New Cultivar Releases — Coleus
University of Florida graduate student Penny Nguyen and Dave Clark, associate professor of environmental horticulture, recently developed several new coleus varieties.
Basic Cultural Guidelines
- Temperature - Adaptable from 50°F night to 85°F day, higher temperatures encourage stretching. With all coleus, temperature can affect coloration; however, these two varieties were selected to avoid color changes under high temperatures. In general, cooler production temperatures give the most vibrant colors. Cooler temperatures may slow the crop but as long as light level is appropriate, this will not affect quality.
- Light Levels - Coleus grow well under moderate to high light levels because lower light levels encourage stretching and lower quality growth. Some varieties change color depending on the light level they are grown under, but these cultivars were also selected for stability under varying light levels.
- Media - Optimal media is a standard peat-lite mixture of peat & perlite. Any basic peat-lite mix with full micro nutrient availability.
- pH - Optimal pH range is 5.5-6.0
- Fertilization - Any balanced bedding plant fertilizer.
- Watering - Optimal watering means keeping plants lightly moist at all time.
- Pinch - Removal of the top portion of the plant stem to encourage branching. An initial pinch promotes lateral shoots and increases branching for most coleus varieties. No pinch is required on Royal Glissade, but a pinch may be beneficial with Twist ‘n’ Twirl.
- Flowering - These cultivars were selected for late or non-flowering habit, so with Royal Glissade northern growers and consumers will likely never see flowering. With Twist ‘n’ Twirl flowers may begin to emerge in late summer, but do not detract from the look of the plant.
