2001 OSU/OFA POINSETTIA TRIAL RESULTS -- Part II by By Stephen Carver (OFA), Claudio Pasian (OSU), Monica Kmetz-Gonzalez (OSU), and Tim Rhodus (OSU) In this issue we present the results of the evaluations done by growers (Table 1) . These trials were held December 6 at Bostdorff Greenhouse Acres in Bowling Green and Lakewood Greenhouse in Toledo; December 7 at Barco and Sons Inc. in Medina; December 10 at Dill's Greenhouse in Columbus; and December 11 at Diefenbacher's Greenhouse in Cincinnati. This is a change from previous years, when the grower trials were typically held during the week and a half prior to Thanksgiving. This move was necessitated by the fact that later varieties were not yet showing full color, which introduced a bias into the evaluations. More than 120 growers, sales reps, and others turned out for the five evaluations. This report will focus only on the 89 growers who participated. The setup was similar to that described already for the consumer evaluation in Part 1, except that only one plant of each cultivar was presented for evaluation. They were numbered and placed on a bench in random order with enough space given to each plant that they could be considered individually. As in the consumer evaluation, we asked growers to rate the individual cultivars on overall appeal on a 5-point scale with "5" being the top score. We also asked growers to tell us which cultivars (if any, up to 3 cultivars) they would try in their greenhouses next year because of this year's trial. The results of the grower trial are presented in Table 1. Because growing conditions differed to some degree among the five facilities, summary grower response data is presented for each location. While in general, there was relative agreement in cultivar ratings among the trial locations, there were a number of exceptions. For example, ‘Coco Pink' rated well (3.7 to 4.4) everywhere except at Diefenbacher's in Cincinnati where it only rated a 2.4. An overall grower rating average was also calculated and used to sort the cultivars. A comparison between the overall averages for growers and the averages of consumers presented in the February issue suggests that growers evaluated cultivars a little more critically than consumers. While 70 % of the top 10 picks among consumers (Table 1, January issue) were reds, only 40 percent of the growers' top 10 selections were red. ‘Freedom Red', ‘Christmas Dream', ‘Orion Red', and ‘Prestige Red' were the four reds among the top grower ratings. ‘Cortez Burgundy', ‘Sonora White Glitter', ‘Monet Twilight', ‘DaVinci', ‘Nutcracker Salmon', and ‘Nutcracker Pink' were non-reds/novelties among the top grower ratings. ‘Cortez Burgundy', ‘Sonora White Glitter', and ‘DaVinci' were also among the top consumer selections. Growers said that ‘Cortez Burgundy' (48), ‘Sonora White Glitter'(29), ‘Christmas Dream' (15), ‘Strawberries & Cream' (8), ‘Prestige Red' (8), ‘Nutcracker Salmon' (8), ‘DaVinci' (7), and ‘Nutcracker Pink'(7) were the cultivars that they were most interested in trialing next year. Most of these cultivars are very new, and this trial was the first (or among the first) exposure(s) that many of the growers had to them. ‘Strawberries & Cream' is an interesting inclusion to this list, because its overall rating was generally low. Despite that, some growers appear to perceive its consumer appeal. Growers in this evaluation expressed interest in a number of highly rated cultivars in which consumers (see January issue) also expressed interest. To get a better measure of how well growers are planning to address consumer cultivar priorities, we might add a question to next year's grower evaluation: indicate which cultivars they will grow for 2003. Acknowledgments: In addition to the breeders/suppliers, we would like to thank Terry Diefenbacher, Walter Krueger, Jane Ellsworth, Jerry Dill, and Richard Bostdorff for the time and resources shared with us in producing the poinsettias. We thank Audrey Bates and David Snodgrass at The Ohio State University who made crucial contributions in data collection and care of the plants at the University. Thank you also to Mike McCabe of McCabe's Greenhouse & Floral and the OFA Grower Extension Committee for their involvement in conceiving, organizing, and sponsoring the trial.