E6-Grower & Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 8, 2003
A Dream Of S
Horticulturalist Releases Sunflower Trial Results
DAVE LEFEVER
Lancaster Farming Staff
UNIVERSITY PARK
(Centre Co.) Sunflowers
continue to be a big favorite at
farm markets throughout the
region.
“People go bonkers over
them,” said Steve Bogash,
Penn State horticultural agent
from Franklin County. “Their
popularity doesn’t seem to be
waning.”
According to Bogash, grow
ers and marketers can benefit
by cultivating varieties that
are the most productive, best
suited to growing in the re
gion, and well-liked by cus
tomers.-
BogatstrHhelped coordinate
the second annual sunflower
trials iti the state last year.
The resUltS b&h' help growers
and marketers make decisions
boost their income from fresh
flower sales this summer.
“Joker,” a variety with red
disc flowers and outer petals
that range from orange-red to
yellow-red, has been the most
consistent performer over the
past several years, according
to Bogash. While Joker has
not received the highest rating
overall, marketers have found
it does well in the market
place, he said.
2002 Sunflower Evaluation
Steve Bogash
Horticulture Agent
Joshua McCulloch and
Gwen Umbreidt
Program Assistants
For the 2002 growing sea
son, growers working in coop
eration with Penn State Coop
erative Extension hosted on
farm cut flower sunflower
trials at five sites scattered
throughout Pennsylvania. In
total, 34 cultivars were pro
vided to the host farms.
For the second year of these
trials, it is very important to
note the difficult growing con
ditions during the 2002 season
as there was very little rainfall
after spring. This probably re
sulted in reduced leaf spotting
and other fungal pathogens,
but certainly limited growth
and regrowth after first har
vest on sites without irriga
tion. In spite of the difficult
growing season, a number of
cultivars stood out from the
pack. It will interesting to
rerun the trial in 2003 with
jnany of last years entries and
see how they fare under an
other seasons growing condi
tions.
Each grower was provided
with a minimum of 25 seeds
for each cultivar they were
trialing and an evaluation
notebook to keep during the
season. Cultivars were tracked
for number and length of
stems, color, and flower size.
Cooperators were asked to
score the plants using a 1-5
scale with 5 as the highest
score in the following areas:
Marketability, Vase Life,
Color, and an Overall Rating.
While every grower pro
vided evaluations based on
marketability, color and an
overall rating, vase life was
only evaluated on one site. We
did a vigorous vase life trial at
the Franklin County Horticul
ture Center which will be dis
cussed later in this report.
The “Strongly Recommend
ed” varieties below all scored
4 or higher in the overall rat
ing and the second category of
“Worth Growing” scored 3 to
3.9. Failing to make an overall
rating of at least 3 does not
mean a specific cultivar
should be discounted com
pletely. The harsh growing
season, specific needs of the
growers, and other factors
could very likely remove a cul
tivar that make be excellent
for your use.
Strongly recommended va
rieties for specialty cut flower
production:
• Brilliance (overall rating
4) Medium yellow with a dark
brown disk. A classic sunflow
er, but some growers found
the heads too large. Pollen
free.
• Double Solar (overall rat
ing 4) Golden yellow with no
visible disk. Very late to
bloom with stunning single
flowers. Not your classic sun
flower. Pollen-free.
• Full Sun (overall rating
4.75) Gold petals with a yel
low brown disk. Classic single
stem sunflower similar to Sun
bright. Pollen-free.
Opening Date March 20, 2003
Starting 9:00 A.M.
Open every Tues. & Thurs.
More days added as needed
2003 Nursery license required to sell plants
Weaverland Auction
1030 Long Lane Road • New Holland, PA 17557
Your business
is greatly
appreciated.
Thank You!
ummertime
• Goldburst (overall rating
4) Full double sunflower a
little smaller than Double
Solar with gold petals that
fade to slightly green on the
disk.
• Joker (overall rating
3.50) Red disc flowers with
outer petals that range from
orange-red to yellow-red.
Highly variable in color range.
While Joker’s overall score is
lower than others in this cat
egory, many growers find this
cultivar very marketable. Pol
len-free.
• Moonbright (overall rat
ing 5) Tall single stem cut
flower with yellow petals and
a brown disc. Flower size 5-8
inches, some sites commented
that the flowers are a little too
large for florist trade. Pollen
free.
• Sunbeam (overall rating
4) Golden yellow with a green
/ gold center. Mostly pollen
free.
• Sunbright (overall rating
5) Golden yellow with a
brown disc. Growers report
that this flower is what florists
want and should be the mea
suring stick for other single
sunflowers. Pollen free.
• Sunbright Supreme
(overall rating 4) Gold with a
brown disk. Blooms a little
earlier than Sunbright. Some
pollen.
Worth growing, but falling
slightly short of the strongly
Weaverland
Auction
Produce - Flowers
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and shipped:
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recommended list:
• Dorado Select (overall
rating 3.75) Golden petals
with a dark face. Good long
stems and pollen free.
• Starburst Lemon Aura
(overall rating 3) Growers
liked the color and had good
acceptance among florists.
They noted that this one had
some problems, but due to
marketability, they would try
it again. Pollen-free.
• Terra Cotta (overall rat
ing 3) Unique orangish-brown
color with some specialty mar
ket potential. Pollen-free.
Varieties that rated highly
in 2001 but failed to make the
grade in 2002 include Golden
Glory, Goldrush, Holiday,
Munchkin, New Cut Gallar
dia, Soraya, Summertime,
Sunsplash, and Ikarus. These
may be worth consideration as
our cooperators varied quite a
lot in the amount of irrigation
water they had available this
year and their individual mar
keting niches.
Vase Life Trials
A complete vase life trial
was run at the Franklin Coun
ty Horticulture Center. All
flowers were placed directly
into water as harvested. Once
in our processing area, stems
were stripped, then dipped
into a mild soap solution, then
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'KV