Field Report: 2004 On-Farm Trials
With Organic Market Growers
by Micaela Colley, Bulk Seed Representative

Fall harvests, picking pumpkins, storing onions, and sowing cover crops, mark the end of another summer trial season with our cooperating organic market growers. However, even as we gather the last of the 2004 summer field data and select our 2005 bulk seed offerings, the process continues. Growers are now planting fall lettuces to evaluate resistance to downy mildew under cool, wet conditions and sowing spinach that will be monitored for cold hardiness and winter growth. Working with this group of committed growers, looking at varieties in the field, and learning from their years of experience is rewarding and a valuable asset to our organic bulk seed program. The field data we collect and the feedback we receive from our trial growers is an essential component of our bulk seed program and guides our variety selection and development process. Our 2005 bulk seed catalog, available mid-November, includes 182 varieties of a broad range of vegetables, herbs, flowers and cover crops, including 29 new introductions that represent the best of the trials.

We are working to expand our bulk seed offerings for market growers and this year's trials included several potential new introductions. Many came from suggestions and requests from our cooperating market growers. We trial all varieties before introducing them into the catalog to ensure they meet our standards and work well for growers. Bellesque Endive is an exciting new introduction that performed well. It is a rosette forming endive with a ruffled edge on long green leaves that have a sweet, white midrib. In a replicated on-farm trial, Bellesque was less affected by tip burn than other endive varieties and dependably produced large rosette-type heads that the grower, Gathering Together, sold as full heads and as a chopped ingredient in their salad mix.

Pronto beet, another new addition, was a grower favorite and was trialed in four on-farm plantings. Growers liked Pronto, a round bunching beet, for its deep red petioles, round shape, and smooth external texture. In initial evaluations Pronto appeared to be less affected by Rhizoctonia than other beet varieties including a popular hybrid variety. Rhizoctonia, is a bacterial disease that causes rough root texture and lesions on the surface of the roots. Next year we will conduct a replicated trial to further investigate the Rhizoctonia resistance of several beets including Pronto. In this year's trials we also identified several other new varieties with promise for market growers; we will continue testing them before introducing them into the catalog.

Often it takes a large-scale production, as opposed to a small plot size, to really market a variety and evaluate its performance. This year some of our trial growers produced our varieties on a production scale as part of their farm program, allowing us to evaluate the variety through the complete harvesting and marketing process. Heirloom Organics, a 40-acre farm, trialed several of our onions and carrots as well as nearly all of our lettuces on a production scale. We were able to evaluate how each lettuce held up in salads mixes at market. For baby head production (8-10 week old plants), Stuart Dixon's of Heirloom Organics favorite varieties were Green Deer Tongue and Reine de Glaces because they both produce nice rosettes as a small plant, have curling in the leaves to give loft to salads, and have a sweet heart with a succulent crunchy texture. Next year he plans to focus a larger portion of his baby head production around these two varieties. Heirloom Organics also produced our Rossa di Milano Onion, which sold well at farmers markets and was a farm favorite for its beautiful rosey-purple color and unique shape. They are now monitoring our onions in storage for fall keeping, along with other commercial varieties. In Heirloom Organics' summer carrot trials, the Kurota Chantenay was a winner for flavor as it develops sweetness and good flavor in the heat of summer when other varieties sometimes turn bitter or lack flavor.

We regularly evaluate the varieties in our trials for plant vigor. Plant vigor can be genetically based and is an overall indication of plant health. It is also sometimes a function of healthy seed, grown in optimum conditions, with a well developed embryo. Both are beneficial to growers as vigorous plants compete better with weeds, better tolerate disease conditions, and generally are more productive. In this years replicated trials, several of our varieties were more vigorous and grew larger than the same variety from another seed source, including our Lacinato Kale, Tatsoi Mustard, Mizuna Mustard and Scarlet Nantes Carrots. We attribute the greater vigor to our seed growers making genetic selections for plant vigor and to a healthy, organic seed crop producing larger, healthier seed.

Cooperating with organic growers provides a valuable opportunity to evaluate our varieties on working organic farms and to gain familiarity with other commercial varieties on the market. It is also an excellent opportunity for the growers to look at new varieties and identify their own seed and variety selection criteria. As organic growers are required to seek out organic seed sources, participating in trials facilitates identifying varieties that work for them. Many of the farms we work with have apprentice programs and involvement in the trials provides an educational opportunity for beginning farmers to learn about both the trial process and seed and variety selection criteria.

Many thanks to our cooperating organic market growers for another great season of sharing in our experiences and time in the field.

Micaela Colley
Seeds of Change Bulk Seed Field Representative

Photo captions: 1) Micaela Colley discussing kale trials with one of our cooperating on-farm trial growers. 2) Bellesque Endive 3) Pronto Beet 4) Green Deer Tongue Lettuce 2) Reine de Glaces Lettuce 6) Rossa di Milano Onion and 7) Kurota Chantenay Carrot