On August 30, the “Shorashim” nursery inaugurated the new “stealth” seedling she developed at the Moshav Ahituv Club. The “stealth” is a complex seedling for growing cucumbers and melons (pumpkin like), which through special technology manages to evade typical soil diseases that often damage the complex seedlings.

The launch ceremony was attended by the R&D director of the “Shorashim” nursery, Yossi Aviya Malachi, who presented the new product, the national sales manager, Raviv Avakrat, the sales agronomist of “Shorashim” in Ahitov, Rafi Shmueli, and, of course, many cucumber growers mainly from Ahitov.

According to Sagi Malachi, marketing manager of “Shorashim”: “Unlike the traditional method of growing graft seedlings in a light-cold mold, the ‘stealth’ seedling we developed grows in a kind of paper cylinder, which independently holds the seedling, with the cylinders themselves sitting in light-cold or plastic carriers.” In innovative technology, the plant has a very great ability to develop a root system for deep layers of soil, as opposed to graft seedlings that grow in light-cold molds, which have a tendency to develop a lateral root system. Developing a root system in great depth allows the seedling to evade typical soil diseases, such as Poserium, Fithium and other soil diseases. That’s why we also called him a stealth.

Another advantage of the stealth is that its roots are very deep, and thus are less affected by extreme temperature changes, which are more typical of the upper layers of the ground. One of the other advantages of the stealth is its rapidly growing capacity. Regular complex seedlings, which grow in a light-cold mold, go through a kind of ‘shock’ when removed from the mold. Some roots are torn – which puts the seedling at risk of infection with the CGMMV virus, which is transmitted to the plant mechanically through the soil. Such a seedling must first rehabilitate itself before it begins to develop a root system. On the other hand, in the ‘stealth’ technology – the planted seedling in the soil has no ruptures, its chances of contracting the virus the CGMMV is reduced and it begins to grow in the soil immediately, quickly and deeply.”

Due to the evasion of soil diseases and infection with the CGMMV virus, the nursery people thought of the connotation to the American “stealth” (F-117 a fighter jet capable of evading radar). The advertisers had already completed the picture, and decided on the slogan: “Stealth – ground seedling – soil seedling” The “Shorashim” nursery invested about a year in the development of the “stealth”, including an increase in semi-commercial plots, which showed considerable differences between growing the “stealth” and growing the usual graft seedlings. “Due to the success,” Malachi added, “we decided to go out with him and market him completely commercially as early as this winter.

Ground soil seedling

Shorashim Nursery launched the “stealth” – a Graft plant for cucumbers, grown with innovative technology that prevents root tearing and develops roots in depth – allowing it to evade typical soil diseases.