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THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • APRIL 2018
• GROWER UPDATE
Plant traysmade frompaper, Danish trolleys that go
where they are neededwithout human involvement, a new
bio-pesticide calledFLiPPER, and a coating for glass that
can result in increasedphotosynthetically active radiation
inside the glasshouse. You couldhardlymake it up, but
these are just a fewof theproducts and concepts that
ornamentals growers heard about at two events in the
latewinter, reports JohnSutton.
The speakers involved came fromHolland and the
USA, aswell as from theUK. The companieswhose
innovationswere under the spotlight wereGerman and
French, aswell asBritish, Dutch andAmerican. Nine
of the speakersmade 15-minutepresentations at a
BallColegrave growers’ event that brought an audience
of well over a hundred to the company’s premises near
Banbury. Themini-conference, inFebruary, was teamed
with anopportunity to see the extensive trials of primrose,
polyanthus, pansies and violas. TheOscar pot dianthus
serieswas the focus for speaker TondeBresser of
GermanbreedersSelecta-one. The series, fully hardy, is
now inover twenty colours and has thepotential tobe
grown for year round colour sales. Formarketing from
early to late spring, pottingof plugs, usually into 9.0cm
pots, is recommended fromweek no36 to no8.
It is a cropwith strongmoney-makingpotential – energy
needs lowor evennil, andhighdensity on the floor or
bench - 64pots/sqm can still give goodquality. Pink
Kisses is from the samebreeders, and for this Tonde
Bresser recommendedpotting fromweek no 40 and
growing cold for sales from lateApril onwards.
Eric Forschelen, the second speaker from theNetherlands
at theBallColegrave event, has an international reputation
as a cyclamen expert. A freelance consultant, he now
advisesMorel, the French cyclamen specialists, and their
customers.
Humidity levels in the growing environment are very
important indeed inminimisingBotrytis risk. As one
important step, he urgedgrowers to take care in selecting
thebest series for theproductionperiod. For example,
Smartizwith its very compact, dense structure is an
excellentmini for late summer and early autumn sales.
But themore open character of the growing habit ofMetis
makes it thebetter choice as temperatures fall, days
GROWERS’ MEETINGS
TheGarden-Mumsfortheperfectproduct
Brandkamp
GmbH
GERMANY
smallsizepots
earlyor lateflowering
bigsizepots
mixpots
SchoneveldBreeding launched itsParadiso series. This
has nowbeendeveloped into theParadiso family, with
Mini, Early,Mid and Late versions. Danova andDaniella
areSakata series held in very good regardby growers.
They are offeredby EarleyOrnamentals. And the Florensis
catalogue justifies time spent for itswide-ranging choice.
Syngenta’s early-floweringSirococco series first attracted
adeal of attention at IPM in early 2017.Markedout by
their white, curly petal margins, the flowers are unlikely
tobe confusedwithother earlies. Recommended for
production in 10.0-11.0cmpots, the series nowhas four
more colours, bring the total to eight.
POLYANTHUS
No fewer than eight polyanthus series featured in the
BallColegrave trials. Five of themwere grown in a format
of threeplants in a 3.0litrepot, aswell as singles in
13.0cmpots. Thewell-namedShowstopper was the
benchmark series for flower size. Thepreviously available
five colourswere joinedby three new additions, and there
were four experimentals alsoon the trial benches.
TheSuperNova series, fromSakata, is also large-flowered,
and impressed for uniformity and for habit, including thick
and fairly short stems. Stella, bredby Ebbing Lohaus,
is smaller-flowered andwith smaller, darker leaves. Like
Showstopper, it is also an expanding series, with four
newcomers on show. I particularly liked theRed. And
therewas also a new red for Benary’sPiano series, which
is suitable for colour sales in autumn aswell as spring.
Other series includedCrescendo, fromBenary, and the
newPerola fromSchoneveldBreeding.
Fromother breeders, and not in theBallColegrave trial,
there are further contributions to thepolyanthus scene. In
Syngenta’s newStieletto series there are seven colours.
Recommended floweringperiod is January andFebruary.
And fromValeRoyal Horticultural there isSunnysideUp!
This is a small-flowered, dark-leaved variety producing
heads ofmany bicoloured flowers, whitewith a large
yellow centre. It is hardy, and suits 1.0litrepots.
