Atlas

Outstanding Qualities

• Large, uniform fruit
• Healthy productive plants
• Industry standard for processing
• Very good yield potential

Atlas F1 hybrid is a Cucurbita moschata type butternut bearing large fruit with excellent fruit qualities. Atlas is widely adapted for planting in all growing regions and the overall vigour of this variety tends to make it less susceptible to diseases. Yield potential is very good. Fruit set is excellent and covers a long bearing season. Fruit shape is similar to that of Waltham and fruit weigh between 2 and 3 kg in summer. Atlas is also well adapted for cooler season harvests as fruit are smaller and suitable for the fresh market. The flesh texture is very firm and the rind is very smooth. The rind colour is tan when mature. The mature fruit has an excellent shelf life. The fruit is used as traditional butternut however the superior flesh quality makes Atlas ideal for processing. This is the variety of choice for most processors.

Special Varietal Requirements

• Do not over-fertilise with Nitrogen, especially close to fruit maturity. We suggest only 90 kg per ha over the growing seasonIdeal plant population is 10 000 – 12 000 plants per ha.
• We do not recommend more than 15 000 plants per ha.
• Irrigation in the afternoon is not recommended