Despite very bad weather conditions in September, Bayer CropScience looks back on the Nunhems lettuce demo weeks in a very positive way. “Especially now, we could show our customers how strong Nunhems lettuce varieties perform under difficult weather conditions,” says Stefan Hermans, Sales Specialist Lettuce.
During a period of 3 weeks, growers and retailers from all over the world were able to visit the demo location of Bayer CropScience Vegetable Seeds in ’s-Gravenzande. The Crop team lettuce welcomed visitors from many European countries, but also from the United States, Canada, South-Africa, Chile and Australia. “The combination of the outdoor lettuce demo and the indoor hydroponic lettuce demo was very well received by our visitors," says Peter Does, Product Specialist Lettuce.
The outdoor demo field not only showed the complete Nunhems commercial lettuce assortment but also the most promising trial varieties for outdoor lettuce production in Europe. In addition, it included the Nunhems worldwide highlights, plus the baby leaves and spinach assortment.
In Iceberg the trial variety NUN 00177 LTL° performed very well and it will be introduced commercially in the coming season. In the Nunhems Iceberg assortment NUN 00177 LTL fits with Gondar, Templin and Skindel. It is an iceberg with a larger head shape which performs especially well in medium and heavy soils. The variety has an excellent field life and a long harvest window. The NUN 00177 LTL makes a little more leaf coverage which protects very well against sunburn, heavy rains, frost, etc. Due to the stable head shape, a slightly upright base and smooth ribs, the variety has an excellent field life and a long harvest window. The NUN 00177 LTL can be harvested very fast. “The variety seems to be strong against diverse soil diseases, which we encountered often this autumn because of the wet weather conditions.” says Stefan Hermans. “Next to the introduction of NUN 0177 LTL we will continue with NUN 00173 LTL° in our trials. This variety is a little smaller and gains weight a bit faster, which makes it suitable for the lighter sandy soils. Both icebergs are suitable for all season production.”
