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Poinsettias: Addressing Industry Needs and Trends
Chris Catanzaro
Institute of
Agricultural and Environmental Research
Seminar Series
Tennessee State University, Nashville, TN
March 21, 2007
Poinsettia is the
top-selling potted plant in the US. In fact, more poinsettias are sold
in six weeks than all other potted floral crops combined during the
year. Because new cultivars are continually being developed, the
objectives of this project are: to evaluate a wide range of established
and experimental cultivars; to evaluate consumer preferences and
industry production trends; to report plant performance and consumer
preferences data to industry; to work with a diverse array of
stakeholders. The Mid-American Poinsettia Trials, a collaborative effort
between Tennessee State University (TSU), Kansas State University (KSU)
and the University of Illinois, have been conducted over the past four
years to achieve the aforementioned goals. In fall 2006 a total of 65
cultivars from five distributors were evaluated. Growth data collected
included plant height and width, inflorescence diameter, floral
development stage, number of primary inflorescences, and number of
mutations. Consumer preference data was collected at a one-day open
house at the TSU main campus farm, at which 208 useable surveys were
collected. Respondents were asked to provide the price they would be
willing to pay for four different colored cultivars from Dummen USA,
each in 4-, 6.5- and 8-inch containers. They were also asked to provide
willing-to-pay prices and Likert scale scores for 10 red cultivars and
10 novelty types, as well as demographic and purchasing habit
information.
With regard to
plant performance, ‘Festival Rose’ and ‘Nutcracker White’ were the
widest plants and had the highest inflorescence numbers, while 10306
Pre-Intro RF242 and 10380 RF 0171 (Dummen accessions) and ‘Freedom Red’
had the widest inflorescences. With regard to consumer preferences among
four colors of Dummen cultivars, respondents would be willing to most
($10.34) for ‘Premium Red’ in the 8-inch pot and least ($2.99) for
‘Premium Lipstick Pink’ in the 4-inch pot. The cultivars ‘Cortez
Electric Fire’, ‘Metro Red’, ‘Prestige Red’ and ‘Red Dragon’ scored
highly among the reds, while ‘Enduring Pink’, ‘Mars Pink’, ‘Sonora White
Glitter’, and ‘Winter Rose Early Red’ scored highly among the novelty
forms. An online survey conducted in cooperation with KSU and the trade
magazines Florists’ Review and Super Floral Retailing was
completed in early 2006 by poinsettia buyers for retail markets across
North America. When results from this survey were compared with those
from the 2005 consumer preference surveys at TSU and KSU, results
suggest that buyers for retail markets are supplying an appropriate mix
of colors and novelty types to meet consumer demand. From an outreach
perspective, open houses associated with poinsettia cultivar trials
provide broad program exposure to a diverse range of stakeholders. For
more information on the Mid-American Poinsettia Trials, visit
http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/poinsettias/
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