Best Practices for EnduraScape Verbena

Kris Carlsson & Luís Muñoz

Landscapers are looking for products that thrive, not just survive, and Ball FloraPlant offers the EnduraScape Verbena series to exceed their expectations. It’s the first verbena that’s hardy during the hottest days of summer, while also durable enough to take the cold down to the low teens—and still rebloom in spring. Beyond its hardiness, each of the varieties in the EnduraScape lineup revs up the color for landscape design with eight high-octane choices, including All-America Selections Winner Pink Bicolor.
 
EnduraScape offers superior branching; the finished product has a full habit with a high bloom count in gallon containers. It also shows excellent powdery mildew resistance for longevity in the landscape. With the following cultural best practices, you can produce a fantastic crop of hardy verbena ready to ship only 10 weeks from sticking.
 
Propagation
No rooting hormone is required when sticking EnduraScape Verbena. Provide an average six to nine days with mist to encourage rooting. Reduce and then eliminate mist as soon as possible. Apply a preventative fungicide spray after sticking. A pinch at this stage is recommended. Average propagation time is three to four weeks.
 
Finishing & growth control
For landscaper-size quarts or 4-in. pots, the key to healthy, bulky EnduraScape Verbena is to transplant as quickly as possible and get a pinch in before this vigorous plant starts to stretch in the liner stage. Our recent cultural trials show that an application of Bonzi at 2 ppm  two weeks after transplant controls the growth of this series and improves the habit.
 
A second Bonzi application at 2 ppm roughly four weeks after transplant further improves EnduraScape habit for all colors in the series except for Red. For Endura-Scape Red production, because of its more compact habit, it responds to a B-Nine 2,500/Cycocel 750 ppm tank mix spray at two weeks and again at four weeks after transplant.
 
While finishing EnduraScape for spring, maintain a soil pH of 5.8 to 6.2 and light levels at 5,000 to 8,000 f.c.
 
Day temperatures: 71 to 79F (21 to 26C)
 
Night temperatures: 62 to 64F (16 to 17C)
 
Provide fertilization at a rate of 225 to 300 ppm. Regularly allow the media to dry between waterings and pinch as needed to shape.
 
Crop time: Rooted liner to finish

Please reference BallFloraPlant.com for additional information on EnduraScape, including the full PowerPoint document with cultural best practices. GT