Technical Guide for More Than 175 Years Benary Has Been Creating Outstanding Ornamentals
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Technical Guide For more than 175 years Benary has been creating outstanding ornamentals. Our breeding activities We love what have developed some of the leading we do– with all annuals, perennials and potted of our heart! ornamental plants. Benary has three breeding facilities: North America, the Netherlands, and Germany. This brings us closer to you and your markets. Our main focus is on developing and selling ornamental varieties for the professional bedding plant market– bringing beauty to the world. Known worldwide as a leader in Begonias, Our breeding team strives to continuously Benary’s fine assortment includes some develop excellent new varieties in of the industry’s most sought after professional seed quality. varieties in Pansies, Pentas, Petunias, Marigolds, Impatiens and Rudbeckia, Thank you for working with us! just to name a few. Our professional quality products are offered to growers through our wide network of distributors and brokers around the world. Our long history as an independent family-owned business has allowed us to live our passion for breeding and to stay inspired by the beauty of our industry. 4 Table of Contents Products Moisture Codes, Seed Technology 4 Begonia boliviensis F1 Sun Cities Collection 6 Begonia semperflorens 1F Cocktail™, Super Olympia™ 9 Begonia semperflorens 1F Sprint Plus, Nightlife 11 ® Begonia tuberhybrida F1 Nonstop Joy 14 ® Begonia tuberhybrida F1 Nonstop™, Nonstop™ Mocca, New Star, Illumination 17 ® Begonia x benariensis F1 BIG 22 ® Begonia x benariensis F1 Whopper 25 TM Begonia x hybrida F1 Funky 27 Celosia plumosa Fresh Look, Glorious, New Look™, Smart Look, Fashion Look 30 Gazania rigens ZanyTM 32 Helianthus annuus F1 Bert, Pacino™ 34 Impatiens walleriana F1 Lollipop 36 Pentas lanceolata Graffiti® 20/20, Graffiti® OG, Kaleidoscope, New Look™, Northern Lights 39 ® Petunia x hybrida trailing F1 SUCCESS! 41 Petunia x hybrida grandiflora SUCCESS!® 360° / HD 44 Portulaca grandiflora 1F Stopwatch, Sundial 47 Ptilotus exaltatus Joey® 49 Rudbeckia hirta Denver Daisy, Prairie Sun 51 Tagetes patula Super Hero™ 54 Calocephalus brownii Bed Head® 57 ® ® Pansy (Viola wittrockiana) F1 Cats™, Inspire DeluXXe , Inspire Plus 59 Primula elatior F1 Crescendo™, Piano 62 ® Viola cornuta F1 Admire 64 Campanula carpatica F1 Pearl 67 Eucalyptus gunnii (divaricata) Silverdrop, Baby Blue 70 Lewisia cotyledon Elise, Special Mix 72 TM Platycodon grandiflorus 1F Pop Star 74 Moisture Codes and their meanings Saturated (5) Water is easily observed when finger is pressed on cell. Water moves freely from the top of the plug to the bottom. Wet (4) Media looks black and is not glistening. The media feels wet to the touch but there is very little water movement. Moist (3) Water is not easily visible. When finger is pressed on the cell there is very little movement from top to bottom. Medium (2) Media is not black, but now looks medium brown. There is no water movement when pressed with finger. Dry (1) Media has changed color to a very light brown and is dry to the touch. Seed Technology Seed forms Coating Some plant species produce seed that has a very flat or irregular shape and, as a result, is complicated to single-sow. Coating the seed to give it a rounder shape and smoother surface can help to solve the problem. Thicker coatings tend to be used to improve sowability. This type of coating is also called encrustation. Thinner coatings are used to make seed placement easier to identify during the sowing process, and to act as markers. www.benary.com 4 Pelleting Some crop species have extremely small seeds which cannot be single-sown. For this reason the raw seed is pelleted. The seed is coated to build a pellet that is approximately 5 to 20 times the size of the actual seed it contains. Pellets allow plug growers to easily sow and control the number of seed per cell. Multipellets Multipellets are just like standard pellets except each pellet contains several seeds. This makes producing some species such as lobelia erinus or portulaca easier by producing a bushy plant with just one pellet. ApeX Many perennials from seed such as lavandula need to overcome a natural dormancy for proper germination. Methods such as resting the seed for a specific period of time, and chemical treatments can be used to ‘break’ this dormancy and insure that the seed has the optimum germination for growers. Benary ApeX treatment increases the young plant yield up to 15-30 %. Optimal storage: Up to 6 months at 41 °F (5 °C) Priming Seed germination is initiated up to a certain stage of physiological development, then the seed is dried back and stored at low temperatures. Primed seeds germinate more quickly and more uniformly. The increased uniformity often continues well into