Page 57 - Free State Spring 2023_WEB

Salisbury - In Salisbury, six plants of each cultivar
‘Devotion,’ ‘Passion,’ ‘Thunderstruck,’ ‘Aroma,’ ‘Obsession,’
and ‘Emerald Towers’ were planted. Three ‘Emerald
Towers’ succumbed to downy mildew immediately
after planting, and the remaining were evaluated for
symptoms on September 15 and September 29. (see chart
bottom page 56)

Evaluation:
CMREC - At this site in Howard County, harvest occurred
on August 18, with 4-7 stems per plant, cutting down to
4” above the soil line. For the stem to count as saleable, it
had to be at least 6” long. The only exception to this 4-7
stem average was Emerald Towers which only yielded
an average of 2 stems per plant, but internodal space
was very short, and the total number of leaves at harvest
was comparable to the larger cultivars with 4-7 stems
per plant. The total harvest was weighed, and Emerald Basil plot at CMREC, 8/18 before harvest - damage visible on bottom
Towers’ shorter stems were included for this purpose right plant (‘Obsession’)
because of the high number of intact leaves on the short
stems. The plants did not grow back enough to carry out ‘Obsession’ with Downy Mildew damage, 9/8, CMREC
a second harvest before the cold temperatures ended
the trial.
At the time of harvest (Aug 18), only one plant, each of
the two cultivars (‘Emerald Towers’ and ‘Obsession’), was
showing symptoms of DM. Less than one month later,
on September 8, all plants of all cultivars were showing
symptoms. ‘Aroma’ never put on any new growth after
the first harvest, and heavy weed competition took this
cultivar out shortly after. The remaining plants only grew
Varieties tested at the five sites: back to be at most 6 inches tall and were mostly dead or

BASIL YEAR INTRODUCED SOURCE defoliated by the end of September. There was one early
Prospera 2019 Israel frost in September, which did some damage to the plants,
and they never leafed out again after that. By the end of
Devotion 2018 Rutger’s the trial (September 8), the most heavily infected cultivars

Obsession 2018 Rutger’s were ‘Emerald Towers’ and ‘Aroma.’
Thunderstruck 2020 Rutger’s Charles County - In Charles County, harvest occurred
on August 18, and mass was recorded for each plot. All
Amazel 2019 Proven Winners Salisbury Resistance Ratings
plots of ‘Aroma,’ ¾ plots of ‘Emerald Towers,’ and one plot
Aroma (susceptible cultivar) Ocimum basilicum. Genovese aroma basil has strong of ‘Devotion’ yielded unmarketable stems. ‘Obsession’ Planted 8/5 9/15 9/29
fusarium tolerance performed the best at this location, with no visible Aroma poor poor
Everleaf Emerald Tower 2021 Genovese basil that’s been bred to flower up to 8 weeks symptoms of downy mildew in any of the reps and the Obsession good good
later than standard varieties. Pan American Seed second-highest mass harvested. ‘Passion’ is also worthy Thunderstruck good good
Company of an honorable mention because it was mostly disease- Emerald Towers very poor very poor
free and had the third-highest mass yield. ‘Emerald
Red Opal Basil Ocimum Developed by John Scarch and Joseph Lent at the Devotion good excellent
basilicum University of Connecticut in the 1950s. In the previous Towers’ not only yielded about 75% unmarketable stems Passion good excellent
but also had the lowest mass harvested at only 3.9
three years, we had not found downy mildew active on pounds for six plants. ‘Emerald Towers,’ Salisbury, 9/15 - heavy dieback, heavy
this cultivar at the Brookeville site. (continued on next page) downy mildew symptoms

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