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Field production of decorative pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo L.) in New York occasionally results in markedly delayed fruit production in spite of normal vine growth. These episodes of fruitlessness appear to be associated with periods of high temperatures. To determine the link between temperature and pumpkin flowering and fruiting, a series of multilocational field trials and confirmatory greenhouse experiments were carried out. The field trials were conducted in the summer seasons of 1996 and 1997 in Ithaca and Albany, N.Y.; Queenstown, Md.; and Bradenton, Fla.; and in Ithaca and Bradenton in 1998. Mean growing season temperatures were 20, 21, 24 and 28 °C, respectively, at the four locations in 1996 and 1997. Delay in fruit formation was indicated by the main stem node number at which the first fruit developed. In Ithaca and Albany, the six cultivars formed their first fruit at node 17, but fruit production shifted to node 24 at Queenstown, and to node 26 or more at Bradenton. The prolonged delay in fruiting at the warmest site resulted in a 74% decrease in total yield of the C. pepo cultivars in 1996 and 1997, compared to Ithaca and Queenstown. In contrast, the yields and yield components of the C. maxima cultivar Prizewinner were similar at all four sites. Greenhouse trials in which `Howden' and `Baby Bear' were grown at 32/27, 25/20, and 20/15 °C confirmed that high temperatures delay formation and anthesis of female flowers. This and other published work indicates that there are genetic differences in susceptibility to high temperature flower delay that could be exploited to improve pumpkin performance.
Abstract
The distribution of l4C-assimilates was examined in pot-grown ‘Redkote’ and ‘Michelite-62’ bean plants in which a lower or upper leaf was dosed with 14CO2 at flowering, pod expansion, or pod maturation. Assimilates from the leaf at node 4 moved primarily to the roots at flowering, but were translocated to actively growing pods at later stages. Dosing of the terminal trifoliate of ‘Redkote’ resulted in radiocarbon transfer exclusively to the subtending pods during pod expansion and maturation. Distribution from leaves on branches of both varieties was restricted to pods on the branch. When the main-stem node-7 leaf of ‘Michelite-62’ was dosed, 51% of the activity was recovered from node-7 axillary pods, and less from pods at nearby nodes. Thus middle and lower main-stem leaves of beans generally supply assimilates to several centers of active growth, while distribution from upper mainstem and branch leaves is more restricted.
Unmulched and polyethylene-mulched tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) were grown with and without starter fertilizer (SF) in four field experiments. The fields varied as to residual P level and the amount of P incorporated before planting. No benefits from SF were obtained on a soil with high residual P that was moderately fertilized with P before transplanting or on a soil with low residual P that was heavily fertilized with P. A positive effect from SF was observed only when residual P was low and no P was broadcast, and this was true in mulched and umnulched plots. No significant SF by mulch interaction was obtained in these experiments even though mulching consistently increased shoot P concentrations and fruit yield. The mulch was beneficial even under conditions where unmulched tomato leaves contained 0.4 % P 3 weeks after transplanting, indicating that factors in addition to improved P nutrition are also involved in the mulch effect.