Project title: The National Cut-flower Trials Centre Programme for 2013 - 2017 Project number: PO/BOF 002a Project leader: Lyndon Mason (Director, The Cut Flower Centre Ltd) Report: Fourth Annual Report (2016) Previous report: First Annual Report (2013) Second Annual Report (2014) Third Annual Report (2015) Key staff: Lyndon Mason (Director, The Cut Flower Centre Ltd) David Robinson (Director, R Robinson & Son Ltd) Location of project: R Robinson & Son Ltd Rookery Farm Joys Bank Holbeach St John, Holbeach, Spalding Lincolnshire PE12 8SG Industry Representative: Mark Eves PS & JE Ward Ltd Belmount Nursery Roman Bank Terrington St Clement, Kings Lynn Norfolk PE34 4HN Date project commenced: 01 January 2013 Date project completed 31 December 2017 (or expected completion date): AHDB, operating through its Horticulture division seeks to ensure that the information contained within this document is accurate at the time of printing. No warranty is given in respect thereof and, to the maximum extent permitted by law the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board accepts no liability for loss, damage or injury howsoever caused (including that caused by negligence) or suffered directly or indirectly in relation to information and opinions contained in or omitted from this document. Copyright, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2017. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including by photocopy or storage in any medium by electronic means) or any copy or adaptation stored, published or distributed (by physical, electronic or other means) without the prior permission in writing of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, other than by reproduction in an unmodified form for the sole purpose of use as an information resource when Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board Horticulture is clearly acknowledged as the source, or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. AHDB (logo) is a registered trademark of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. AHDB Horticulture is a registered trademark of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, for use by its horticulture division. All other trademarks, logos and brand names contained in this publication are the trademarks of their respective holders. No rights are granted without the prior written permission of the relevant owners. The results and conclusions in this report are based on investigations conducted over a one- year period. The conditions under which the experiments were carried out and the results have been reported in detail and with accuracy. However, because of the biological nature of the work it must be borne in mind that different circumstances and conditions could produce different results. Therefore, care must be taken with interpretation of the results, especially if they are used as the basis for commercial product recommendations. Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2017. All rights reserved ii AUTHENTICATION We declare that this work was done under our supervision according to the procedures described herein and that the report represents a true and accurate record of the results obtained. [Name] [Position] [Organisation] Signature ............................................................ Date ............................................ [Name] [Position] [Organisation] Signature ............................................................ Date ............................................ Report authorised by: [Name] [Position] [Organisation] Signature ............................................................ Date ............................................ [Name] [Position] [Organisation] Signature ............................................................ Date ............................................ Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board 2017. All rights reserved iii CONTENTS Grower Summary ................................................................................................................ 1 Headline ............................................................................................................................ 1 Background ...................................................................................................................... 1 Summary of the project and main conclusions ............................................................. 2 Crop information .......................................................................................................... 2 Crop improvement ........................................................................................................ 2 Alstroemeria – garden cultivars (Alstromeria cultivars) ................................................ 2 Brassica, ornamental (Brassica oleracea cultivars) ..................................................... 4 China aster (Callistephus chinensis cultivars) .............................................................. 4 Column stocks (Matthiola incana cultivars) .................................................................. 5 Lily (Lilium cultivars) .................................................................................................... 6 General topic: herbicide trials ...................................................................................... 8 Crop introduction (1) crops first trialled in 2016 ...................................................... 10 Cleome (Cleome hassleriana and cultivars) .............................................................. 10 Craspedia (Craspedia globosa and cultivars) ............................................................ 11 Eremurus (Eremurus stenophyllus and other species and cultivars) .......................... 11 Gomphrena (Gomphrena globosa and G. haageana cultivars) .................................. 11 Grasses, ornamental ................................................................................................. 12 Scabious (Scabiosa caucasica and S. atropurpurea cultivars) ................................... 13 Solanum, ornamental (Solanum aethiopicum cultivars) ............................................. 14 Crop introduction (2) crops with trials on-going ...................................................... 14 Basil (Ocimum basilicum) .......................................................................................... 14 Caryopteris (blue spirea) (Caryopteris clandonensis cultivars) .................................. 15 Delphinium (Delphinium elatum cultivars) .................................................................. 15 Fillers, seed-raised .................................................................................................... 15 Gypsophila (Gypsophila paniculata cultivars) ............................................................ 16 Solidago (Solidago media cultivars) ........................................................................... 16 Trachelium (Trachelium caeruleum) .......................................................................... 17 Veronica (Veronica longifolia cultivars) ...................................................................... 18 Zinnia (Zinnia elegans cultivars) ................................................................................ 18 Financial benefits .......................................................................................................... 19 Action points .................................................................................................................. 21 Science Section ................................................................................................................ 22 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 22 Crop information ............................................................................................................ 23 Materials and methods .................................................................................................. 23 Results............................................................................................................................ 28 Crop improvement ...................................................................................................... 28 Alstroemeria – garden cultivars (Alstroemeria cultivars) ............................................ 29 Brassica, ornamental (Brassica oleracea cultivars) ................................................... 35 China aster (Callistephus chinensis cultivars) ............................................................ 44 Column stocks (Matthiola incana cultivars) ................................................................ 48 Lily (Lilium cultivars) .................................................................................................. 52 General topic: herbicide trials .................................................................................... 56 Crop introduction (1) crops first trialled in 2016 ...................................................... 69 Cleome (Cleome hassleriana and cultivars) .............................................................. 69 Craspedia (Craspedia globosa and cultivars) ............................................................ 71 Eremurus (Eremurus stenophyllus and other species and cultivars) .......................... 74 Gomphrena (Gomphrena globosa and G. haageana cultivars) .................................