Poinsettia Trials

Breeder:

Dummen Orange Ecke

Summary:

These are three news cultivars in the Luv U Pink group, which creates a new product in the traditional poinsettia market. Luv U Hot Pink has a deeper pink color and a pronounced whitish bract margin. Luv U Pink Splash has a similar color as Luv U Pink, but has light colored streaks through the bracts. Luv U Soft Pink has deeper pink veins against a much lighter background color that is almost white and young bracts are a darker salmon pink. The growth habit and plant appearance of Luv U Hot Pink and Luv U Soft Pink are very similar to Luv U Pink. However, Luv U Pink Splash is less vigorous than the other three (do not let that fool you – it still needs PGRs to control size.) Compared to poinsettias, the Luv U Pink cultivars have smaller leaves and smaller but many more bracts. The cyathia abort early, but that does not affect consumer demand as the plants continue producing bracts. Plants are generally well colored enough to be marketable early to mid-season. These cultivars often split and are not recommended for non-pinched use. If cuttings are splitting early before the pinch, pinch below the split. The plants are vigorous and need more PGR for size control, especially in warm climates, compared to most poinsettia cultivars. Plants are very strong and upright, but shoot elongation is variable producing a non-uniform plant canopy. These cultivars can be used as pinched plants in all of the common sizes from 4 to 10 inches with proper growth regulator use.