about half the height of the Audrey series for us. The colors were nice but the taller gomphrena varieties are easier to harvest; Cornell trial yield: 11 stems in field, 23 in tunnel and length: 19 inches in field, 22 inches in tunnel.