With the 2016 trialing season coming to a close in many parts of North America, the National Plant Trials Database now has over 50,000 plant ratings in this online repository of trial data according to a press release. With trialing data and ratings on a large number of varieties, brokers, growers and garden retailers will find this information extremely valuable when making purchasing decisions. The data can be accessed by going to www.planttrials.org, click on “Register to View” and fill out a short application form. Almost immediately, applicants will be notified of their user information.
Trialing details by year:
• 2012 – 1,655 varieties with more than 5,600 ratings from 8 trial grounds
• 2013 – 2,463 varieties with more than 9,400 ratings from 12 trial grounds
• 2014 – 3,651 varieties with more than 15,500 ratings from 19 trial grounds
• 2015 – 2,928 varieties with more than 9,800 ratings from 20 trial grounds
• 2016 – 2,806 varieties with more than 11,600 ratings from 20 trial grounds
In total, this means there are now over 50,000 ratings for varieties.
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The initial idea for an online repository of trialing data came out of a collaboration between All-America Selections, the University of Georgia and numerous breeding companies. After identifying and establishing standardized trialing protocols and scoring, the system was built in 2012 and is supported by the following breeding companies:
• Danziger “Dan” Flower Farm
• Dummen Group
• Ernst Benary of America
• Floranova Ltd.
• PanAmerican Seed/Ball Horticultural
• Proven Winners
• Sakata Ornamentals
• The Suntory Collection
• Syngenta Flowers
Special thanks and recognition to the 2016 participating trial grounds that have entered data thus far:
• Boerner Botanical Gardens
• Colorado State University
• Cornell Long Island
• Cornell University Ithaca
• Jardin Daniel A. Sequin
• JC Raulston Arboretum – NCSU
• Kansas State University
• LSU Ag Center – Hammond Research Station
• Mast Young Plants
• McCrory Gardens at South Dakota State University
• MSU - South Mississippi Branch Experiment Station
• Mississippi State University – Truck Crops Branch Experiment Station
• Ohio State University Cultivar Trials
• Raker Trial Gardens
• University of Guelph
• University of MN West Central Research and Outreach Center
• University of Tennessee Jackson
• University of Tennessee Trial Gardens
• University of Wisconsin West Madison Ag Research Station
• Walt Disney’s Horticulture Bedding Plant Trials
• William Dam Seeds
Users will see significant upgrades to the system that have recently been completed:
• Ability to view data for a given variety over multiple years
• Being able to select multiple trial gardens to create a personalized ‘region’ and then see trial results only from the trial gardens in that region
• The addition of statistical summary data for each variety
Additional functionality, including a mobile friendly version of the site, will be completed in early 2017.