A recent article published on the Nunhems website discusses two new cucumber varieties from BASF – UPstage and UPtrace. These are described as strong and vigorous Hi-Tech cucumber varieties.

Van Gog Kwekerijen is a large 14ha indoor strawberry and cucumber growing business based in the Netherlands in Horst, Helmand and Asten. Grower Peter van Ninhuys is a fan of UPstage having grown it for 2 years for spring cultivation.  He comments “It’s just a good variety: productive and doesn’t flag easily. It has no splitting heads and the leaves stand upright, so the light is captured effectively.” He also comments the plant can save labour: although the plant may produce double cucumbers in the axil in the first month that need thinning, afterwards there are no doubles, the leaf is upright, and it is a very quick and easy to pick.  Van Ninhuys believes there is no better variety in spring for high-wire cultivation than UPstage. Growers in NZ have also found the UPstage is a strong plant with excellent production due to shorter internodes and high vigour.

UPtrace is a new variety in NZ for Hi-Tech production. This winter/spring variety has shown excellent yield in both umbrella and high-wire cultivation methods. The fruit size is uniform around 10-12 inches or 25-30cm. We have noticed it was slower to start picking but overtook the standards overall with about 2 more leaves and about 1 cucumber ahead per square metre.

Thanet Earth a cucumber growing operation based in the UK with around 8 Ha of production have selected UPtrace especially due to its intermediate resistance to mildew and yield potential. UPtrace yielded 160 cucumbers per square metre at the end of June which was an excellent result!!

Phone Paula O’Hanlon on 021731009 or email paulao@lefroyvalley.co.nz for more information.

https://www.nunhems.com/gb/en/news_events/News/2023/Strong-and-vigorous-cucumbers-from-BASF.html

Images of Uptrace.