Fall Creek South Africa has announced the release of two new varieties, Olympus Blue™ TH-1008 and PeachyBlue™ ZF08-29.
OlympusBlue™, developed by the University of Georgia and evaluated extensively by Fall Creek at its applied research farms, is a low chill variety managed in an evergreen style suited to areas like Morocco, Baja Mexico, Southern California and the Western Cape of South Africa.
Small preview samples are recommended for northern South Africa and other lower-latitude areas of Southern Africa, noted Jeff Ford, commercial planning manager at Fall Creek.
The consistency of firmness, flavour and shelf life of OlympusBlue™ has shown it to be an easy to grow and easy to harvest cultivar. Pruning will optimize fruit quality, timing and yields while cross-pollination significantly improves fruit set and berry size.
A punnet of OlympusBlue™ TH-1008, an early variety
It has an extended season, starting a bit before Ventura, in South Africa anticipated to start early August and going all the way to October or November.
Firmness and taste improve after some days in the cooler. “This will, without a doubt, make a good traveler,” said Dr Olivier Coste, applied research manager at Fall Creek Spain.
OlympusBlue™ are well-suited for areas that accumulate 300 to 500 Richardson cold units per season and trials are underway to evaluate its adaptability in areas that accumulate less chill units. It is best grown between latitudes 30° and 38° North or South.
“We’re very excited to be able to offer a variety to our lower-chill growers here in the Western Cape of South Africa,” added Wian Mouton, commercial manager of Fall Creek South Africa.
PeachyBlue™: A blueberry with peach-like flavour
PeachyBlue™ ‘ZF08-29’ is a mid- to high-chill Northern Highbush variety, a choice which might surprise but Fall Creek believes there are small high-altitude pockets in South Africa, like the Koue Bokkeveld, the Langkloof and the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands, where this variety would stretch the season into the New Year.
Fall Creek PeachyBlue™ ZF08-29 (photos supplied by Fall Creek)
Its strongest attribute lies in its highly aromatic, peach-like flavour, which would be a point of distinction in the marketplace. PeachyBlue is a precocious cropper, and the fruit does well in long term storage.
PeachyBlue™ is an early midseason variety with very firm, uniform and crunchy fruit, which can be expected to ripen during the months of November to January, with peak harvest during the last weeks of November and early weeks of December.
“We encourage the growers to get in touch with our sales and grower support team to assist you with more information and placing those plant orders for 2022. Limited preview plants will be available of both the varieties, so do not miss out on the opportunity to test these varieties on your farm,” Wian advises.
Fall Creek PeachyBlue™ ZF08-29, an aromatic berry with a unique peach-like flavour
The commercial team extended an invitation to interested growers to visit the newly developed demo site, where the collection of varieties on offer by Fall Creek, can be viewed first-hand.
A recording of the webinar is available here.
For more information:
Fall Creek South Africa
Wian Mouton, Commercial manager
Tel nr: +27 72 906 5119
Email: wianm@fallcreeknursery.com
Elsa Muller, Sales and Grower Support
Email: elsam@fallcreeknursery.com
Dane Castle, Sales and Grower Support
Email: danec@fallcreeknursery.com
Jeán Kotzé, Senior Sales and Grower Support
Email: jeank@fallcreeknursery.com
https://www.fallcreeknursery.com/
Office nr: +27 21 276 3777