Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2008

Good Qualities

Beautiful bicolor blooms (8), although shading of bicolor wasn't uniform; Good stem caliper (2); Strong stem/neck; Quick to produce new usable stems after cuts; 6-8 inch flowers, among earliest in group to flower, tendency toward branching so that secondary flowers can be harvested if primary flower is cut short, lots of ooohs and aaaahs on this one; Healthy and productive; Smaller heads were 5 in. in diameter and they worked well in arrangements; The newer cultivars of sunflowers that keep appearing each year are an incremental improvement over the older cultivar and '565' is typical of that change, nice presentation and has a more upright appearance longer; Easy to grow, good bloom and stem size; Good plant height, not too bushy.

Problems

None; We hand planted our trial sunflowers and #565 was indistinguishable from ‘Sun4U Bicolor’; Small bloom for size plant, tendency for petals to bend backwards as they age; Side shoots very fragile, susceptible to breakage even of the slightest touch; Vase life not quite as good as other cultivars; The large head was about 10 in. in diameter and it did not work well in arrangements; This one was of no use to me, no height, small inferior bloom; I really could not distinguish between any of these cultivars, or maybe I should say the differences were more subtle than I could see-I think that they were too large, really thick stems, big heads even when direct seeded; Good flower color pattern (brown ringed center) when the flower opens but as the flower fully opens, the brown ring fades away.

Similar Cultivars

‘Sun4U Bicolor’ (5), appeared almost identical; Many; Looked a lot like the Sunbright series.

Comments

Fine, not worth switching to; Did not know it was branching, but was delighted to get a later usable flush of 2-3 (24-30 inch) side shoots, perfect in bouquets!; 1 large head at 10 inches and 5 small heads at 5 inches; Harvested between 7/25-8/20 (direct seeded on May 28); Appears to be moderately sensitive to daylength: short day reaction; Would trade Sunrich or Sunbright series for any of them; The Agridera submissions from Gloeckner all did well and had similar characteristics, the yellow orange petals with brown disk were all similar in the group; Flowered around August 1 (sowed June 11, transplanted to field June 25), flower diameter 7.5 in. when fully open, medium stem thickness.

Postharvest

Bleach and water; Keep the vase solution clean; Remove leaves; We only used plain water.See separate postharvest report for results from NC State University postharvest evaluations.

Trial Data

¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.

Supplier

Fred C. Gloeckner Company 600 Mamaroneck Ave. Harrison, NY 10528-1613

Agridera Seeds & Agriculture Ltd.
Gedera, Israel