Kewalo – big seeds & tiny seeds

• Grown, sold, and described by Bunny Hop Seeds
• Plant growth: determinate
• Leaf type: regular leaf
• Time to maturity: midseason
• Germination tested after Hot Water Treatment for fungal and bacterial diseases
• Approx. number of seeds per pack: 40+

“Kewalo” is one of the first varieties I was able to successfully grow in the ground here in the Florida Panhandle. It was developed by UH-CTAHR (College of Tropical Agriculture, University of Hawaii) to have specific traits that would enable survival against nematodes, heat, humidity, and diseases specific to a hot, humid climate with sandy soil. Kewalo is reportedly tolerant to bacterial wilt and tobacco mosaic virus, resistant to nematodes, fusarium wilt, gray leaf spot and one strain of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV). I cannot confirm or deny any of these except for resistance to nematodes, tolerance (which actually looked more like resistance) to bacterial wilt, and possible resistance to a strain of TSWV. It also sets fruit in the heat.
I did act upon a quest this year to find and list the heat tolerant red slicers with the best flavor. Kewalo was in this group, and its excellent smooth flavor and meaty texture pushed it to the top four varieties in this group.
NOTE: In this batch there are tiny seeds (probably non-viable) mixed with the big seeds and spending hours sorting them out is not something I can do now. So I have increased the number of seeds to greater than 40, and will sell these mixed seed size packets at a discount. You should still have over 15 big good seeds in each packet.