Outstanding Qualities
- Semi-bush type plants
- High Yield Potential
- Very Uniform Fruit
- Maintain dark green skin colour during storage
Tropicana is an F1 hybrid tropical butternut variety with a very vigorous, semi- bush type plant. It produces high yields with very uniform fruit. The fruit has a dark green skin colour with thin tan coloured stripes running vertically to the blossom end. The fruit has very good storage ability and maintains the dark green skin colour even after long periods of storage. The flesh has an intense dark orange colour and tends to be sweeter compared to the normal butternut type.
Special Varietal Requirements
- Make sure that mature fruit is ripe before picking. Light green stripes must have discoloured into a normal tan colour before picking
CHARACTERISTIC* TROPICANA
KIND F1 hybrid squash (Cucurbita moschata (Duchesne) Duchesne ex Poiret)
TYPE Tropical butternut squash
MATURITY 90 - 100 days
SEASON Widely adapted for production after danger of frost has passed
PLANT TYPE Semi-bush
FRUIT SHAPE Cylindrical, with a bulbous blossom end
RIND COLOUR Dark green thick and thin tan coloured stripes running vertically to the blossom end
YIELD POTENTIAL Very good
MATURE HARVEST MASS 1 – 1.5 kg
SHELF LIFE (MATURE FRUIT) Excellent
UNIFORMITY Excellent
POPULATION GUIDE 12 000 to 15 000 plants per ha
DISEASE REACTION (SCIENTIFIC) -
MARKETS / END USE Fresh market