Kwik Kombos Kick Off

By Delilah Onofrey|April 16, 2010

Syngenta Flowers’ Mark Seguin, who manages this program, says, “We underestimated the interest and potential. The only issue has been availability.” Kwik Kombos debuted last year as an answer to the Confetti Garden program from Dummen and Trixie liner program from Selecta. Syngenta has been setting its program apart by incorporating more genuses and offering a smaller liner size—a 102-cell in a geranium strip instead of a 50 or 72. The big question was will it take longer for the smaller liners to finish? Seguin demonstrated comparable results when the liners were lit for five weeks and pinched. The smaller liners offer freight savings, getting twice as many units in the same shipment.

The next step is to offer the Kwik Kombo mixes unrooted and to evaluate more combinations. Seventeen are currently offered and 55 more are being studied. “Just because a combination makes a nice basket doesn’t mean it will work as a Kwik Kombo,” Seguin explains, adding there are challenges with mixed species and production has to work from start to finish.

Another new development on the GoldFisch cuttings side of Syngenta Flowers is the introduction of the Mosaik coleus line for sun and shade. GoldFisch also is promoting a guarantee to consumers on the Calliope geraniums—a promise it will bloom all summer. The idea is to instill confidence and lead the consumer to choose Calliope over others.