Beware of Unscruplulous Red Lady Seedling Growers
As more and more enthusiasts are getting interested in planting Red Lady Papaya, which is very much in demand as ripe table papaya, there are also some seedling growers who are trying to make a fast buck from this papaya variety. Beware of them because they pass seedlings grown from the seeds of the hybrid plants as F1 or first filial generation seedlings.
Sometime in 2006, we tried planting six Red Lady seedlings which we got from Dr. Ronaldo A. Sumaoang, president and CEO of Novatech Agri-Food Industries, and we are now making some money from the fruits even with this limited number. This made us interested to plant some more, and Dr. Sumaoang provided us additional seedlings, which he obtained from a seedling grower
Planted during the last wet season. the plants are now bearing fruits but definitely, the seeds used by the seedling grower were not F1s. The fruits are a clear proof of the segregating characters of the plants, as they van in size, shape, and density. Some plants bear elongated fruits, while the others have oblong fruits. Unfortunately, too, the fruits are not as close to each as those of the Fl. The plants are also tall.
With the hope that he can find Fl seedlings, we requested Dr. Sumaoang last December to provide us additional 50 seedlings as we found more and more that even on a backyard scale, we can produce a good amount of money from the fruits of the Fls. In no time at all. we got 40 seedlings potted in black plastic bags, which were supplied by a seedling grower in Tarlac. The seedlings were lanky (almost 18 inches tall) and most of them had thin trunks with pale leaves.
In our desire to establish the plants right away, we immediately planted them but only to realize that the seedlings were not hardened and may have been grown close to each other, as a good number died soon after planting. Dr. Sumaoang cornered the seedling provider who reportedly confessed that the seedlings were also F2s (second filial generation). See now how some people try to make a fast buck from a commodity that is very much in demand.
Much to our disappointment, we called Toto Barcelona of Harbest who told us that the seedling providers are not his staff. He sent us some replacements but the damage has been done. He said his company sells F1 seeds and teaches buyers to grow seedlings for free.
