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Agrippa Onion
PV 1569 SPINACH
Written by Tammy Smith on 01 January, 2023.
PV 1569 is a high yielding and versatile spinach with semi savoy paddle shape leaves and an attractive dark green colour.
PV 1569 is the next generation in summer spinach as plants are very uniform with high leaf numbers. Suited to warm shoulder and summer.
Trial results show PV 1569 as an improved variety in this time slot and is proving itself in current trials. HR: Pe 1-18
New seed available soon, please contact your local sales representative for further information.
VERY VERDE
Written by Tammy Smith on 01 January, 2023.
Looking for a high quality, high yielding, large blocky capsicum which is an attractive shiny green and slow to turn red?
VERDE is the one for you! The plant is compact and sturdy allowing for the harvest of 2-4 premium 10 x 10cm, 4 lobed blocky fruit, and is highly suited to get into that early season market with premium green fruit.
Verde has HR to Xcv 1,2,3 and has performed well in all capsicum growing areas.
Please contact your local sales representative for more information or to place an order.
SINGING CONTRALTO
Written by Tammy Smith on 01 January, 2023.
Contralto is a new bunching broccoli variety with excellent bolting tolerance.
Contralto has tight heads with a closed habit and long stems. With late maturity, it is best harvested in early spring in the cooler regions.
Please contact Kosta Popov or your local sales representative for more information.
Duration
Written by Tammy Smith on 20 October, 2022.
New hybrid variety maturing in 81 days. Duration excellent plant type boasts a stocky single stalk with an excellent disease package.
Cobs are 19-20 cm long with exceptional husk cover, tipfill and flag leaf. The husk cover and flag leaf being an attractive green colour. Kernels are a striking golden yellow colour that provide great eating quality.
HR: Ps, Rp1-d, g f,j IR: Et, MDMV
Contact you local sales representative to secure new seed.
Viking
Written by Tammy Smith on 20 October, 2022.
Viking is an early maturing parsnip, maturing in approx. 110 days, with vigorous foliage. Its long roots are slender wedge shaped that are well filled, usually approx. 27 cm.
The roots are white in colour with a smooth texture. Viking holds its weight down the root resulting in higher yields and more consistent product for roasting. Best harvested in late summer through to spring.
For further information contact your local sales representative, seed arriving soon.
PETRA
Written by Tammy Smith on 20 October, 2022.
Petra is an indeterminate roma tomato variety that will be a competitive roma in the market. Petra has out yielded other trials by between 15-20% more.
Petra has the colour, the resistance, the yield and the shelf life which has caught the eye of the growers. Along with its excellent fruit quality and strong open plant Petra has provided excellent results so far. Trialing in Sydney basin currently with more results to follow.
Seed available now so please contact your local sales representative.
SIOUX SPINACH
Written by Tammy Smith on 05 August, 2022.
Sioux is a lightly savoy spinach, with very uniform oval to paddle shaped leaf. Colour is medium dark green. Sioux has shown good adaptability and is suited to both shoulder slots.
HR: Pe 1-15, 17, 19
Contact your local sales representative for more information.
CRUISER CORIANDER
Written by Tammy Smith on 05 August, 2022.
Cruiser is a high yielding coriander line with good quality. Cruiser has exceptional bolting tolerance, a dark green colour and strong aromatic flavour.
It is suited to the fresh bunching market for year-round harvest. The Coriandrum sativum – “Cruiser” is PBR protected – Unauthorised commercial propagation or any sale, conditioning, export, import or stocking of any propagation material is an infringement of the Plant Breeder's Rights Act 1994. PBR 2016/090 'CRUISER'
Contact Bruno Tigani or your local sales representative to place an order.
BLACKJACK BROCCOLI
Written by Tammy Smith on 05 August, 2022.
Blackjack is quickly becoming the industry standard. Blackjack shows excellent consistent performance under variable weather conditions.
It has uniform maturity with high yield and dark green coloured heads. Maturity is 5 days more than Viper and 5 days less than Spinks. Harvest from mid-November to the start of May in Werribee area.
Speak to Kosta Popov or your local sales representative for more information.
BATTLE OF THE BULBS
Written by Tammy Smith on 15 May, 2022.
INYATI is a late short day for last sowing in Queensland or June-July sowing in South Australia. Inyati has the largest bulb and is the latest in terms of maturity in the current short-day range. It has a medium large, straw brown bulb with storage potential of 2 months.
NYALA is a medium late, short-day brown hybrid, which has strong tops and good field resistance against leaf disease. Also boasting good adaptability to different sowing slots and latitudes. Nyala has exceptional vigour and plant health. Consistently producing single centered bulbs which are large, even under tough growing conditions.
