Accompanied by Amnon Eshet, CEO, Ofer Ben-Zvi, Head of M&S and Jose Luis Gonzalez, America's Desk Manager, we paid a visit during May, to the watermelon experimental trials, commercial production and grower/shippers in the South Florida, USA, from Arcadia to Immokalee, Florida.
The conditions faced by producers in this region were once again very challenging and affects of late cold snaps and windy conditions were evident in production. Yields were varied from farm to farm and while most were still in the full swing of harvest, they were estimated to be anywhere from 20 to 30 percent lower than average. Hollow heart was also found in a high percentage in the crown crop, which is the first fruit cut from the vine. It is common to experience this with the first cutting, as fruit that develops during the most adverse weather conditions normally suffers more and exhibits this characteristic.
Several key customers were visited during the tour and this offered a prime opportunity to see Zeraim Gedera varieties in harvest and hear firsthand what producers had to say about the production. Jory Corbett of Immokalee Florida, is a Sugar Heart producer and was nearing the end of his harvest. He said that the crop had held up well and had been cut four times. Weather had been favorable and dry for weeks and this had allowed vines to hold up exceptionally well and longer than normal. Sizes were mostly 45 and 60 count and fewer 36 counts were produced. MED farms; another key customer of ours in the local area, was also one stop on the tour. Paul Sawyer of Siegers Seed Company accompanied us to the farm and led us on a tour of the packing house and through fields of MED farm Sugar Heart production. Robert Flint, a longtime customer of ours and a watermelon producer in Arcadia, was also harvesting and shipping his Sugar Heart watermelons. The crop, as was seen in Southern regions, suffered from two late cold snaps but overall was in good condition and was yielding nicely. Robert has grown Sugar Heart and pollinated with Patron for a number of years and is one of the best at producing watermelons consistently year in and year out. Robert is one of those growers who seem to know exactly what his crop needs, when it needs it, and where it is needed most. This is the result of a producer who is hands on and is always found near the watermelon field. “I trialed two varieties of watermelons one year”, says Robert, “the first variety had hollow heart at the first cut, second cut, third cut etc. The second variety, Sugar Heart, had some hollow heart on the first cut, but then continued with solid high quality fruit. My mind was made up, it was Sugar Heart”. Robert explained that he continued to learn year after year, what Sugar Heart best responded to and fine tuned his program to those needs. He likes the combination of Sugar Heart and Patron, Zeraim Gedera’s non-harvestable pollinator, and gets a dual use from Patron. Not only does Patron offer reliable, long season pollen availability for the triploids, it serves to protect those precious fruit from another pest, wild hogs. Robert, like many Florida producers; battles with the wild hogs and removes as many as possible by permit. According to Robert, those that remain and wander into the field, prefer the patron’s non-harvestable fruit and leave his seedless watermelons untouched for the most part. Browning and Son’s Jim Stewart is responsible for the movement of Robert’s entire watermelon crop. Jim said the demand for 45 count watermelons was high this season and movement of the crop was steady. Robert Flint grew two of Zeraim Gedera’s new watermelon varieties this year called Sugar Coat and SugaRed. Sugar Coat is a 85 to 90 day seedless crimson type that sizes between 18 to 20 lbs, good flesh firmness and the flesh color is deep red. SugaRed is 80 to 85 day seedless crimson type that sizes between 15 to 18 lbs. Both varieties are being grown in commercial fields this year on a trial basis and have given excellent results. Another variety of ours, while not new, called Crisp N Sweet, also performed well during the Florida watermelon season. Crisp N Sweet is a 75 to 80 day seedless crimson type that sizes between 16 to 18 lbs.
Robert used Zeraim Gedera’s new plant program this year called “Plant Sense”. This was the first year the program was launched throughout Florida and Georgia. “Plant Sense exceeded all of our first year goals and then some”, said Meir Peretz, NAFTA PD Manager. A Special thanks to Siegers Seed Company, who co-launched the program with us and those dedicated plant producers who did an outstanding job of producing quality plants and offered first class service to the producers. The Plant Producers were Barnett and Partin of Felda, Florida, Mobley Plant World of Labelle, Florida and Mobley Greenhouses of Moultrie, Georgia, The Plant Farm of Sarasota, Florida, Valdosta Plant Company of Adel, Georgia and Lewis Taylor Farms of Tifton, Georgia.
Our tour group met with James Brusca, NAFTA watermelon breeder for Syngenta. According to James, disease resistance is a high priority in Syngenta breeding program and progress is being made in areas such as powdery mildew, downy mildew, and fusarium. We were also reminded that the genome of watermelon would be sequenced by the end of this year and this, along with other data bases acquired up to this point on watermelon traits, should advance the speed at which progress is made in watermelon breeding.
Zeraim Gedera is known for its innovation and expertise in the vegetable seed business and is committed to continue to bring those products to the market that producers need to remain competitive and viable.