Pot mums get a longer shelf life

摘要

Cleangro's two in-house breeders, Ruth Redman and Keith Lintott, share a common cause in extending the shelf-life of chrysanthemums (pot and spray respectively). According to Redman Jester Time is a good example. The white/pink bicolour comes with a28-day shelf-life guarantee and in trials has pushed that even longer. Another of Ruth Redman's introductions - Saffron Time, a yellow anemone type with multi-layered florets - is pushing a shelf-life of up to 35 days. Not all the breeding work at Cleangro is going into new lines. Improving existing varieties can be just as profitable. A case in point is Swing Time, which remains the best-selling pot 'mum on Cleangro's books. Swing Time Improved has been bred for its deeper flower colour, a characteristic that was easy to see in the trial beds at the company's open day last, month. The dark orange sport, was distinctly 'richer' on the eye when set out against the 'parent' line. In addition, says Ruth Redman, the colour is 'fade free'. A similar job has been done on the spoon variety Grace Time with Grace Time Dark presenting an altogether deeper pink bloom. Glacier Time is a new, fast response 'pure' white single. Keith Lintott too has been at work on white decoratives in Cleangro's spray chrysanth department. This stunning variety with very large blooms is called Calabria Major. Breeding shelf-life extension into cut flowers requires attention to the foliage as well as the flowers, he says. Calabria Major is said to give a guaranteed 21 days.