How can you, I thought. But Markus " Merciless" Kobelt didn't let up: Yes, exactly, to invest 1-2 days with a photo shoot in the hottest August of all times (?) on the current breeding fields in Buchs, that was his latest job to me. Now I do like to take photos. But I prefer slightly overcast skies - of course just so that the photos turn out as good as possible, certainly not because of me... But what did I notice during the photo safari, armed with the camera and with the eyes of an outsider. What is growing in Lubera's secret breeding fields?
The choice was between the cultivation fields of the following vegetables: tomatoes, sweet potatoes, peppers and fire beans. And Markus, quite generously, said succinctly that it didn't matter where I started... but it was important to do it now because the plants had recovered somewhat from the hailstorm in July. When I heard this, it was clear to me that I would go into the tomatoes first. According to the motto, first things first. You have to know that tomatoes in the open field are already a challenge per se, but if hailstorms are added, there is often not much left. Blight then has an easy time of it.
Outdoor tomatoes - the next big thing from Lubera?
I knew from Markus, of course, that his current main breeding goal is blight resistance. The first varieties with the crisp name 'Open Sky Outdoor Tomatoes' are already available on Lubera.com.
At the beginning of my professional life, I had been involved with plant protection for a long time. I am more of an entomologist than a phytopathologist, but blight is always a problem in this business... Only in this breeding field - I quickly noticed that the rows are endlessly long - there was not much going on in terms of blight. There was a lot of hail-related necrosis on leaves, stems and tomatoes, but no blight. Instead, there was a lot of healthy new growth. My impression when Markus started growing tomatoes was completely different: brown plant skeletons and healthy plants alternated cheerfully. If that is not progress...
The next conspicuous feature: tomatoes like small hedge plants. Bushy, with many shoots, compact, no higher than 50 cm - and full of flowers. Very exciting, I think. I know the cherry dwarf tomatoes for the pot, they are full of fruit at the end, which looks good, but once these fruits are gone, nothing more comes, the plant is exhausted, doesn't grow any further. But these rear tomatoes have the fruit at the base of the stems, the top continues to blossom and fruit just like normal tomatoes, everything is just massively shortened. What comes to my mind spontaneously? Tomato hedges as compact privacy screens in raised beds or in troughs on balconies and terraces - no, better: real "sweet tomato hedges", but Markus will surely conjure up a better name for this group of varieties...
After what felt like about 100 varieties and trial numbers of tomatoes in all sizes and colours, the first impression definitely sticks in my mind: either the blight infestation pressure was very low this year, or here in the Rhine Valley varieties with first-class blight tolerance really do grow. In any case, the pipeline seems to be right...
Tropical plant "Passiflora" mutates into hardy perennial
I admit it... along the last row of tomatoes I was no longer so concentrated. But this was not because the 101st tomato variety was not also photogenic, but because of the immediate neighbourhood: passion flowers - I love passion flowers! Well, Markus didn't say anything about these Passifloras, they are not vegetables, but I couldn't help myself... Recently Markus showed me hardy Passiflora incarnata in a field, which are now growing there in their second year, no, they are proliferating, flowering and fruiting - and I was overwhelmed. Well, P. incarnata is known for its cold tolerance, so strictly speaking one can't speak of mutated, but there are supposed to be quite big differences between the varieties in terms of winter hardiness. The occasional gaps in the rows speak for themselves... Selection work that should be worthwhile! The prospect of heaps of passion fruit ripening year after year on perennially planted Passifloras in the garden definitely makes my heart beat faster...
By the way, the flowers of the Passiflora species discovered next to the tomatoes were much smaller and more inconspicuous than the Incarnata types. The pretty, strongly lobed foliage was very hairy, almost plushy - a protection against evaporation. This species obviously gets by with less water than other Passifloras. To my surprise, there was ALWAYS at least one bee in the flowers, which were about five-fringed in size and not particularly colourful! Interested, I began to roughly check a few dozen flowers - without exception, all were occupied by bees! Some even had two or even three, which meant that there was sometimes a lack of space on the corolla... Passiflora arida, as the species is called, must therefore have a special attraction for bees. Other Passifloras, such as the red P. vitifolia, do not like bees very much. They even have extra nectar glands that attract ants and thus drive away unwanted bees, because these passifloras are more into hummingbirds as pollinators. Oh yes, luckily I had discovered the P. arida in the morning. When I went by again in the afternoon, the bees were gone and all the flowers were already closed... Time enough to turn to the vegetables again!
