Red Fife

First grown in Canada in 1843. Yield and quality are very good but this is a late variety and so risks frost damage. Originated in Ukraine.

Early Red Fife

Selected from Red Fife in 1903, it is three days earlier than its parent.

Marquis

(1910) A selection from Hard Red Calcutta x Red Fife which has the quality of Red Fife and the earliness of Hard Red Calcutta. It was the main wheat grown in Western Canada in the 1920’s and 1930’s.

Thatcher

(1935) The main wheat grown on the prairies when Jim was growing up in the 1950’s. It was selected from a cross with Marquis.

Pembina

Pembina is a selection from a Thatcher cross and is fairly rust-resistant. Licensed in 1959, it is still grown on a small scale because of its excellent baking quality.

Saunders

(1947) Saunders comes from a Thatcher cross and is two days earlier than Thatcher. It is famous as a show wheat.

Prelude

(1913) The earliest maturing wheat bred in Canada. It is a high protein variety. The heads have short beards.

Huron

(1925) A bearded wheat from a cross made in 1888 in Ottawa. Hardy and good yielding mid-season variety that is still grown in Quebec and Atlantic Canada. In our wetter than average growing year, Huron seemed to have better yield and quality than more dry-land cultivars.

Ladoga

The bearded heads, which bend over when mature, are very easy to thresh. Came to Canada from northern Russia in 1887. About 10 days earlier than Red Fife but does not have as good a baking quality. Widely used in breeding for its earliness.

Hard Red Calcutta

Hard Red Calcutta “was brought into Canada sometime between 1886—1893 from India as a commercial sample of wheat and was very likely a mixed lot of seed, since at least two distinct forms are recognized.” (Handbook of Canadian Spring Wheat Varieties, 1946) The photo in the Handbook is of a bearded head but I have confirmed that there is at least one beardless form which we are offering. It was never grown commercially in Canada as its milling quality is poor but it is early and passed this quality on as one of the parents of Marquis.

Bishop

Ladoga x Gehun, Ottawa, 1891. Our only hard white spring wheat.

Stanley

Not widely grown as it is inferior to Marquis in earliness and baking quality. Ladoga x Red Fife, Ottawa, 1903.

Preston

A bearded wheat that threshes easily. Ladoga x Red Fife, Ottawa, 1903.

Garnet

Preston x Riga, Ottawa, 1905. Subject of a controversy about its milling quality, and eventually replaced by Thatcher. For more information about Garnet, see www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/19/garnetwheat.shtml

Kitchener

Selection from Marquis, Seager Wheeler, Rosthern, SK, 1911.

Red Bobs

Probably Bobs x Early Red Fife, Seager Wheeler, Rosthern, SK, 1911.

Ceres

Marquis x Kota, North Dakota Experimental Station, 1918. A bearded wheat a bit earlier and heavier yielding than Marquis.

Canthatch

Thatcher x Kenya Farmer, 1959. Better rust-resistance than Thatcher.

Selkirk

(McMurachy x Exchange) x Redman, Winnipeg, 1939.

Chinook

Thatcher x S 615-11. Lethbridge, 1952. Sawfly resistant.

Rescue

Apex x S 615. Swift Current, 1946. Stem rust and sawfly resistant.

Canus

Marquis x Kanred. University of Minnesota, 1918. Selected at University of Alberta. 1929. A bearded wheat that matures at the same time as Marquis.

Reward

Marquis x Prelude. Ottawa 1912. Licensed in 1928. A good quality wheat a bit earlier than Marquis.

Reliance

Kanred x Marquis. Cross made by USDA, 1917. Registered in Canada in 1932. A bearded wheat that matures as early as Marquis and is quite resistant to drought.

Ruby

Downy Gehun x Onega –> Downy Riga WT Macoun 1891.

Downy Riga x Red Fife –> Ruby CE Saunders 1905.

Earlier than Marquis by 7 to 10 days and good quality but shatters badly.