Commercial Variety Trials
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2002 Commercial Variety Trial Results
Melon
Cucumber
Summer Squash
Winter Squash
FCGP Trials
Melon Trial Results
Cucumber Trial Results
Summer Squash Trial Results
 Winter Squash Trial Results
Click on picture to see the trial results
  • Growers will conduct on-farm trials comparing newly developed varieties with their standard. Feedback will be collected on their performance to identify characteristics and varieties that fit regional farms, markets, and alternative growing techniques.
  • Cornell’s Department of Plant Breeding will work with other public breeders to disseminate new varieties for growers and seed companies to trial.
  • Replicated trials will be conducted on organic farms and with regional seed companies to provide quantitative data on promising varieties and how they perform under organic conditions.

For more information, please contact Michael Glos or call at 607-657-2860
Changes in the seed industry have led to a decline in varieties that perform well in the Northeast. The organic/alternative farming community has been most affected by these changes, thus much of the PSI project focuses on this community. Public plant breeders may have developed varieties suitable for the Northeast, but large seed companies have not commercialized these varieties for economic and/or other reasons. We want to access these “off the shelf varieties” and look at how they perform in organic systems, which will hopefully lead to some varieties being commercialized by small seed companies.

During the 2002 growing season, we conducted 7 replicated trials on organically managed land throughout New York State. The goal was to evaluate the performance of publicly bred cucurbit and tomato germplasm under organic conditions. There were 2 tomato trials, 1 winter squash trial, 2 melon trials, and 2 slicing cucumber trials. All materials were developed using traditional breeding methods (NON-GMO).