2009 Prestige Early 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
11/17
The forecasted moderate weather did not materialize and temperatures have continued warm with clear, sunny days. From a height standpoint this crop of Prestige Early has worked out well and was easy to control. However, the warm temperatures caused significant delay in color development. The plants are not showing pollen and need at least 4-7 more days of bract development to look good.
11/10
The weather has continued warm but forecast is for temperatures about average. This crop of Prestige Early may finish slightly tall, but we have decided not to make any additional PGR applications. The plants look good and will be salable next week. However they will look better in 10-14 days with more bract development.
11/03
This past week was again warm and the month of October was warmer than average, which has made height control difficult. Forecast is now for more normal weather. We have visible bud on all of these plants, but color development is nearly 3 weeks later than last year and a little later than ’07 which was also a warm fall. The crop will finish about a week later than scheduled. We want to insure that the crop finishes in our target range, so we are applying a late Bonzi drench at 0.5 ppm. Prestige Early is more sensitive to PGRs compared to Prestige Red and this rate should work well.
10/27
The weather forecast is for several days with night and day temperatures well above average. This potentially could cause problems with some of the varieties. Height of these Prestige Early is fine now and they may be at about 15” next week. However, the first hint of color is showing on only about 10% of the plants and they will probably not finish on schedule. We will see visible bud in 4-5 days.
10/20
The past 4 days have been cooler than average and temperatures the next week are forecast to be at or slightly above average. There are not signs of color development and it appears this crop of Prestige Early will not finish on schedule.
10/13
Our weather has continued running 5-10 degrees above normal and all of our crops are growing fast. The forecast is for cooler weather by end of the week. Given the way all of our other crops grew this past week, it was good that we did a light Bonzi drench on these Prestige Early last week. We are also seeing some heat delay in this crop. In the cool fall of ’08 we had good first color on Prestige Early by this week, while in the warm fall of ’07 color was about 2 weeks later. If it does cool off this week, hopefully the delay in the finish timing will only be a few days.
10/06
The growth of this Prestige Early crop was a little surprising. We had great weather this past week with moderate temperatures and bright sun. We are applying an early Bonzi drench at 0.1 ppm and do not expect to need any more PGR on this low vigor variety.
9/29
This crop of Prestige Early looks good and we expect them to grow within the curve for at least the next couple of weeks.
9/22
The weather has been slightly above average and is forecast to continue. The low B-Nine and Cycocel spray 2 weeks ago did what we wanted on this crop of Prestige Early. Since it is a low vigor variety, being just above the desired height curve is good at this stage. We will see how the crop progresses the next couple of weeks.
9/15
Our weather continuing to be about average and not too hot during the day. This crop looks good and the spray made last week has slowed the rate of elongation some. We will see where the plants are next week.
9/08
Our weather has been good for plant establishment and growth after pinch. Most days clouds are keeping the greenhouse from becoming too hot. These Prestige Early have really taken off and look similar to the crop we had in 2007. This week we will do a light PGR spray with a combination of B-Nine and Cycocel at 1,000 ppm each.
9/01
These plants look fine at this point.
8/25
This should be a good schedule for Prestige Early Red. On this schedule last year, which was cooler than normal, only one PGR application was needed and the crop finished a few days ahead of schedule. In ’07, which was a warm year, 4 sprays were used.
