Achillea

50 ACHILLEA PTARMICA
Environmental Factors
Production under greenhouse conditions is best for cuttings taken in early February
and grown at 60F (15C) (Geertsen and Bredmose 1986).
Field Performance
Yield: First-year harvests for Georgia and California and second-year harvest
for Vermont are shown in the following table (Perry 1989).
Yield and stem length of Achillea ptarmica in Georgia, Vermont,
and California.
Location Stems/plant Stem length (in) z
Athens, Ga. 13 12.2
Burlington, Vt. 25 17.0
Watsonville, Calif. 19 27.0
z = multiply (in) by 2.54 to obtain (cm)
Second-year harvest at Georgia was significantly higher, with over 100
stems/plant. Flowers were harvested until mid November with an average stem
length of 20" (50 cm). Work in Italy found up to 10 stems/ft 2 (108 stems/m 2 ) in
the first year when planted at approximately 1' (30 cm) spacing (Zizzo et al.
1994).
Greenhouse Performance
Sneezewort is greenhouse-grown in some European countries, but it is seldom
produced this way in the United States. In Finland, with supplemental lighting,
flowers were harvested for 3–5 weeks 12 weeks after planting (Sarkka 1991). The
second harvest was also faster with supplemental lighting. Work at Michigan
State University (Nausieda et al. 2000) found ‘The Pearl’ could be forced (see
‘Coronation Gold’) in 4.5 weeks under LD and 68F (20C) temperatures. Mildew,
however, is a serious problem under greenhouse forcing conditions.
Stage of Harvest
Harvest when flowers are fully open.
Postharvest
Fresh: Flowers last 5–8 days in water.
Dried: Flowers may be air-dried.
Storage: Flowers may be stored wet for 2–3 days at 40F (4C).