That gray melon from Charleston

Agricultural Research, Oct, 1994 by Sean Adams

Provider also had resistance to the common bean mosaic virus and others, including the pod mottle virus, and to powdery mildew. Over 9 years of testing in the South, Provider averaged 280 bushels per acre, ranking first in overall performance in 6 of the years and second in the other 3 years of field trials.

* Wando, a pea released in 1943, is heat tolerant, making it ideal for growing in the South. As recently as 3 years ago, 76 seed catalogs still listed Wando--more than any other Charleston variety.

* Bettersnap (1994), Bettergro (1991), and Bettergreen (1991) are the newest southern pea releases to come out of the lab. Fery says Bettersnap was increased this spring by a leading southern seed company for production and processing this fall. Bettergro is being retailed by the South Carolina Foundation Seed Association. Bettergreen was processed last year "with excellent results" by the leading seller of frozen southern peas and is being processed under the company's "Cadillac" label in 1994.

* Homestead, a tomato released in the 1950's, was the No. 1 fresh market tomato for more than a decade after its release. Like Charleston Gray and Mainstream melons, it has also been used by private companies to develop hybrids now available in most seed catalogs.

* Carolina Bunch (1992) is the latest in a long list of multiple- disease- and insect-resistant sweet-potato varieties released by the lab over the last decade. Carolina Bunch is a compact plant designed for the smaller confines of the home garden, according to Dukes. Other orange-fleshed varieties with this resistance that have made inroads in the market are Excel (grown on more than 5,000 acres in 1993), Regal, Resisto, and Southern Delite [See "Breeding Super Sweetpotatoes," Agricultural Research, Nov. 1989, pp. 24-25].

Dukes says that because of their unique resistance to insects and diseases, many of these varieties and other elite sweetpotato breeding lines from the lab have been distributed to sweetpotato breeders worldwide.