November 2022 - 16

SEED SHOWCASE
Family owned Rispens Seeds nears century mark
As Rispens Seeds Inc. enters 2023 we
are pleased to celebrate our 95th year as
a family owned business serving family
farms and other commercial vegetable
growers of all sizes.
While the variety of shapes and
colors available in the specialty fall
decorative pumpkin and squash
segment continues to grow, there are
two new " standard " orange
jack-o-lantern types available for 2023
that we believe are innovative hybrids.
Olympus is what some may consider
a more uniform, higher yielding Cronus
type. Both boast beautiful dark-orange
color, a mostly round shape, impressive
dark green handles and intermediate
resistance to powdery mildew. Olympus
averages 25 to 35 pounds, with a
maturity that's considerably earlier than
Cronus and a more restricted plant type.
Olympus fruit size can flex for growers
wishing to experiment with different
plant populations. We've been trialing
Olympus for many years now and are
extremely excited now that it is available
for commercial production.
Adonis is equally as impressive as
Olympus, if not more so. After all, it is
named after the Greek god of beauty.
Adonis has taller, more barrel-shaped
fruit with a glossy, dark-orange color
that is very distinctive. Size potential
can be impressive, ranging from 25
to 40 pounds with spectacular large
and long, well-attached handles. The
maturity is similar to Olympus and also
has intermediate resistance to powdery
mildew. Adonis is another hybrid that
we've been trialing for some time and
are thrilled for growers to experience it
next season.
Another new fall crop option for 2023
is Zuccuri 9, a kabocha type (smooth
bottom) buttercup squash with the
OLYMPUS
ADONIS
sweetness profile of a pumpkin and
the texture of a sweet potato. It has an
85-day relative maturity, dark-green
color and a full vine plant type. Fruit
average about four pounds, which makes
it a little smaller than Sweet Mama but
also makes Zuccuri 9 easier to box for
wholesale markets.
Moving on to sweet corn, we have
Evolution, a 72-day bicolor Synergistic
Plus hybrid from Seneca Vegetable
Research. Synergistic Plus hybrids can
be grown with all other synergistic types
but have increased supersweet kernels
for added sugar, extended holding ability
and a lengthened harvest window. At
72 days, Evolution fills a gap in maturity
for those who grow sugary enhanced
(se) or synergistic type sweet corns. In
our trials we've noted Evolution to show
good husk protection, short shanks and
excellent standability.
Tiger Shark is a new biotech type
previously trialed as SVSA9495T. The
herbicide tolerance and insect protection
traits are the same as other SeminisVegetables
by Bayer Performance Series
hybrids, such as Anthem XR II and
SV9010SA. Tiger Shark is a 74-day bicolor
supersweet with good ear size, a strong
plant and very good husk protection.
MATRIARCH
For full Performance Series legal info,
please visit www.seminis.com/global/us/
pages/product-legal-notice.aspx.
Matriarch is the newest Attribute
II bicolor supersweet from Syngenta
Vegetable Seeds. Matriarch is similar
to Patriarch, except it is a little later
in maturity at 78 days and has the
same insect protection and herbicide
tolerances as Patriarch with the addition
of glyphosate tolerance. Matriarch has a
nice overall husk, picks easily, has high
resistance to common rust and the eating
quality is outstanding.
Captain is a blocky green bell
pepper which has been showing great
yield potential with good quality and
adaptability for the open field market.
Dark-green fruit mature to large and
extra-large sizes for fresh market sales
CAPTAIN
or place pack wholesaling. In addition,
Captain has intermediate resistance
to ten races of Bacterial leaf spot and
Phytophthora capsici and has performed
well in many of our Michigan & Ohio
trials in 2022.
These new varieties and others will be
in the 2023 catalog, which should arrive
in mid-November.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge
and thank Derrill Kregel, who will be
retiring in January after more than 25
years at Rispens Seeds and more than 34
years total in the seed industry. He will
be attending the Great Lakes Expo in
Grand Rapids in December; please stop
by our booth to wish him well. Ryan
Kingma, who has ample experience
in the vegetable seed industry, will
succeed Kregel. VGN
16 | VegetableGrowersNews.com
http://www.seminis.com/global/us/ http://rispensseeds.com http://www.VegetableGrowersNews.com
November 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of November 2022
