Fairway Mix, also known as Solenostemon scutellarioides, is an ornamental member of the Mint family native to Southeast Asia. This cultivar offers a variety of textures and patterns in shades of green, yellow, pink, red, and purple. This mix of seedling plugs provides a wide selection of colors and textures for your customer without added work in your greenhouse or your customers' landscapes. Fairway Mix is low-maintenance and versatile with a dwarf mounding habit 8" tall and 6" wide. Perennial in zone 10-11, Coleus flourishes as a colorful summer annual for mixed containers, hanging baskets, or landscape borders. While it isn't cold-hardy, Coleus can overwinter indoors or grow as a houseplant. Fairway Mix excels in full sun or partial shade with minimal water, starring in the tropical or modern garden with striking texture and color. Add Coleus Black Dragon and Coleus Trailing Burgundy to your growing program for an even more eye-catching contrast in your selection.
Fairway Mix Selling Tips
Sell Fairway Mix seedling plugs to customers looking for unique foliage to add to a mixed container, landscape border, or houseplant collection. Customers love this plant's low-maintenance, attractive foliage, and versatility, and Fairway is particularly well-suited to small spaces and year-round production. It's heat and shade tolerant, requiring little more than regular water and full to partial shade to flourish from spring until frost. While Coleus is perennial in zone 10-11, it can overwinter indoors or grow as a houseplant in bright indirect light. This variety has a dwarf mounding habit perfect for mixed containers, borders, and houseplant collections. Create an inviting modern landscape border or patio container by pairing this plant with Begonia, Calibrachoa, Fuchsia, Impatiens, Ipomoea, and Lantana.
Coach Your Customer
1. Space plants 6-8" apart in well-drained soil in full or partial shade.
2. Water regularly and don't allow the soil to dry out.
3. Pinch off flowers as they appear, encouraging all the plant's energy to go into its prized foliage. This cultivar is late-flowering.
General Growing Tips For Your Seedling Tray
For best results with Fairway Mix, plant one seedling plug per 1801 cell or 4-inch container. Use well-drained soil with a pH of 5.8-6.2, EC of 0.9-1.3 mS/cm (2:1), temperature of 70-75 daytime and 60-65 nighttime, and light feed (100-150 ppm N). Be sure to provide sufficient Potassium in your fertilizer program to promote good color. Grow this plant under 13+ hours of light at 5,000 fc. Don't pinch, but use daminozide to control height if needed. Watch for spider mites, leaf miners, aphids, and whiteflies. You may see pythium, rhizoctonia, and botrytis.
Flowering
Most gardeners prize Fairway Mix for its colorful, unique foliage. While Coleus does produce small white flowers in summer, we recommend pinching off flower spikes to encourage the plant to develop its foliage.
Pinching
Pinching this plant will cause smaller foliage and delayed crop times.
Spacing
We recommend spacing 4-inch containers 12-18" on center for sufficient airflow and sunlight penetration around the base and foliage of each plant.
Height Control
PGRs may be unnecessary with proper cultural controls. Provide appropriate light, irrigation, and fertilizer. If needed, apply Daminozide (B-Nine) at 2,500-5,000 ppm two or three weeks after transplanting. Ethephon may increase branching as well as controlling height. Don't pinch to prevent legginess.
Pests
Watch for spider mites, leafminers, aphids, and whiteflies. Implement an Integrated Pest Management plan in your commercial greenhouse to protect your crops from damage and preserve your resources.
Aphids are small, soft-bodied insects that cause damage by sucking sap from plant tissue. They reproduce quickly and are particularly attracted to young growth. Curling and yellowed leaves, stunted growth, and stickiness on leaves are signs of an infestation. These insects also spread diseases and reproduce rapidly. Use biological controls or horticultural oils to discourage and kill aphids.
Leafminers are small, fly-like insects that lay eggs on plant leaves. Larvae burrow into the leaves and create tunnels, damaging plant foliage. Address leafminer infestations with insecticides like spinosad or imidacloprid or with biological controls like parasitic wasps. Prevent them by maintaining a sanitary greenhouse free of debris and removing and destroying infested plants as you regularly scout for pests. Carefully follow label instructions for any insecticides.
Spider Mites are tiny pests that cause stippling, yellowing, and webbing on foliage by feeding on plant sap. They flourish in warm, dry environments. Use correct water and fertilizing practices; over-fertilizing can attract spider mites. Proper humidity levels, predatory mites or ladybugs, and insecticidal soaps or oils may prevent or address a spider mite infestation.
Whiteflies are small, winged insects that eat plant sap and cause yellowed leaves and stunted growth. Severe infestations can lead to plants dying. Prevent infestations by sanitizing surfaces and tools and removing debris. Introduce natural predators and use sticky traps to control populations. Insecticidal soaps and oils are also effective against this pest.
Disease
You may see pythium, rhizoctonia, and botrytis. Scout for pests and disease and act at the first sign of infection to prevent extensive damage to your crops.
Pythium and Rhizoctonia are fungal diseases that cause stunted growth, yellowed leaves, and plant death by eating away at the plant's roots. Use well-draining planting media and provide good airflow and spacing in your greenhouse. Allow the soil to dry slightly between waterings and apply fungicides with active ingredients abamectin, spinosad, or imidacloprid to combat these diseases.
Botrytis is a common fungal disease that causes brown spots on stems, leaves, and flowers. Remove and destroy affected plants, maintain appropriate humidity levels, and apply fungicides with boscalid, fenhexamid, or iprodione to control the spread. Water plants in the morning and allow the soil to dry slightly between waterings.
Planting Fairway Mix Liners
We recommend planting one seedling plug per 1801 cell or 4-inch container. Use well-drained soil and center the ellepot in the container. Cell packs finish in four or five weeks.
Rooted Cuttings
Cuttings vary in size between different plant families. These rooted starter plants will arrive ready to be transplanted in to your final container. If they are to be used in a landscape application, you will need to establish them in a 4 inch pot or an 1801 before planting outside.
Coleus Fairway Mix Quick Reference Guide
Tray Size: 288
4 Inch crop time
| 8 Weeks
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| Bloom Period | Spring, Summer |
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| Color | Green, Yellow, Pink, Red, Purple |
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| Habit | Mounding, Upright |
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| Height | 8 inches |
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| Light | Bright Indirect/Filtered, Full Shade, Partial Shade, Partial Sun |
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| Minimum Temp | 60 |
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| Water Needs | Moderate |
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| Patented Plant | No |
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