the advanced young plant stage. This faster seedling development allows plug growers to use greenhouse space more efficiently. At the same time, faster seedling development reduces the number of losses that can occur during the critical germination period. Optimal storage: Up to 6 months at 41 °F (5 °C) www.benary.com 5 Annuals Begonia boliviensis F1 Sun Cities Collection Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, San Francisco Family, Origin: Begoniaceae, South and the temperature to 68-70 °F (20-21 °C) Central America until cotyledon expansion. On day 21 the temperature can be reduced further to 68 °F Product Use: Pots, hanging baskets, mixed (20 °C). For irrigation use warm water (above containers and landscape 64 °F / 18 °C) only. Minimum Germination Rate: 85% Moisture: Begin with a media moisture level of saturated (5) from day 1-11. A saturated Seed Form: Pelleted media and high humidity is critical to success- ful begonia germination. Beginning on day 12, alternate between moisture levels wet (4) FLOWERING and moist (3). Allow the media to approach a Flowering Type: Obligate long day plant moist (3) before re-saturating to a wet (4). On requiring a day length > 13.5 hrs. to initiate day 21 the seedlings need to begin a good flowering. A night break can also be used, wet to dry cycle to aid rooting and avoid algae lighting for 5 hrs. during the night from formation. Once germinated the seedlings are 10 pm-3 am. sensitive to watering with too much pressure and water volume. Since they have just begun Flowering Mechanism: Tuberous begonia to root into the media. It is easy to dislodge are light accumulators.Day length extension the seedlings resulting in a lower number of and supplemental lighting will hasten flowering usable plants. Use a fine nozzle or water breaker and improve plant quality. with a gentle pressure and low water volume. Humidity: Should be 95-100% until day 11; PLUG CULTURE then dehumidify and reduce to 60 %. Provide Germination: Maintain optimal conditions for proper ventilation and horizontal airflow to seedling development should begin on the improve oxygen levels in the media. day of sowing until root emerge. Expect root emergence in 7-10 days. Light: Light is necessary for germination and will be beneficial for the germination process Cover: Do not cover the seed, light is and improve quality. If utilizing a germination required for germination. chamber, providing a light source of 10-100 ft. candles (100-1,000 lx) will improve germi- Sowing method: Sow 1 pellet per plug. nation and reduce stretch. Provide long days of 14-16 hrs. to improve germination and Media: pH 5.5-5.8; EC 0.5 begonia are overall seedling quality. sensitive to high salt levels. Fertilizer: Begin fertilizing early once Temperature: Keep at 72-74 °F (22-23 °C) germination is complete, approximately day until radicle emergence. Higher temperatures, 14. Lower rates of feeding at 50 ppm 2-3 exceeding 80 °F (27 °C) will inhibit germination. times per week will help to size up the Upon root emergence, on day 10-14 reduce seedlings. Under higher light conditions use www.benary.com 6 a 17-5-17 fertilizer and under lower light a Growth Regulators: Very low rates of 14-4-14. Cycocel (chlormequat chloride) as a spray at 250 ppm (0.04%) can be used. B-Nine Plug Bulking and Flower Initiation: Maintain (daminozide) sprays at 500-750 ppm can also optimal conditions during the vegetative stage be made. Applications are usually made once from cotyledon expansion to flower initiation. established in the final container, however, This stage is when the seedling root to the if a larger plug (72 tray) is being grown they edge of the plug and reach the 4-6 true leaf may need one application of Cycocel or stage where flower initiation occurs. B-Nine before transplanting. Media: pH 5.5-5.8; EC 1.25-1.5 Fungicides: Apply preventative sprays for botrytis, pythium and rhizoctonia as needed. Light: Long days of 14-16 hrs. are required to keep plants from producing tubers and to initiate flowering. Light levels of 8-10 mols GROWING ON (25,000-30,000 lx) will improve quality and Media: Use a well-drained, growing hasten flowering. Only moderate levels of light substrate; pH 5.5-5.8; EC 1.0-1.5 are required to keep plants vegetative. A minimum of 10-15 ft. candles (550 lx) is Light: Continue with long days of 14-16 hrs. all that is required to avoid tuber formation, until the day length is > 12 hrs. or mid March. however-higher light will benefit overall quality. Provide 10-12 mols (30,000-35,000 lx) for Supplemental lighting under low light optimal quality. If plants are placed under conditions providing 350-600 ft. candles short day conditions growth will become (3,500-6,000 lx) will improve quality. Shading uneven. Day length extension is very is required when light levels reach 3,500- important to continue vegetative growth.