John Beasley
Because of the very favorable results most producers had with Georgia Green in 1997, there will be a large demand for seed of Georgia Green in 1998. The good news is that there should be an abundant supply of Georgia Green seed for any producer who wishes to plant as many acres as they desire. According to officials with Georgia Crop Improvement Association (GCIA), almost exactly one-half of the acreage dedicated to the certified seed increase program in 1997 was in Georgia Green. With the quantity of Georgia Green seed that will be available in 1998, there should be no reason for producers to purchase small size (less than medium) or inferior quality Georgia Green seed. Previous research indicates that small seed, especially smaller than 16's, and low quality seed result in lower yields.
There will be a lot of interest in the new release out of the Florida breeding program. We have refered to it as UF 91108 the past couple of years but now understand it will be named 'Florida MDR 98.' The "MDR" refers to multiple disease resistance. This looks to be a potentially outstanding cultivar for the future, but it will take a couple of years to increase the seed to an appreciable amount for commercial production. In fact, according to sources in Florida, there will be enough seed to plant approximately 3,000-4,000 acres. Almost all of this acreage will be for seed increase. This new cultivar will have the same to slighter better resistance to tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) than Southern Runner and Georgia Green.
This year will be the second year producers can plant the new cultivar 'Virugard.' It is a release from the AgraTech breeding program and has TSWV resistance similar to Georgia Green. It is a large-seeded runner (almost the size of some virginia cultivars) and in 1997 tended to mature 2 to 3 weeks earlier than GK-7. Seed supply in 1998 should be enough to plant approximately 75,000 acres.
Other newly released cultivars that will have limited seed supplies until seed increase can take place include 'SunOleic 97R' out of Florida and 'High Oleic GK-7' from AgraTech. Both of these cultivars have the high oleic acid trait and will probably be available to producers to grow under special contracts.
Older cultivars which may have limited supply due to lack of demand include Florunner, Sunrunner and Southern Runner. Demand for AT 108, Andru 93 and Marc I will determine seed acreage for 1999 and beyond. There should be adequate supplies of GK-7 and Georgia Runner, however, we expect the demand for Georgia Runner to diminish with the increase in supply of Georgia Green.