Week 17 and 18 update

At the end of week 17 the first of the lily variety trials was boxed up.  We have generously been provided with a number of new varieties to trial from three Dutch supplier ie Onings, VWS and Nord Lommerse and hope that other suppliers will participate in our later trials.

We have also incorporated a small growing media trial with some being grown in “green waste” or a mixture of green waste and peat  as well as a control of pure peat of course.  Half of the trial have been housed immediately in our single span Spanish tunnel with the other half being cold stored before being housed in a few weeks time. Many thanks to Phil Collison for the use of his cold store for this trial.

We hope to hold a lily event in a few weeks time to give growers the opportunity to view the trials and focus on the R & D needs of the UK lily industry.

In week 18 we have planted up the ADAS stocks herbicide trial using Figaro as an example of the  more recent breeding line (which tend to be shallow rooted) and Fedora deep rose to be representative of the older more vigorous varieties.  ADAS will be applying the chemicals later this week.

The Solomio and Breanthus are growing away well but there are certainly varietal differences showing up with some of the unpinched breanthus already developing a premature flower