Blueleaf® cucumber Insula RZ offers greater insurance for growers

Insula RZ has been an outstanding and consistent performer in our trials. With uniform fruit length in the 34-35cm range and a strong well-balanced plant, Insula RZ has demonstrated that it has the ability to produce over a long harvest window, especially during the cooler autumn, winter and early spring periods.

Growers can expect high yielding crops with good vigour and strong transitional growth. The wide package of resistances, Blueleaf® trait and high quality fruits make Insula RZ a must see variety this year. 

Sales Representative, Steve Natsias, is excited to welcome Insula RZ into Rijk Zwaan’s portfolio this season.

“To have the Blueleaf® trait already there and the added benefit of CGMMV, it really is a good package to offer a grower,” he said.

Blueleaf® cucumber varieties have dark, blue-green foliage. These leaves contain more chlorophyll which enables the plant to absorb more light and this converts into more growth and fruiting. The plant is slower to yellow, meaning it remains productive for longer, even in the case of infection with the cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus. Blueleaf® varieties are also better able to withstand viruses, fungi such as Fusarium and mildew and pests such as whitefly and thrips.

“It's hard to go past the Blueleaf® trait for crop sustainability and endurance,” Steve said. “We do find the fruit traits of Blueleaf® varieties are an improvement compared to non-Blueleaf® varieties. They're darker, they are straighter and they present better. From a visual perspective, they are superior.”

“The combination of Blueleaf® and CGMMV is added insurance. It certainly gives growers a greater likelihood of achieving a more successful crop.”

Since being introduced earlier this year, interest in Insula RZ is coming from every state in Australia.

“In unheated crops, Insula RZ certainly offers the marketplace the desired fruit length for winter production. With existing commercial varieties, the fruits can be a bit shorter, but Insula RZ is longer and also adds the CGMMV equation to the mix – we haven’t had these advantages in our winter segment before,” Steve said.

The cucumber industry has grown it the past five years so it’s advantageous for everyone in the chain to have new varieties on offer.

“We've seen increase in demand in all of the cucumber categories including the continental types,” Steve said.

“There’s a couple of reasons behind that: the affordability of continental cucumbers, particularly for the service sector, and people have acknowledged the quality and shelf-life.”