Ready to race with Jack Miller RZ

The qualifying name for the latest addition to the Rijk Zwaan pepper assortment was finally announced on July 2nd.  A number of orange-pepper growers gathered at the Zwingrow production company in Honselersdijk, the Netherlands, for the official naming ceremony.

As of now, 35-1177 RZ is called Jack Miller RZ, named after the Australian MotoGP1 rider. Miller is riding a Ducati for the Alma Pramac Racing Team this season. So does this signal the end of skating and winter sports-related names for Rijk Zwaan’s pepper varieties? Yes, it does! All new varieties will be named after famous MotoGP riders – past and present – from now on.

Jack Miller on the fast track in North America

In Canada, we are seeing good results in a number of trials both small and large.  When grown with faster climate settings and avoiding cold conditions, we see a plant capable of high production while maintaining fruit size. Jack Miller continues to produce a nice firm fruit with good shape, color, and an excellent size for bagging.  We will continue to watch the variety during the summer, however even with the heat in 2018, growers were satisfied with the size during the season.  

Smooth-running season in Europe
This year, Zwingrow is growing the large blocky orange pepper Jack Miller RZ on approx. 6 hectares at its location in Honselersdijk, the Netherlands. After a successful trial in 2018, Zwingrow decided to fill a whole greenhouse with it in 2019 to enable precise steering and the development of the optimum crop. The season is running smoothly so far: a high yield of large peppers with terrific quality. Although the first fruit set produced slightly smaller fruits, all the peppers have weighed around 200 grams since the second fruit set. They are ready for harvesting just before the major peak occurs in the market and they are fairly regular. The crop is nice and uniform with an open and hence labor-friendly plant, which also makes harvesting more efficient.

Future performance
We are excited to see how Jack Miller RZ will continue to perform over the coming months in North America and Europe and will be closely monitoring its progress.

For more information, contact our North American Pepper Crop Specialist, Bradley Breedveld at b.breedveld@rijkzwaan.com.