Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2007
Good Qualities
Excellent quality, great scent, very easy to grow; Early blooming; Nothing stood out, we got this in very late, however, when it was getting too warm in the hoophouse; Easy to germinate, fast growing and early to go to field beds; Tallest of series; Great fragrance- we did use the stems in small bouquets and customers appreciated the fragrance; This was a nice white column type stock, but not a noticeably different or improved version of 'Avalanche'; Good colors, all plants that germinated lived, germinated well.Problems
Not a prolific bloomer, did not transplant well; None; No marketable flowers on any cultivar in series; High proportion of singles; None to speak of, except a little slow.Similar Cultivars
This did not seem very different from either the Cheerful series or ‘White Beach’; ‘Avalanche’.Postharvest
We did not use any postharvest treatment - plain water; Bleach in water.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 | 1.3 | 16.9 | - | 2.0 | 4.1 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 61.7 | 9.0 |
| Range of Responses | 0.5-4 | 14-22 | - | 2 | 3-5 | 1-5 | 2-5 | 16-144 | 6-12 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Comments
Next time much closer and pull singles (although I used them for mixed bouquets no problem), loved all three colors; All plants in the series looked good during the germination, seedling, and early growth phase as young plants in the greenhouse and as plants in the beds - however, when flowering time came the flowers were useless - one or two florets, stunted spikes and not harvestable; It just doesn't pay us to grow stock in the greenhouse and then outside it is short and not as nice - we really need to experiment with some hoops in the field to protect the plants and see if we can get larger flowers in the field - my customers would love that; Next time much closer and pull singles (although I used them for mixed bouquets no problem). Loved all three colors; Transplanting into tunnel on day 37 resulted in stockier, taller plants than those transplanted a week later; Would be better in a high tunnel as an early crop.