Helianthus 'ProCut Lemon'

Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2004 Year of Trial: First (from 2004 report)


Helianthus 'ProCut Lemon'

Good Qualities

Great color (7); Fast crop time (3); Very uniform flowering time (3); Held up as well as ‘Sunbright’; Great by themselves, good quality size flowers, long stems, sturdy stems; Strong stems, petals seemed less susceptible to bruising than most yellows; One of the best sunflowers I have ever grown; I grew the whole series this year and they are all fabulous, ‘Pro-cut’ is the one to beat; Favorite new sunflower; Earlier than’ Sunrich Lemon’; Harvested about 70 days after direct seeding; Big, even consistent headed flower with a very crisp look, held heads up in spite of size, no doubt smaller stems would hurt this attribute, but if heads were smaller as well....

Problems

Stems too thick (3); Too big for florist use; I would not grow again because of this; Customer likes deeper color, too pale; Didn’t really like the size of the heads, the disk was too big in proportion to the ray petals, the stems were much too big, could not handle them, this could be a function of transplanting spacing so if I were to try again, I would plant closer, opens fast and turns sideways, 5 off-types in a 15 foot row; Stems too short.

Postharvest

Did not use any post harvest treatment.

Comments

Similar to ‘Sunrich Lemon’ (2) or ‘Moonbright’ - but much stronger head - beautiful yellow, double petals; Seeded directly to a 128 cell tray, 4/16/04, harvested 6/30/04; Good single stem; Flower diameter was 6.3 inches; Quick producer, though I didn’t record dates, will try much closer spacing to bring stem size down.


Trial Data

Helianthus 'ProCut Lemon'
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 1.3 33.3 4.3 4.3 4.0 3.9 4.5 110 8.5
Range of Responses 1-5 12-60 4-5 4-5 2-5 2-5 3-5 18-192 5-11


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


Supplier

SeedSense Ltd. The Tithe Barn, Mundesley Rd. Trunch, Norfolk HR28 0QB, England