Seed
companies have developed “value-added” seed that gives
vegetable and flower crops a kick-start in growth to better compete
with the transplant market.
The seed industry continues to increase seed quality and produce products
with higher germination percentages, higher vigor and accelerated
field performance. Seed enhancement coatings and film treatments provide
disease protection and make planting more efficient, says Paul Bennett,
president of Sakata Seed America Inc. or Morgan Hill, California.
The system, known as “priming,” enables seed enhancements
for greenhouse operations and vegetable growers who direct seed,”
says John Nelson, marketing manager for Sakata.
“We’ve developed Primax, a value-added product that can
be a major benefit to greenhouse growers. This primed seed emerges
faster and grows more uniformly in soils where temperatures are not
optimum for panting. Primax seed in cantaloupe has proven to be a
tremendous advantage. It provides a little extra boost on the front
end and produces more plants per square acre.”
Bennett explains: “We make physiological changes in the seed
by moistening it. This starts internal development of the seed. Then
we halt the process just prior to breaking through the seed coating.
The seed is dried down again.”
Priming gives vegetable and flower crops an extra boost under adverse
planning situations. It enhances vigor and produces a more uniform
stand.
Primed seed is slightly more expensive, but those costs are more then
recovered on the back end, Nelson says. The bottom line is strengthened
by better yields and by the grower’s ability to meet the earliest
markets that will produce the best return for the crop.
Bernie Hamel, marketing director for Harris Moran Seed Co. of Modesto,
California, says he looks at the seed as the package of genetics that
works in the growers’ field whether sown in the greenhouse and
transplanted or used for on-farm direct seeding.
“The quality of the crop goes back to what plant traits are
in the seed,” he says. “Some crops lend themselves to
direct seed and others to transplants. You have to determine what
your cost per acre will be and how much value the traits in the seed
have to the grower. Growers prefer whatever is most cost effective
for particular crop. Direct seed vs. transplant always come down to
an economic decision, and every commodity and every field can present
a different scenario.”
Greenhouse markets for seed companies are expanding at a rate of 10
percent to 15 percent per year as breeders improve genetics.
Mike Kuehn, plant breeder at the Harris Moran research center in Davis,
California, says seed prices will find an economical level that works
for growers. As a breeder of processing tomato varieties, Kuehn seed
advantages to value-added seed. He estimates about half the 280,000
acres of processing tomatoes in central California are direct seeded.
It’s a grower preference, Kuehn says. Water supply situations
and planting schedules often dictate whether you want to direct seed
or go the transplant route. Early season tomatoes are usually direct
seeded, but both systems have their place. Both have their advantages.
“Frankly, there will always be a place for transplant, especially
when a grower is trying to play catch-up. But there is no replacement
for good quality genetics,” Nelson says.
---Ron Goble, Western Editor
From The Grower/November 2002