Both Inyati and Nyala have intermediate resistance to Pink root.
Please contact your local Sales Representative to place an order today.
ENNA
Written by Peter Mullins on 10 April, 2022.
No, it is a Roma, but it is a beauty! ENNA is always prominent in a paddock because of how clean the plants look compared to other varieties. Fruit is normally 110g to 130g in weight, is a smooth rounded roma shape and is very firm with outstanding shelf life.
Because of the consistent performance and good resistance to leaf diseases it always catches the growers’ eye.
ENNA F1 has an impressive disease resistance package with HR: ToMV:0-2, TSWV:0, Pf:A-E, Fol:1-3, Va:0, Vd:0 IR: TYLCV, Ma, Mi, Mj
Please contact your local sales representative for more information or to place an order.
LASER
Written by Peter Mullins on 10 April, 2022.
When the agronomists from Lefroy Valley evaluate varieties, they are after consistent performance. From experience we know that variety performance varies between areas and even between different farms.
When we come upon a variety which is consistently as good as or better than standard in all growing areas, and offers real benefits, we sit up and take notice. LASER F1 indeterminate roma is one of these.
LASER has a disease resistance package which allows it to be planted in all tomato production areas in Australia. Yields are outstanding and fruit firmness and shelf life allow for top fruit quality to appear in fresh produce displays. Even under tough growing conditions, LASER shines above the rest.
Disease resistances HR: Vd, Fol1-3, ToMV, IR: Ma, TYLCV, TSWV
Please contact your local sales representative for more information or to place an order.
VERDE F1 CAPSICUM
Written by Peter Mullins on 10 April, 2022.
Looking for a high quality, high yielding, large blocky capsicum which is an attractive shiny green and slow to turn red?
VERDE is the one for you! The plant is compact and sturdy allowing for the harvest of 2-4 premium 10 x 10cm, 4 lobed blocky fruit, and is highly suited to get into that early season market with premium green fruit.
VERDE has HR to Xcv 1,2,3 and has performed well in all capsicum growing areas.
Please contact your local sales representative for more information or to place an order.
Jumbo Jalapeno
Written by Tammy Smith on 26 Jan, 2022.
Jumbo is a new jalapeno chilli with a strong plant and strong fruit set. One of Jumbo's benefits is the continuous fruit setting.
The fruit has dark green, thick walls with strong pungency and size are 11 x 5cm, with 40-50 gr average weight. Jumbo also boasts high resistance to Bacterial leaf spot.
Please contact Nancy Jimenez or your local sales representative for more information or to place an order for seeds now in stock.
Singing Contralto
Written by Tammy Smith on 26 Jan, 2022.
Contralto is a new bunching broccoli variety with excellent bolting tolerance. Contralto has tight heads with a closed habit and long stems.
With late maturity, it is best harvested in early spring in the cooler regions.
With seeds due to arrive February 2022, please contact Kosta Popov or your local sales representative for more information.
Alamos Alignment
Written by Tammy Smith on 26 Jan, 2022.
Alamo's attractive colour, dome shape and smooth head are all attributes which make it an ideal variety for the summer and autumn harvest in Victoria and the winter and spring harvest for Qld and Western Australia.
With 10-11 weeks to maturity, Alamo is an easy to harvest variety, and ideal for growers looking for a heavy head broccoli.
With seeds instore now, please contact Kosta Popov or your local sales representative for more information.
King of the Greys
Written by Tammy Smith on 14 Nov, 2021.
King Grey is Lefroy Valley's single grey pumpkin. It is a hybrid grey pumpkin, with a semi bush style habit, which matures in 90 - 100 days.
The fruit are a large uniform shape with slight ribbing. One of the beneficial characteristics of King Grey is its small seed cavity. Flesh is deep orange and of outstanding quality.
Other benefits include its intermediate resistance to Powdery Mildew. King Grey should not be stored for an extended period. IR: Gc.
Lefroy Valley has seed instore now, please contact Chris Newmarch on 0408 786 899 or your local sales representative for more information.
Jag the Jaguar
Written by Warren Ford on 14 Nov, 2021.
Jaguar is Lefroy Valley’s newest addition to the green bean range.
It has a strong dark green plant which produces large numbers of pods during warm conditions. Pods are set well off the ground and the plant remains upright through to harvest.
The pods are 13-14cm long, dark green, semi pubescent and very straight.
Jaguar has an excellent disease package, with High Resistance to Bean Common Mosaic Virus (BCMV) and Anthracnose (Cl), and Intermediate Resistance to Rust (Ua).
