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Project Leader: Ted Blomgren, Capital District Vegetable
Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension, 90 State Street, Suite 600,
Albany, NY 12207
Cooperators: Margaret McGrath, Department of Plant Pathology,
Cornell University, Long Island Horticultural Research Laboratory,
Riverhead, NY; Charles Bornt, Capital District Vegetable Program,
Cornell Cooperative Extension, Albany, NY; and John Mishanec, Eastern
New York IPM Vegetable Program, Albany, NY
Type of Grant: Systems comparison trial
Project Locations: Albany and Columbia Counties
Abstract:
Winter squash and pumpkin growers in the Northeast are seeking production
systems that are more cost-effective than those they are currently
using. An intensive plasticulture system that utilizes transplants
and high plant populations, plastic mulch and drip irrigation, scouting,
and as-needed fertilizer and pesticide applications is consistent
with this objective because it results in greatly increased yields
of marketable fruit. This system increases certain inputs —
plant numbers and agricultural plastics, most notably — in order
to increase marketable yields per acre. At the same time, other inputs
— including herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and fertilizers
— may be reduced. Three field trials were undertaken in 2003
to evaluate various aspects of the plasticulture system: pumpkin fertigation
treatments were evaluated at Al Lansing’s farm in Albany County,
and winter squash fertigation and pumpkin and winter squash disease
management treatments were evaluated at Cornell’s Valatie farm
in Columbia County. At the Lansing farm we evaluated the impact of
four nitrogen fertigation rates — 50, 65, 80, and 95 lb N/acre
- on pumpkin yields. The number of pumpkins increased with increasing
fertilizer rates. At the Valatie farm we evaluated how four rates
of nitrogen fertilizer — 30, 45, 60 and 75 lb N/acre - affected
the yields of acorn and butternut squashes. The squashes exhibited
yield responses only at the highest N rate. Average fruit size was
not impacted by these treatments. New, powdery mildew tolerant varieties
of squash out-yielded standard varieties even when the newer varieties
were given the lowest rates of N and the standards were given the
highest N rates. These studies suggest that high yields of acorn and
butternut squashes grown using plasticulture techniques may be obtained
by selecting good varieties, using high plant populations, and by
choosing modest fertilizer rates. In another trial at the Valatie
farm we intended to find out how three disease management strategies
affected disease incidence, fruit yield, and fruit quality in pumpkins
and acorn and butternut squashes. Heavy rains just prior to harvest
followed by a rapid Phytophthora infestation destroyed the entire
trial making data collection impossible. We expect to repeat this
work in 2004.
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