Experience the Suntory Difference! ✓ Vigorous trailing habit ✓ Blooms all around the plant ✓ Fully winter hardy
Helpful Hints from John Barone Barone Gardens Cicero, New York
The Violina violas are an ideal item to push as first color in the spring, because they can take cold temperatures. But unlike the more typical seed violas, they can take heat and sun. Up North, we can keep them out all summer. In the greenhouse, we start them warm, keep them dry and use a preventative fungicide drench. The Clark Family Foundation, which funds the beautification surrounding the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., used the Violina violas to create large, stunning early hang- ing baskets, pictured to the left. They still had them out in late June and they looked perfect. Crop Timing • 4-inch pots – seven to eight weeks with one liner • 10-inch baskets – 14-16 weeks with three liners Pests & Diseases Monitor for aphids, fungus gnats, shore flies, thrips, whiteflies, mites, leaf miners, snails and slugs. A broad- spectrum fungicide drench is recom- mended to prevent Botrytis, Thielavi- opsis and Pythium.
Plant Growth Regulators Plants are responsive to daminozide, paclobutrazol and uniconazole. Try a combination of chlormequat (Cycocel) and daminozide (B-Nine) as a drench that’s 2,000 ppm B-Nine and 1,000- 1,500 Cycocel. All of these regulators will keep the crop from stretching, which happens easily in high tempera- tures. Violina is very vigorous. The use of zero or negative DIF (difference be- tween day and night temperatures) has proven to be a successful strategy, too.
49
www.suntorycollection.com
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker