2005 Primero Dark 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
11/29
This Primero Dark Red crop followed the trend of an unusual height control year. Early growth was not as aggressive as we expected. In the middle of the crop it looked like it would finish short, so we applied Fascination, which worked a little too well. We then applied a late Bonzi drench to prevent the crop from being too stretched at finish. The plants ended up looking good, but this may not be a good example of a typical growth pattern for this new variety.
11/22
This crop was not slowing down as of the end of last week, so we drenched it then with Bonzi at 1 ppm. Pollen is showing on most plants now and the crop should be in good shape next week.
11/15
This crop added almost 2 inches of growth this week in response to the Fascination spray. The Fascination caused the expanding bracts to be pointed up, but these should gradually lay down as the crop finishes. The light green small bracts are a characteristic of the variety and is not from the Fascination. We will look at this crop at the end of the week to make sure it is not continuing at 2 inches per week.
11/08
We expected this crop to grow more with the higher temperatures last week. While in general crops are shorter this year, the slow growth of Primero is still a surprise. This crop looks like it will finish more than an inch short and probably later than expected. We are spraying with Fascination at 3 ppm this week and hope to get an additional inch of growth over the next couple of weeks.
11/01
This Primero crop really slowed down with the cooler temperatures this week. We will have to wait and see what it does now, but it should go back to faster elongation with the warmer temperatures predicted for the coming week.
10/25
The Primero are starting to put on more growth now and the plants are filling out. We anticipate doing a late drench in 2 to 3 weeks.
10/18
As expected, the elongation rate for this crop increased this past week. We will just have to wait and see what it does over the next 2-3 weeks.
10/11
While this crop is a little short at present, it is starting to grow and should be fine.
10/04
The spray applied last week worked to reduce elongation and we will just have to see how the crop performs now. It certainly is not as vigorous as we expected.
9/27
We have limited experience with this new variety, but feel that it is fairly vigorous. It has started slow but elongated more this past week. We made a spray of B-Nine/Cycocel at 1,500/1,250 ppm (medium rate) and will see how it responds.
9/20
We were expecting a little stronger early growth from this crop. We will continuing watching it and will not apply a PGR until growth becomes excessive.
9/13
We are not applying a PGR this week, but it is a close decision. The laterals look like they are starting to take off, so we will see were the crop is next week.
9/06
Primero Dark Red is a very new variety that has the potential to be a nice variety for upscale markets, especially in warm climates. It is vigorous, so we will need to be careful that it does not get too tall. However the relatively late planting date for a 16-18" plant should help.
