Trial: Annual

Year Trialed: 2009

Good Qualities

Rich sunflower color (6); Stem strength, big heads, 6 to 8 inches across; Standard single stem; Nice, strong stems and attractive flowers; Practical size for a sunflower; Sturdy stem and neck, good form; Stems were strong, bloomed all season; So similar to ‘Zahav’ that I could not tell the difference.

Problems

Neck is thick, blooms later than others; Some side bud production near the principal head that had to be removed; This one did not germinate well, so we pinched it to get more flowers; Leaves were very damaged by disease early in the season when conditions were wet, this created a lot of extra work since we had to do so much additional cleaning in order to have saleable stems, even then half the crop was a loss, also these plants were branching, not singles, later plantings did much better with disease, this variety is definitely more suited for hot, dry climates; The field they were planted in was of lower fertility so the flowers were small; After first cut no new side blooms grew; A bit short (grown in short days); Germination was good, flowers were nice but they didn’t seem to last as long as the others; These went out as plugs and these and my first crop of sunflowers rotted ....so wet this spring; Seed germination was very poor - 50%; Cornell Trial 77 days to flower with long-day conditions (summer), very sensitive to short days as the plants flower 24 days earlier if grown at 12 hours daylength in seedling stage.

Similar Cultivars

Many other orange sunflowers (2); So hard to really tell them all apart.

Comments

I prefer branching sunflowers so if I miss the timing on picking I get another chance; I’m ashamed to admit that I got these all mixed up with ‘Zahav’ and ‘Zohar’ and none of them did that well for me; Shortest compared to ‘Zahav’ and ‘Zohar’, smallest blooms of the three as well, while growing the stems curved, some a lot more than others, this could have been due to wind, light, and/or being too crowded, once thinned the worst ones out they did not curve more, but the ones that were left in with a little curve did not correct itself in the field; Would not grow either cultivar again; Cornell Trial length was 59 inches under long days and 34 inches under short days.

Postharvest

Cut into hydrator and store in holding; Used Floralife for hard water; Cut early in the day, kept cool and also used Floralife, strip bottom foliage before putting into buckets, seems to help with absorption; None; Water.

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

Supplier

Genesis Seeds Ltd. Ashalim, Israel