Lefroy Valley held it’s 12th annual Gisborne Sweetcorn Field day on Monday 27th February at Bushmere Road. As per normal it was a great day, a good turn out and an excellent meal at the Bushmere Arms.
Processing Supersweet Yellows:
This year we placed larger field trials of HY 1656 with good results. This variety has better colour than our standard Galaxy. It has performed well in Gisborne, Hawkes Bay and Blenheim. HY 1656 has good yield recovery and a strong plant habit. HY 1656 is suitable for cobettes and IQF kernel. Galaxy remains a quality performer for use as IQF kernel with great factory recovery.
Repeat trials from last season included HY 4739, 2795 and 2786. In addition the following are first look varieties HY 2769, 1781, and 2389. These have many desirable traits including colour, earlier maturity and high recovery.
Freshmarket Sweetcorn:
Entrée is our old warhorse, but nothing beats this variety to plant as an early. Entrée will survive tough conditions and works well as an excellent start-up. This is followed by our new variety HB 2349 which is slightly earlier than Bonfire. Both have great flavour, a strong plant and are rust resistant.
For yellows HY 2769 has potential. We will be trialling this variety widely this season. HY 2769 has great colour, rowing, flavour and a nice deep kernel. Definitely worth a look!
White Sweetcorn:
Something new, ‘white’ sweetcorn variety Snowgum. This is an exceptional variety with nice rowing, great flavour and good length cob. The husk cover is tight and the flag leaf presents very well.
