Weight, prolificacy, earliness, vigor, and eating quality— La Vida F1 obtained a ‘very good’ mark on each of these qualities of hybrid calabaza among the farmer-participants of the variety’s field demo tour in Dumalag, Capiz.
Edilberto Panuncia, a 61-year-old calabaza grower from Dumalag town in Capiz shared his experience with La Vida F1, Allied Botanical Corporation’s new hybrid calabaza under the Condor Quality Seeds brand. He bought a 120-seed Condor Jr. canister to grow on his 480 m2 farm lot in Barangay Dolores.
According to him, La Vida F1 is notable for its earliness, as male and female flowers simultaneously appear after 45 days from sowing. He further said that the variety is very vigorous because it withstood heavy rains and strong winds brought about by the low-pressure area in the Visayas region in mid-August 2021.
On 9 October 2021, ABC Agronomist Aljohn Legarda conducted a field tour during the first harvest of La Vida F1. Panuncia and his team harvested 240 kilos of La Vida F1 with fruits weighing 5–6 kg each. Attendees of the activity were amazed by the heavy, high-quality fruits of the La Vida F1 and intended to plant the variety for their upcoming planting schedule.
Traders have noted the variety’s excellent shipping quality and storability. Moreover, La Vida F1 is said have malagkit or maligat flesh, a slightly glutinous texture when cooked
La Vida F1 is a very prolific, all-year-round hybrid variety with green skin with a light green pattern, bright yellow flesh, and good eating quality. Its fruits are flat round with an average of 4–6 kg weight each. It matures after 80–90 days from sowing. The variety has intermediate resistance to Squash Mosaic Virus, Cucurbit Mosaic Virus, and Powdery Mildew.