It has also shown strong field tolerance to Cow Pea Mottle Mosaic Virus (CPMMV), in trials conducted by the Queensland Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF).
Lefroy Valley currently have good stocks of seed available for the summer and autumn plantings. Please contact Warren Ford or your local sales representative for more information.
A Field Stand Out
Written by Nick Laminski on 07 Sep, 2021.
Bunching Spring Onion TUNDRA F1 (ONN 96150)
In the recent Lockyer Valley Growers field day, bunching spring onion TUNDRA (ONN 96150) stood out in the field, due to its exceptional uniformity and strong field tolerance against tip dieback of the leaves.
Commercial seed will be available from August 2021.
Contact your local sales representative for more information.
An English Leek
Written by Bruno Tigani on 07 Sep, 2021.
Exeter leek features erect blue green foliage, with a tight fan for ease of harvest and a uniform long shank.
It has a very adaptable harvest segment, seeding in Southern region from July to early January, which makes harvesting from January to Sep.
Commercial seed is available now for dispatch from our Melbourne warehouse.
Contact your local sales representative or Leek Manager Bruno Tigani.
New European Wild Rockets
Written by Tammy Smith on 07 Sep, 2021.
Lefroy have three new EWR in our range. All three bring positive advantages to the babyleaf rocket market.
The first of these is Karina, a hybrid European Wild Rocket for autumn and winter production although it can be used all year round. The leaf is very serrated, medium dark green and very thick. Karina’s hybrid vigour means that it has the potential to punchout an extremely uniform leaf shape even after the first or second cut. Karina is fast growing, with excellent yields, good aroma and tolerant to cold conditions. It also shows strong field tolerance to bolting.
The second line Esme European Wild Rocket has very dark green uniform leaves. Leaf shape is very serrated with good intermediate leaf width between broad and narrow. Suited to production in all production slots. Esme has the added advantage of intermediate resistance to Downy mildew.
Fenmore is the final New European Wild rocket, it is exceptionally uniform, with a 3D leaf style. Leaves are vigorous, dark green, perfectly serrated, and thick. Excellent yield potential in the first cut, due to high leaf numbers. Fenmore has medium bolting tolerant.
Seed should be available for all three lines in October 2021.
Contact your local sales representative or Nick Laminski for further information.
Award Winning - Gatton Expo 2021
Written by Tammy Smith on 24 July, 2021.
Despite the Victorian lockdown preventing some delegates and growers attending, organizers estimated about 1000 people went through the University of Qld - Gatton site over the 2-day Lockyer Valley growers expo.
Lefroy Valley along with 10 other seed companies displayed their latest and greatest vegetable varieties for the public to feast on. Lines on display included beans, cabbage, lettuce, kale, spinach and onions. Machinery vendors and local nurseries were also exhibiting on site.
Despite the large amount of seed companies on display, Lefroy Valley was victorious in claiming the Lockyer Valley Growers - Best Vegetable Seed Company Display award. This was especially rewarding, considering Lefroy Valley were amongst international seed companies all vying to claim the award. Months of preparation went into the expo plot as the Lefroy Valley team worked on timing the varieties maturity to perfection. Cold, wet conditions before the day could have been disastrous but the high-quality seedlings powered on to be ready for a glorious winter day.
The tent was guarded by Leroy on his plough, with his pumpkin patch making for great photos for young and old. Full of all the produce that we couldn’t fit in the field, the tent provided a place for growers to familiarize themselves with the characteristics of Lefroy Valley varieties and meet with familiar faces, that they have always dealt with.
Contact your local sales representative or Nick Laminski for further information.
New Generation Spinach
Written by Nick Laminski on 27 June, 2021.
Dallas is the latest addition to the Lefroy Valley range of baby spinach with a complete disease package of HR: Pe 1-18 and IR: Ao(white rust).
Dallas is a fast-growing variety with thick upright dark green leaves. It has a high number of paddle shaped leaves, with potential for high yields. Best suited from cold shoulder into the winter slot in mild production areas.
Cocopah is the little sister also with HR: Pe 1-18 and suited to the cold shoulder season.
Cocopah is medium fast-growing variety with very dark green erect leaves which are semi savoyed and oval paddle shaped. Seed is available now.
Contact your local sales representative or Nick Laminski for further information.
The Mallee
Written by Ryan Blackney on 27 June, 2021.
Lefroy Valley have quality seeds of iceberg lettuce. For the first time, we have the genetic strength to cover all production windows in processing and fresh market segments.
For the cool slot, Mallee and Marimo are commercially available. They have strong winter vigour with the power to produce uniform glossy, dark green heads under cool conditions. In cool southern climates Marimo and Mallee are harvested through winter until early summer. In warmer climates harvest period includes winter and early spring.
