Tropical Vegetable Seeds

Cucumber

Cucumis sativus L.

The Southeast Asian cucumber was in East-West Seed's sights from the very beginning of the company. Though heat-loving and popular in the markets of the region already, it was to take a decade of trials before breakthroughs were made. First, the Lonna-5 variety combined downy mildew resistance, longer shelf life, and earliness.

This cultivar dominated the small fruited market overnight in the early 1990s. Another breakthrough came later in 1999, when East-West Seed introduced the Micro-C With its improvements to taste and shape, it is hugely popular to this day in supermarkets, loved by consumers as 'finger- food'. 

Watermelon

Citrullus lanatus

The Philippine watermelon market was once dominated by the dark green watermelon varieties. Upon introduction of Sweet 16 F1, a hybrid green striped watermelon variety, the market landscape has changed.

Consumers began to like the sweet taste of this variety. Improved varieties like Sweet 18 was also introduced in 2007 to address incidence of diseases.

East-West Seed has also introduced new types like the orange delight and red delight varieties. 

Marigold

Tagetes erecta L.

East-West Seed's sun-loving marigolds are prolific plants. We've established ourselves in the last 15-20 years as a high-quality competitor in the marigold market. Our seeds grow dense canopies, flower in abundance, and are bred for their earliness to harvest We work closely with farmers, supporting them with marigold harvesting, transportation, as well as any problems they encounter by sharing our knowledge to help solve them. 

Our marigold yields are of good quality and dazzling color, with strong petal firmness. These superior traits make them popular for cut-flower consumers and ornamental garland-making. Both of these represent hugely popular markets in India, Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam. In addition, the flowers have other uses in medicines, culinary recipes, and in 

perfume making.

Bitter gourd

Momordica charantia

One of East-West Seed's hybrid superstars, our crop innovations with bittergourd started back in 1986. There was great potential for such a high-input, high-priced crop as a profitable source of income for farmers. The most 'bitter' tasting vegetable and popular for its unique taste and many medicinal qualities, the bitter gourd was perfect for hybrid development.

Originally of African and Asian origin, bitter gourd is now grown widely across India, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. East-West Seed has transformed a tentative semi-commercial crop into a major commercial crop in the tropical regions. 

Hot pepper

Capsicum annuum L

East-West Seed has over 25 years of breeding expertise in hot peppers. The most significant contributions we've made for the farmers in Asia are the small-fruited erect varieties which are easily harvested, replacing the previous open-pollinated variety

The hot pepper is indispensable in cuisines all over the world for adding spice and elevating flavor. In our growing markets in Africa, we are focusing on the chinense and habanero types—also very popular in South and Central America.

Our hybrids have a much more stable uniformity of fruit and superior shipping quality. They are also bred for higher yield, and the fruits command premium prices in the market.

Melon

Cucumis melo

A relative newcomer to the East-West Seed portfolio, the melon has been part of the company's breeding program for just 10 years. In this short time, we've introduced our most exciting new variety: the Royal Alexia series.

Completely unique, this sweet, yellow honeydew melon has delicious orange flesh. Compared to the white flesh normally found on the global market, it is much sweeter, more flavorful, and very aromatic. It's an innovative segment bred specifically to excite consumers.