A Full Line-up of Super Cyclamen

Ken Harr

It’s a fact. Cyclamen plants in full bloom not only command attention with retail buyers, but with flower and plant-buying consumers around the globe. When surveyed, group after group of plant buyers will overwhelmingly and enthusiastically say “YES” when given the choice to purchase cyclamen plants with their bright and radiant blooms. 

Sakata Seed America is proud to offer a complete line of innovative cyclamen series, including Micro, Verano, Mini Winter, Picasso, Allure, Rembrandt, XL and Mammoth, bred by the leading cyclamen experts at Schoneveld Breeding. From mini to jumbo, we can deliver quality you can depend on.

•     Uniformity
•     Central blooming
•     Thick flower stems that hold flowers up proudly
•     An abundant number of buds and blooms
•     A rounded plant habit
•     Long shelf life

When growers and landscapers need something with class, style and a bit more panache, these cyclamen beauties will certainly produce that standout crop for the best and most discerning customers. Hotels, malls, casinos, golf courses … all of these venues and more will benefit from their excellent flower power and longevity.

Focus on growing and producing quality foliage and blooms
Many times growers will focus on producing a crop as fast as possible in an effort to maximize space and reduce costs per square foot. Growing and finishing quality cyclamen is no different in that regard. Schoneveld Cyclamen are bred to produce more leaves per plant and for every leaf, a flower is produced. So the more leaves, the more flowers there will be at finishing. The growing protocols for producing a quality crop of cyclamen can be summarized in three points:

• Fertilizer rates
• Moisture management
• Disease control

Fertilizer rates
When devising a fertilizer regime, it’s necessary to know and understand how well the plants can develop a good, vigorous root system. Therefore, in order to get the plants off to a good start—whether it’s in the plug stage or after transplanting—it’s necessary to feed the plants with a calcium nitrate-based fertilizer in order to achieve a soil EC level of 1.0 to 1.5. Balanced 15-3-30, 15-3-16 or 17-5-17 fertilizers are some very good formulations to consider when deciding which fertilizer blend to utilize, ensuring there’s adequate magnesium and a good minors package added in.

Once the roots are established and out to the sides and bottom of the containers, the EC levels can be lowered to 0.75 to 1.25 to maintain good, toned growth. Over-fertilization will result in plants larger than desired. 

Moisture management
Irrigating cyclamen to the proper levels is essential to keep the plants growing and provide adequate nutrient uptake. Because Schoneveld Cyclamen have great root systems, the plants are able to readily draw up available water. However, over-saturated media can invite root rot diseases, as well as suffocate the root system. Therefore, it’s advisable to maintain a moisture level 3 (medium) as close as possible at all times. Plants can be allowed to dry down to a level 2 to maintain growth control, but the plants shouldn’t flag or wilt, resulting in plant growth that may be inhibited. Remember, it’s all about more leaf production.

Disease control
Because cyclamen naturally have a dense canopy of foliage as they approach finishing, the air movement through the crop can be inhibited. Preventative fungicide applications should be applied to prevent Botrytis, and other foliage and stem diseases. Additionally, Fusarium can be a problem, especially in plants that are watered overhead and are exposed to splashing between plants and rows. If at all possible, it’s highly advised to place cyclamen crops on drip-tubes, capillary mats or ebb and flow benches or floors. This will greatly alleviate the incidence of diseases spreading throughout the crops. 

Sakata is known globally as a world-class breeder of innovative bedding plant genetics. Teaming up with Schoneveld Breeding, the world’s leader in cyclamen breeding, was a natural fit that will benefit all of our mutual customers and consumers in the United States and Canada. The cyclamen standouts provide more leaves, more flowers and more color! GT

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Ken Harr is Product Technical Manager for Sakata Seed America. He can be reached at (408) 763-1319 or kharr@sakata.com.