Marimo produces large, heavy heads and is for fresh market and processing. HR: Bl 16-36. Mallee produces medium sized heads for fresh market. HR: Bl 16-36.
For the summer and warm shoulder slots look out for trials of Citadel, Crusade, Fortress & Rampart, which have shown outstanding potential in summer 2021 trials.
Contact your local sales representative or Ryan Blackney for further information.
Lefroy's Laser Light
Written by Nancy Jimenez on 27 June, 2021.
Laser is an outstanding roma tomato with a very strong clean plant which is highly adaptable. At 100-140g in size, Laser provides a high potential yield- and maintains good size right to the top of the plant.
An important asset of this roma variety is the firmness of the fruit which provides good shelf life and transportability. Shape and flavour are well recognised in the markets, making Laser one of the more popular Roma tomatoes for growers. Just as importantly, Laser has a complete disease package with HR: Vd, Fol1-3, ToMV, IR: Ma, TYLCV, TSWV.
Contact your local sales representative or Nancy Jimenez for further information.
Our Warrior Onions
Written by Tammy Smith on 06 March, 2021.
Short day onions require daylight (10-12 hours) to bulb and are generally grown in Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Victoria and South Australia i.e., north of about 35 degrees latitude. Depending on variety and location, planting starts in February through until early June. Generally short-day onions are now all hybrids, with their improved vigour, uniformity and disease resistance.
Lefroy Valley has a range of short-day hybrids from extra early through to medium late maturity. CAESAR is the earliest in the range with a strong root system and excellent brown skin colour. Our New early for the second early sowing slot is AGRIPPA, it has exceptional bulb shape and uniformity with a dark brown skin colour. SPARTAN has become the standard for quality and colour for mid early short-day segment. TROJAN has consistently produced some of the highest yields in the medium short-day segment, with a very uniform bulb shape. THOR is a large onion for the medium late short-day slot. While INYATI which means Buffalo in Zulu, is a strong variety for the late short-day segment. Quality, performance and consistency has been very strong over the past 3 seasons, in several of the short-day sowing areas.
New material for large scale screening this season will include our first red short-day ONN 95862 R in our range and the brown onions ONN 95185, ONN 95543.
Contact Nick Laminski or your local sales representative for further information.
Best of the Broccoli
Written by Tammy Smith on 06 March, 2021.
After many years of research, Lefroy Valley has developed varieties to cover planting for 12 months of the year for the different regions of Australia. Here to mention some old but also new varieties coming up and available for grower’s programs.
Viper is a proven variety for warm weather harvest, soon will be replaced by Alamo. Alamo is giving you Viper’s maturity with better presentation and yield.
Cassius for mild weather harvest will do transition between warm and cold weather.
Spinks is the benchmark for colder weather harvest and six months harvesting period. It is hard to go against him with only 3 harvest per block over cold period and high yield.
Brutus is a newcomer and settles in very short but important timeslot; when cold weather varieties are coming to the end of their harvesting timeslot and spring varieties are still not performing the best, Brutus is making this transition very easy.
And finally, Blackjack, the tough old school performer, will take you from cold to warm weather and continue performing with excellent results.
Contact Kosta Popov or your local sales representative for further information.
Disease Key Definitions - Explained
Written by Tammy Smith on 09 December, 2020.
In short HR provides greater resistance than IR
High Resistance HR: Highly resistant plant varieties would highly restrict the growth and development of the specified pest or pathogen under normal growing conditions and pest pressure when compared to susceptible varieties. These plant varieties may, however, exhibit some symptoms or damage under heavy pest pressure or stressful growing conditions.
Intermediate Resistance IR: Intermediately resistant plant varieties would restrict the growth and development of the specified pest or pathogen. The plant variety may however exhibit a greater range or degree of symptoms when compared to a highly resistant variety. Intermediately resistant plant varieties will still show less severe symptoms or disease damage than susceptible plant varieties when the crop is grown under similar environmental conditions and is subjected to the same disease or pest pressure.
Please see our website for individual product resistances or check with your local sales representative for further details.
Microherbs are King
Written by Bruno Tigani on 09 December, 2020.
CRIMSON KING Purple Basil is the latest addition to our growing micro herb range.
Crimson King has a deep purple colour at emergence, a very high purity and a mild basil flavour. It provides a strong colour contrast to standard green basil and is very popular with micro herb growers, where vibrant colour is such a strong sales point for their produce.
