 |
|
-California, traditional stone fruit growing
region vs. low chill stone fruit growing region.
|
Sun World is the only stone fruit breeder in California
operating a separate breed program within a low chill region. We
focus on development of peaches, nectarines, plums and apricots
specifically for low chill regions throughout the world. 'Low chill'
refers to the 'chilling requirement', or
the number of hours of
winter temperatures
between 32 and 450F
(0-7.20C)
required for trees to come
out of dormancy and
produce fruit. Low
chill cultivars require relatively little winter chilling to produce
fruit, so they can be grown in non-traditional fruit growing regions
where winters are relatively short and mild.
For decades growers
have been intrigued
by the idea of growing
stone fruit in low chill regions where fruit can be harvested as much as
a month before traditional fruit growing regions, but until recently
they have been limited to cultivars with marginal commercial quality.
We have turned the corner on low chill cultivar development and the
production and quality of today's low chill cultivars rival those grown
in traditional regions.
Supechfifteen
In 2001 Sun World patented three new low chill peaches.
Supechfifteen is a breakthrough in low chill variety development because
of its productivity, size and flavor for the ultra-early season.
It is an outstanding variety for low chill regions:
-
Supechfifteen
harvest in a low-chill region can be competed
before the earliest harvest begins in traditional-chilling
regions. In the Coachella Valley of California, Supechfifteen
harvest is completed in the first half of April, while peach
production in the southern San Joaquin doesn't begin until
after mid-April.
-
With a chilling requirement of only 150 C.H.
the variety is very consistent in low chill regions.
-
Size is naturally very large (66mm+) so that
girdling to obtain commercial size is often unnecessary.
|
