The Impatiens Imara series expanded with more colors this season: Purple and Salmon Shades. Imara is known for its high resistance to Downy Mildew. But what does this exactly mean? Product Manager Steve Waters and Breeder Ton Groot explain in detail.
“Imara has an outstanding garden performance regardless rain or shine. The plants will flourish all summer and survive until the first frost”, says Steve. Of course, the breeding of this breakthrough all started with Downy Mildew itself. Breeder Ton Groot: “Imara is bred from one naturally occurring plant that was discovered to be alive in a heavily infected field.”
It keeps on flowering
This plant had naturally a high resistance to the symptoms of Downy Mildew, a characteristic which Imara has. “The way resistance to Impatiens Downy Mildew (IDM) works on all current breeding of Downy Mildew resistant Impatiens is that you may, at times, see some symptoms”, says Ton. “For instance leaf yellowing, leaf drop and sometimes even limited sporulation on the underside of the leaf under very heavy disease pressure, if no fungicides are applied. The plants usually outgrow these symptoms and keep on flowering.”
The best way to stay ahead of the disease, Syngenta Flowers advises to combine both resistant genetics and fungicide rotations, Steve tells. “Responsible growing practices using relevant broad spectrum fungicide applications are helpful in preventing any limited symptoms and of course prevents IDM and other issues such as botrytis on both non-resistant varieties and your Imara.”
‘Rigorously tried and tested’
Imara is a very adoptable plant which consumers can use in both full sun or full shade. This flexibility results in an easy to use plant. Steve: “All breeding is rigorously tried and tested for not only the key characteristics, but also both garden performance and of course IDM resistance which is also independently verified.”
Spring Trials 2019
The new Imara series is shown at our Spring Trials 2019, together with more exciting new novelties. You can visit our Spring Trials in Andijk, the Netherlands during 29-04-2019 – 10-05-2019. Please contact your Sales Representative for more information.
Syngenta Flowers