MED: Utah Stress Test
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: MED: Utah Stress Test
- From: "* a* C* W* <c*@cache.net>
- Date: Sun, 25 May 1997 19:24:45 -0600 (MDT)
Hi Everyone!
Mark Cook has turned adversity to advantage by offering us the results
of the "Kentucky Freeze Test" by reporting on cultivars that performed
normally for him in spite of repeated frosts that struck his garden this
spring. In the same spirit I am presenting the results of the Utah Stress
Test (hopefully NOT to become an annual event).
The stress factors involved include an unusually mild winter with repeated
partial thaws (atypical here), cold weather all through April (with hard
frosts on the 11th, 12th, & 13th), changing abruptly to abnormally hot and
dry weather the first half of May.
The effects include abortive, stunted and/or distorted stalks, abnormal
blossoms with extra and/or missing parts, and abnormal texture in the
blossoms (creping or puckering). A cultivar is judged to have passed the
test if it exhibited none of these abnormalities. The severity of the test
may be gauged by comparing the number of cultivars evaluated with the
number that passed the test.
Here are the award winners (each one to be presented with a T-shirt
emblazoned "STRESSBUSTER"):
MDB (5 cultivars)
ALPINE LAKE
SDB (18 cultivars)
RAIN DANCE, SKY AND SNOW
IB (40 cultivars)
CEE JAY, HELLCAT, MAUI MOONLIGHT, NEW KID, RASPBERRY BLUSH
MTB (10 cultivars)
AACHEN ELF, JOSEPH'S COAT, PUPPY LOVE, ROSEMARY'S DREAM, TAMMIE'S TUTU
BB (4 cultivars)
CLASSIC TREASURE
It may be observed that, relatively speaking, the MTBs came through better
than the other classes, and that the cultivars that best stood up to the
stress tended to be among the older ones that I grow.
Jeff Walters in northern Utah (USDA Zone 4, Sunset Zone 2)
cwalters@cache.net
