High-quality poinsettias

Photos courtesy of Express Seed

Growing poinsettias from high quality cuttings is essential. Express Seed Company understands how critical that is to a successful crop and brings in cuttings from its production partner Vivero Internacional.

“We work really closely with Syngenta and Vivero, our producer in Mexico,” says Estuardo Arriaga, technical lead for Express. “We use a very tight chemical program and, most importantly, scouting. We do weekly scouting of every bench that we have so that we can see in advance if there are any issues.” The communication with the Vivero facility is “open and clear,” Arriaga adds.

“Our goal is to give growers the best quality cuttings possible. We want to give growers cuttings that have the right specifications, the right quality, but also cuttings that are free of pathogens and pests. That’s the recipe for growers to grow quality plants.”

Beyond cuttings from the farm in Mexico, Express can offer growers a vast portfolio of poinsettia genetics — another key for successful growing. Recently they added Syngenta Flowers’ poinsettia line — including well-known varieties such as ‘Mirage Red’, ‘Orion Early Red’, and ‘Whitestar’. Beyond the Syngenta portfolio, Express carries genetics from leading breeders such as Beekenkamp, Lazzeri, Dummen, Suntory, and Rinehart/Danziger.

“We believe that will help growers be more successful by giving them more options,” Arriaga says.

“We believe in the Syngenta bred varieties and pipeline,” adds Scott Rusch, Express Seed’s director of business development. “We got validation from the [2022 poinsettias trials]. Several poinsettias from the our poinsettia assortment were selected as top varieties, including a variety called ‘Ruby Red’ that we are going to start introducing to growers this year. That was the #1 red variety at the Plantpeddler trials and #2 red at Heimos.”

To help growers pick the genetics that are right for their program, Express has a clear and detailed advice from their Plant Tech and Sales Teams. For starters, growers can get pricing and terms for the Syngenta, Beekenkamp and Lazzeri programs in one quote instead of having to track down several. From there, Express will work with growers every step of the way to share advice and best practices on the varieties to help growers achieve success. Growers can access growing advice and variety recommendations at www.ExpressSeed.com/Poinsettia.

“What I have seen with new customers is that we can guide them through the whole process,” Arriaga says. “We learn their infrastructure, their location, their market, their needs and figure out which varieties are best. We then send a box or two of the genetics we can offer them to trial, then come back in five or six weeks to check in and offer any advice. We are always there if there’s an issue — someone from Express will get involved and help out.”