The Lefroy Valley micro herb range is rapidly expanding, with a focus on high quality seeds and superior agronomic traits such as colour, flavour and texture. Our standard products include coriander, both mono germ and standard, all popular basil types, a full range of parsley and many other species. Please see our website or contact us for full details.
Please see our website for more products or check with your local sales representative for further details.
Enna towers above the rest
Written by Peter Mullins on 09 December, 2020.
ENNA is an ancient town right in the middle of the Italian island of Sicily.
Located at an altitude of 931m on the peak of a mountain, it towers over the surrounding landscape. Like its namesake, new indeterminate roma variety ENNA F1 towers above competitors in many aspects. Under warm moist conditions in the North Queensland growing season the bush was conspicuous for its lack of disease under Stemphilium and Alternaria pressure.
Fruit are a uniform oval roma shape with limited nipples and with good firmness and extended shelf life. The full disease package which includes High Resistance to ToMV:0-2, TSWV, Pf:A-E, Va, Vd and Intermediate Resistance to TYLCV, MA, Mi, Mj, provides the flexibility for this variety to be grown in all production areas and even in unheated greenhouse.
Please see our website for more products or check with your local sales representative for further details.
Spinach the Pop Vriend Way
Written by Tammy Smith on 29 Sep, 2020.
Disease resistance is key when it comes to spinach breeding, especially when it comes to the high-quality hybrid varieties. Pop Vriend’ s ‘spinach guru, Jan de Visser has been actively involved in the Pop Vriend spinach program for 27 years. Together with the spinach team at Pop Vriend, Jan undertakes substantial field research, in close cooperation with the global specialists, in order to always ‘stay ahead’.
This constant focus has allowed Lefroy Valley to bring Australian growers a continually evolving range of spinach lines. The next generation of Pe 1-17 lines, including PV1526, Cocopah, Dallas and Bandera have strong disease resistance along with yield and exceptional colour.
PV1526 has a medium fast growth rate with oval paddle shaped leaves that are medium dark green. Harvesting in the cool and warm shoulders PV 1526 has resistance to Pe 1-17.
Dallas is a very fast-growing variety, with thick dark green leaves which are paddle shaped. Suited to cold shoulder to winter harvesting with Pe 1-17 and Ao – White Rust resistance.
Please contact your local Sales Representative or Spinach Manager Nick Laminski for more details.
Bullhorns for All Seasons
Written by Tammy Smith on 23 Sep, 2020.
Lefroy Valleys portfolio of bullhorn capsicums provides options to satisfy all growing areas and seasons.
BULLSWEET F1 has become the industry standard over many years, and still continues to satisfy growers and market needs. It produces a strong plant which is able to carry a heavy yield of large bullhorn capsicums. Fruit are firm with an attractive dark red colour. HR: TMV
MATADOR F1 is the new kid on the block although it has been around for long enough to be a favourite for many growers. It has a slightly wider shoulder than Bullsweet, thicker flesh resulting in slightly heavier fruit. HR to TSWV is an advantage for certain production areas.
Forerunner
Written by Tammy Smith on 21 Sep, 2020.
Forerunner was one of the standouts from over 300 hybrid sweetcorn variety trials at Bowen Research Centre
Forerunner is a strong clean plant with excellent disease resistance. High potential yield. Cobs are 18-20 cm with good husk cover, tip fill and flag leaf, and golden kernels, maturity in 88 days. Excellent trial results in Nth Qld and Lockyer Valley.
Disease package consists of:
- HR: MDMV IR: Ps-other, Ps-Rp1d, Et
- Ps-other - Common rust - other
- Ps-Rp1d - Common rust - Rp1d
- MDMV - Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus
- Et - Northern Leaf Blight
Stockade has also been preforming well in Queensland. With 18cm cobs with excellent husk cover and tipfill. Will develop a flag leaf during summer. The plant is a strong, clean single stalk plant, with no suckers. Excellent disease package also.
With A Cherry On Top
Written by Tammy Smith on 20 Sep, 2020.
ROSIEF1 is a high-quality cherry tomato which is produced on a compact determinate bush. This means it is early into production with a concentrated high potential harvest providing the option of limited or no pruning. Fruit averages 15g, is firm, sweet and resistant to splitting, allowing flexibility at harvest time. HR: Va, Fol1-3, ToMV, TYLCV
ROUGEF1 is a growers’ variety which produces outstanding quality fruit which is attractive to the market. ROUGE produces large cherry tomato fruit 20-25g which do not have green shoulder. Fruit is very firm and resistant to splitting, and colours up to a bright red after harvest. The bush and the fruit stand up well to rain events during harvest allowing for consistent yield and quality. HR: Va, Fol1-2, ToMV, Ma IR: TYLCV