Peppers à gogo
Whether peppers, block peppers, chilli peppers or snack peppers - we all basically mean the same thing: Capsicum. Just how diverse this pepper can be was once again impressively demonstrated to me in the breeding field. Different sizes, shapes and colours, and all of this nicely arranged plant by plant in rather long rows, at over 30 degrees and in the relentless sun - one doesn't treat oneself to anything else...
Paprikas always remind me of the German traffic light government: you never know what you're going to get, no matter whether the pods are green, yellow or red. Luckily, there are also varieties that have pretty much all colours on the same bush - like Confetti, so you don't have to choose... Despite the colourful illusion that threatens to take you over in the field, it was important to stay calm when taking photos and stoically pick up cultivar after cultivar, always very well-behaved with the number plate, otherwise there would be a huge mess afterwards... If you consider that in addition to the external characteristics, there are also the degrees of pungency, you come to the conclusion that peppers are very grateful for breeders, but also demanding...
Sweet potatoes
Normally, when it comes to vegetables, one looks at plants primarily from a gourmet's point of view. After all, love goes through the stomach. If a plant happens to be visually appealing, it may have a (small) secondary career as an ornamental plant. I'm thinking of spring cabbage or chard, for example. With the sweet potato, however, I think that the path was once reversed. A good 20 years ago, pretty ornamental varieties came onto the market that quickly gained popularity as hanging leaf decorations in bedding and balcony plant combinations. No wonder, people had had their fill of groundsel and moth king, which were planted as structural elements in almost every balcony box at that time. Sweet potatoes were also available in pretty purple or lime, with finger- or heart-shaped foliage, bushy but still pendulous growth and above all: they are perfect for full sun, although partial shade also works well. That there are thick roots sprouting alongside the foliage in the boxes was realised in autumn at the latest, when the summer plants were cleared away - and perhaps one wondered whether the things were edible at all.
And how! But it is only in recent years that sweet potatoes have become more and more important as a vegetable grown in this country. Surprising, really, because the plants are extremely vigorous, healthy and produce high yields. For the home garden, a middle ground would be ideal: not too vigorous, but beautiful foliage and medium tuber formation. In other words: the perfect project for Lubera! I definitely didn't expect to find breeding numbers with beautiful blossoms as an added bonus... Batt ornaments, blossoms, root pleasures - triple pleasure, so to speak...
Fire beans
So far, fire beans have not been at the top of my wish list. Perhaps because there are plenty of flowering annual climbers, such as tunbergia, showy bindweed, passiflora and others, so there are plenty of alternatives. But in the case of the fire bean or the showy bean, the way to a man's heart is through his stomach...
That fire beans are robust and vigorous is obvious at first sight in the breeding field. Quite a few seemed to be in their second year of standing, but even the annuals offered an imposing wall of foliage that would look good on any trellis, trellis or pergola. Pretty much all the tall types easily climbed 2.5 metres. Sometimes a little denser, sometimes thinner, but there was not (much?) hail damage to be seen. In addition, there are the long flower clusters. The spectrum ranged from classic fire red to bicoloured to white. Although quite pretty, the flowers do not have a great distance effect. I was all the more surprised that a rare wood bee appeared and enjoyed the flowers for quite a long time.
I was surprised by the fact that there were several breeding numbers in the second year. When sowing beans in May, it is important to get the timing as good as possible. If it gets cold again after germination, the plants falter, which then affects the whole cultivation period. If I remember correctly, April and May were quite wet and cold this year, so definitely not ideal for beans. Nevertheless, I saw no more than 2 or 3 empty spaces in the whole field. It seems at least that those that are in their second year got off to a good start despite the lousy spring. Selection success or coincidence?
