Exploring De Ruiter's Comanche® at Wildfire Flowers
The beauty and brilliance of orange roses ensures that this flowers assert their place among the most adored in the world. There are quite a number of commercially successful orange rose varieties, and Comanche®, a relatively new and uniquely gorgeous intermediate rose by breeder De Ruiter is one amongst the most pristine.
Recently, Flowerweb tagged along when a team from De Ruiter East Africa made a visit to Wildfire Flowers in Naivasha. The farm is the region’s biggest grower and exporter of the rose Comanche® and their tale of the flower’s productivity and quality is one to be envied.
VIDEO: De Ruiter's rose Comanche® at Wildfire Flowers
Comanche® is a top pick for Wildfire Flowers who had for quite some time being looking for a fitting replacement for their existing crop of orange roses. The rose is positioned in the retail segment and has been targeted towards growers of Tropical Amazon. A good number of top growers in Kenya and the region currently have Comanche® under trials at various stages in their farms. Most of these are enthusiastic about the rose and are looking to take up the orange variety into their assortments.
Comanche® at a glance
Petal count: 30-35 petals
Bud type: Pointed
Minimum cut stage: 1-5
Head size: 4 – 4.5cm
Mildew sensitivity: Normal
Botrytis sensitivity: Normal
Scent: None
Thorns: Heavy (like all oranges)
Neck thorns: None
Vase life: 10-12 days
Leaf description: Glossy dark green
DREA has recorded production figures of: 220-240 per m2
Production compared to competition: 10 stems more per m2
Wildfire Flowers
The farm located along Moi South Lake road in Naivasha Kenya was established 18 years ago and has 18.3 hactares under rose cultivation and 18 hactares with various summer flowers. Wildfire Flowers currently has 1ha under Comanche® and are proud of the rose's sterling perfomance.
