July 2015 Culture, Grower News, Variety Info

Crop Culture Report: Bidens Beedance Series By Delilah Onofrey

Beedance bidens drew a swarm of attention during the 2015 California Spring Trials, where visitors saw them in whimsical retail displays, mass plantings and combination baskets. And the plants live up to their name! Bees were dancing all over the plants in Ventura.

‘Beedance Red Stripe’ features bright yellow blooms with a red stripe on each petal.

Although Beedance is seed sterile, it is not pollen sterile and truly does attract bees. Painted Red, especially, has a soft honey fragrance. The series is debuting in North America with two varieties:

‘Beedance Painted Red’ – Painted Red won the Innovation Award at the IPM Essen show in Germany for best new bedding and balcony plant. Temperature influences the coloring. In warmer conditions, blooms have yellow centers and red-orange tips. In cooler weather, blooms are more solid red-orange.

‘Beedance Red Stripe’ – Bright yellow blooms feature unique red stripes on each petal. Stripes are more visible in cooler temperatures. In warmer weather, flowers are more yellow. Red Stripe is slightly more compact than Painted Red and one week earlier to bloom.

The two Beedance varieties differ from Suntory’s Marietta bidens, which is ultra compact and creates a tight mound. Beedance flowers dance above the foliage and are more suited to intermingling with other varieties in combinations.

Beedance varieties create a delightful presentation in containers and play well with others.

Benefits

In addition to the striking bicolor patterns, Beedance offers distinct advantages that make these varieties superior to other novelty bidens on the market:

• Dense branching and short internodes – create a manageable growth habit and high flower count. One cutting will fill out a pot nicely, reducing the number of inputs and production time.

• Early flowering – plants were selected to flower under short days.

• Continuous flowering – plants are sterile and do not set seed, so Beedance blooms from early spring through fall, until temperatures fall below 32° F. Burr-like seeds are a common problem in bidens.

• Plays well with others – Beedance bidens offer controlled growth that is harmonious to plant in combinations with other popular vegetative annuals.

Production Tips

Beedance bidens are easy to grow. The breeders from Suntory offer the following tips for success:

• Crop time – Five to seven weeks for a 4-inch pot, one liner, one to two pinches. Seven to 10 weeks for a 6-inch pot, two liners, one to two pinches.

• Growing temperatures – 55-76° F

• Light – Plants are daylength neutral. No supplemental lighting is needed. Beedance will flower under 11-hour days compared to 12 hours or more for other bidens.

• Plant growth regulators (PGR) – Spray 3,000- to 4,000-ppm B-Nine. Bonzi is not recommended. PGR effect varies by variety. Spray, do not drench. Plants will stop growing with a PGR drench. Best to use PGR early in production, because sometimes plants will produce fewer leaves in the center later.

For more information about Beedance bidens, visit www.suntorycollection.com.

Buzzworthy Combos!

Suntory Flowers will be offering two new combo kits as unrooted cuttings featuring ‘Beedance Painted Red’ during the 2015/16 season:

Bee Fabulous – Bidens ‘Beedance Painted Red’, petunia ‘Surfinia Deep Red’ and lobelia ‘Suntory Lobelia Trailing White’

Bee-utiful! – Bidens ‘Beedance Painted Red’, verbena ‘Temari Trailing Blue’ and lobelia ‘Suntory Lobelia Trailing White’

Cuttings will be available through FlorExpo and Dümmen Orange (Oro Farms).