Grower's book - News
The 6 Lubera theses on the market for edible plants
As is now standard practice, we present a wide range of studies and analyses of sales figures from the online platform lubera.com, operated by our sister company Lubera, at the major events - the IPM at the beginning of the year and the Lubera Days in the middle of the fruit season. This year, the focus was on analyses of the natural demand for fruit, berry and vegetable plants. This resulted in 6 theses, which we discussed intensively with all interested parties at the recent IPM.
These theses...
Read moreFor those who come too early...new data on berry demand AFTER spring
Traditionally, soft fruit plants are delivered to sales outlets and sold off in early spring. Depending on the season, there may or may not be additional deliveries. Using Google data, we show that the demand for certain types of fruit (or the corresponding terms) is sometimes continuous throughout the year or that there is a second peak after spring when the fruit in question is ripe. But can this effect also be demonstrated in specific plant sales? Are we perhaps systematically selling many...
Read morePlants and demographic change – edible plants as a connecting link to the younger generation
In the plant industry, we like to lean back comfortably and contentedly when we hear about demographic change. After all, it can't harm us...Older people are increasingly or at least steadily buying plants...but is this prejudice really true?
Read moreRaspberries 2023 – the ranking of varieties, growth types, fruit colours and plant sizes
In the stationary market, the sales figures for the most important soft fruit variety, raspberries, are largely supply-driven: ultimately, what is sold is what buyers purchase and then what is offered at the points of sale. With the online range of our sister company Lubera.com, the situation is largely reversed: we sell what is in demand.
From mid-February until Christmas, a wide range of 36 raspberry varieties is continuously available. According to the sales figures at Lubera.com, we can...
Read moreVegetable breeding: breeding the outdoor tomato Open Sky Happy Black®
Tomatoes are a good example of how breeding vegetable varieties for the garden works. Breeding is actually easy, but it takes a lot of perseverance and above all continuity until you can finally bring a variety onto the market after six to ten years. In the following, I will briefly explain what is involved in our outdoor tomato breeding programme and how we specifically bred the Happy Black® variety.
Read moreSell more and, above all, sell smarter in the face of buying reluctance and price sensitivity
In view of the darkening economy, consumers are becoming more price-sensitive. They tend to think twice about whether they really need something or can do without it. This trend is also reflected in the garden and is likely to intensify. Derived from this, however, there are also opportunities that plant producers, together with their customers, can make targeted use of.
As always, we at Lubera Edibles try to profit from the trends visible at Lubera.com; we want to learn from them. The sales at...
Read moreThe state of the soft fruit plant market
As a seller you are always in a rather uncomfortable situation. Anything you say can be used against you at any time...and it certainly will be used. By the way, this also applies to sellers of (young) plants...
How is this meant? The spoken and unspoken counter-arguments we always have ready when approached by a salesman: "He's only saying that to sell more..." In any case, with a salesperson one will always relate the truthfulness of his or her remarks to the communicative purpose...
Read moreBreeding as a pivotal point in the variety merry-go-round
In this short interview by Frederik Vollert, Lubera® breeder Raphael Maier talks about the latest developments, focal points and highlights in breeding, which mainly takes place in Buchs in the Swiss Rhine Valley.
Raphael Maier, what are the craziest breeding projects at Lubera® at the moment?
Well, of course I have the feeling that they are all a bit crazy. Probably the hardy passion fruits are already very extreme! Who would think of trying to establish the epitome of tropical fruit in cold...
Read moreSugarbeauties® – the new ornamental sweet potatoes from Lubera Edibles
When the Lubera® breeding team started breeding sweet potatoes a few years ago, the original and real focus was on improved, sweeter yielding varieties for hobby cultivation in the vegetable garden. During the selection work in the seedlings, however, we quickly noticed that the diversity in leaf colour and shape was quite large. Thus, it became clear relatively quickly that it was also worthwhile to select for these characteristics. This is what we did and we are just about to release the first...
Read moreCurrent breeding projects in Buchs - impressions of a photographer
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...
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