Mega-Fresh Flowers for Spring

Kris Carlsson, Luís Muñoz & Ryan Kenny

The MegaCopa series of bacopa from Ball FloraPlant has a great spreading habit with large-size flowers for an attractive show. It’s available in must-have colors that make great components for spring hanging baskets. However, it’s the plant’s proven heat tolerance that makes it stand out against other bacopa on the market—MegaCopa flowers up to two weeks further into the season than its competition.

To help you produce a great-looking crop of MegaCopa Bacopa in your greenhouse, our best cultural practice trials offer important recommendations. In this article, we explore trials run in Arroyo Grande, California, and West Chicago, Illinois, to compare PGR and crop scheduling regimes for
success.

With typical Southern California greenhouse conditions, you can produce MegaCopa Bacopa without a PGR application. Through our trials, though, we uncovered recommendations if you choose to use them for further pot toning.

We single-stuck MegaCopa Week 47, with a transplant and pinch to two nodes Week 51. To provide extra control and tone, we performed an early Cycocel 750 ppm spray Week 1 (two weeks after transplant).

Another best practice we found was an alternative Bonzi drench at 3 ppm four weeks after transplant. This is what we call a “3/4 finish” Bonzi drench, which toned the plant and produced nice branching with a large flower size.

For these California trials, we had an average daily temperature (ADT) of 63F (17C). In December, we experienced about 8.8 mols per day in lighting. January saw 9.5 average daily mols, with February at 10.2 mols.

Overall, in West Coast-type greenhouse conditions, MegaCopa Bacopa can be grown successfully without PGRs. The early Cycocel spray or Bonzi drench were options that worked equally as well, as both provided adequate control and helped produce a well-toned and filled pot for customers.

Looking at our replicated Midwest trials, we stuck MegaCopa Week 1, and during Week 6, we provided a 3 ppm Bonzi spray at the liner stage. The reason was for the low-light conditions—much lower than the same time in California—even though ADT was similar (63F/17C).

We transplanted Week 7, leading to a 10-week total crop time. An additional Bonzi 3 ppm drench toward the end of the trial helped the plant hold as it was shipped to retail. The Bonzi application also produced darker foliage and tone, with a plant that won’t stretch at retail.

We have full trial details available online, as well as a BFP TV video showing the plant results. Apply these recommendations to your greenhouse conditions, climate and production needs to produce the best-quality MegaCopa Bacopa. GT