Snapdragongs are usually produced by growers who also grow other cut flower or container crops. Most snaps are produced in greenhouses with ground beds; a few are grown in flats. No previous research had ever been conducted to compare these growing methods. The objective of the current research was to evaluate some of the most important characteristics of snapdragon flowering shoots when grown with three different methods: ground-beds, trays directly on the ground and lifted trays.

Three cvs. ('Potomac Pink', 'Winter White', and 'Potomac Light Pink') were grown in five plantings over a period of 1.5 years. For most plantings, there were no significant differences in the flowering shoot characteristics measured between plants grown in ground-beds as opposed to plants grown in trays on the ground. Plants grown in lifted trays produced flowering shoots that were of inferior quality to those grown in trays directly on the gound and ground-beds. Tray depth did not have an effect on flowering shoot quality. Results presented in this work confirm that container-grown snapdragons can have same quality characteristics as those that are ground-bed-grown.