Zinnia ‘Oklahoma Yellow’
go.ncsu.edu/readext?229456
Trial: Annual
Year Trialed: 2004
Year of Trial: First (from 2004 report)
Good Qualities
Great bright color (11); Very productive (5); Strong stems (2); Long stems, tight flower heads, long produce period (8 weeks so far); OK hardiness; Nice double flower; Good uniformity; Did not begin to pick all the potential stems because when our’Benary Giants’ started to produce, we stopped picking; Impressively pest-resistant compared with other zinnias, most saleable stems by color, nice formation; Good doubleness, more useful than ‘Oklahoma Gold’; Fully double small flowers; Canadians are not great zinnia lovers in fresh, great as yard plant; A nice yellow to go with the ‘Envy’ and ‘Benary’s Giant White’ provided a subtle range of soft colors; Mostly double flowers; given a better understanding of this little guy, we may be able to make money with it.
Problems
Powder mildew (3); Flower size too small (2); No problems (2); We did not like this particular yellow color in our mixed bouquets; it just didn’t seem the right yellow; Outdoors there were many short stems of limited marketability; Multi branching made it difficult to cut for less experienced cutters; Variable stem length even with early pinching; Small, branching flowers and stems.
Postharvest
Hydraflor, Floralife; Water only, no cooler, morning cutting; Needs work. Editor’s note: see separate postharvest article in this issue for more information.
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 | 12.8 | 16.2 | 2.8 | 3.1 | 3.3 | 3.6 | 4.2 | 97 | 8.4 |
| Range of Responses | 1-40 | 12-24 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 2-4 | 1-5 | 2-5 | 36-192 | 5-22 |
¹1 to 5 scale, with 5 being the best. Market ratings are based on sales to wholesalers, retailers, or final consumers direct.
Supplier
Benary Seed
1444 Larson St.
Sycamore, IL 60178
Comments
Similar to other Benary zinnias; Will definitely plant again; Sowed directly into a 128 cell tray in greenhouse on 4/16/04, harvest period from 7/8 to 7/19/04 though could have gone much longer; Very impressed with this flower; Healthy plants in a year of disease producing weather; This made a gorgeous landscape plant; Most of the test was spent trying to figure out how to handle this compared to bigger zinnias with longer stems; by the time we figured out how, when and where to cut, they were fizzled; Will not plant again, takes too long to harvest; flowers, some single, some double.