2004 Mars Red
Growth Regulators Applied / Height graph
Graph shows projected plant heights during production of the crop. Dots are plotted actual height each week. Arrows indicate when PGRs are applied with details in the weekly notes. We use the “late” graphical tracking curve and heights are from bench to height of growing tip. Heights are plotted from date of pinching to projected date of finish.
Notes
11/23
The Mars crop is finishing in good shape and is very uniform. Notice the generally smaller bracts on Mars compared to varieties like Orion and Freedom. These plants will look very nice in 5-7 days with further bract expansion. The delayed effect of the late drench can be seen in the greatly reduced elongation this past week.
11/16
This Mars crop is about 7-10 days from finish. This amount of growth since last week's drench was unexpected. Now, we anticipate it will put on an additional 1 inch or so of growth.
11/09
In response to the warmer temperatures, this crop's growth rate increased and it is almost at 14 inches now. We applied a 1-ppm Bonzi drench today and expect the crop to finish at about 15 inches.
11/02
The Mars crop looks good at this stage. They should continue growing for at least 2 more weeks and will likely be at about 14 inches or a little more in 2 weeks.
10/26
This crop slowed down more than expected this week, but the plants look like they will continue growing. We will see where they are next week.
10/19
Last week's light Cycocel spray did what we wanted and hopefully we will not need to drench until Nov. 9. About 25% of the crop is showing first color, which puts the crop on tract to finish by Nov. 23.
10/12
Even though the height of this crop is below the projected curve, the elongation rate is too fast. So, we are spraying them with Cycocel at 1,250 ppm. With the cooler temperatures, we hope this light PGR spray will slow growth to about 1.5 inches for next week.
10/05
This Mars crop is shorter than we expected at this time. The plants look like they are starting to elongate faster and we will watch how fast they are growing in 1-2 weeks.
9/28
Last week's spray had more effect on Mars than we expected and a spray this week is not needed.
9/21
The Mars growth looks just like the Freedom curve this week. However, due to Mars being a stronger grower, we sprayed it with the standard B-Nine/Cycocel rate (1,500 ppm/1,250 ppm).
9/14
We could make a low rate spray this week, but will wait until next week.
9/07
Mars is a newer variety that is very uniform. It was included in the '03 height control examples and we found it to be a little vigorous. However, it should not be too difficult now that we know how to handle it. Late in the crop this year, we will keep elongation slower to produce a nicer looking plant.
