Chocolate Cosmos 'New Choco' are saturated with color and candy bar scent, delivering richness and sweetness in a petite velvet pop. New Choco has significant advantages over seed grown strains: it branches freely, and is more heat and mildew resistant than older cultivars.
Some growers find Chocolate Cosmos quite easy to grow, while others struggle with scraggly stems. While all cosmos want to be planted out into warm soil (above 55F at night), summer's heat can interfere with these reaching their full potential. Field growers may consider adding shade cloth over a low hoop in the hottest season. Their dainty flowers don’t get super tall so netting is probably not necessary in most situations. They are closely related to dahlias and enjoy similar conditions.
If you have dialed in your own Chocolate Cosmos culture, please share with the class! We're all ears at info@farmerbailey.com
Lynn Resch of Fleurs du Bien in Bovina, NY shared her experience growing the New Choco seen above.
Farmer Bailey: Where is your farm located?
Lynn Resch: Bovina, NY in the Catskill Mtns. elevation 2300ft.
FB: Where did you grow your New Choco cosmos?
LR: In the field.
FB: When did you plant out your plugs?
LR: Second week of June.
FB: How long did it take from transplant to bloom?
LR: Doing this from memory, but I would say a good 3-4 weeks, and they were quite small at first. To the point I was concerned. Then they took off!
FB: How much did you water?
LR: I didn't. We had an insane amount of rain here in the Catskills this season.
FB: What did you fertilize them with, and how often?
LR: Fertilized twice with Neptune's Harvest Organic Hydrolized Fish & Seaweed Fertilizer.
FB: What are your impressions of this crop? What advice would you offer other flower farmers?
LR: think a soils test is in order, which I did not do this year where they were planted. Lots of compost (cow manure) and sand to offset the clay, however. Interesting that one end of the row did better than the other. Clearly, different soils!
Photo credit: Lynn Resch of Fleurs du Bien, Bovina, NY. To see more real photos of Chocolate Cosmos grown from Farmer Bailey plugs, visit the Chocolate Cosmos product page.