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- Author or Editor: Herbert H. Bryan x
Cover crops have become an integral part of vegetable production practices in south Florida for weed control and retaining nutrients during the heavy summer rains. A wide variety of plants are used as cover crops in south Florida. Obviously, legumes contribute more nitrogen by fixing N compared to nonlegumes such as sorghum sudan grass, which is a common cover crop in this area. We have evaluated 10 cover crops, where six were legumes in 1997. In 1998, four cover crops (sunnhemp, sorghum sudan, sesbania, and aeschynomene) were evaluated. The sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea L.) stands out from other tested cover crops for 2 years. Sunnhemp produced 8960 to 11,400 kg dry weight/ha and fixed up to 285 kg N/ha. The evaluation of effects of sunnhemp and other cover crops on the following tomato growth and yield are still in progress and will be discussed.
Municipal solid waste compost was applied with a side delivery applicator on top of the bed as a mulch in May 1993, 6 months after transplanting at Homestead, Fla. Papaya (`Know You No 1') was grown with and without compost mulch. Compost was distributed on the surface of the bed ≈90 cm wide and 5 cm thick. There were no mulch effects on trunk diameter nor plant height. Plant height was affected by papaya sex 4 and 6 months after transplanting. Hermaphroditic plants were taller than female plants. There were no mulch effects on marketable yield per plant, marketable size, or number of cull fruit. Sex, however, influenced papaya size and total cull number. Hermaphroditic plants produced larger marketable fruit and more cull fruits than female plants. Lower plant mortality rates were found after 1.5 years in the mulched plants compared to unmulched plants. Soil and tissue analysis showed no differences in N, P, K, Mg, S, Mn, Fe, Cu, and B, except for Zn. Zinc contents in soil and tissue were higher in the mulched areas than unmulched areas.
Increasing disposal problems with polyethylene (PL) mulch and greater availability of compost prompted an investigation into the effects of using compost as a mulch on horizontal raised bed surfaces with living mulches (LMs) on vertical surfaces. Wood chips (WC), sewage sludge-yard trimming (SY) compost, and municipal solid waste (MW) compost were applied at 224 t·ha-1 on bed surfaces. Sod strips of `Jade' (JD) or `Floratam' (FT) St. Augustinegrass (Stenotaphrum secundatum Kuntze) or perennial peanut (Arachis glabrata Benth.) (PP) or seeds of a small, seed-propagated forage peanut (Arachis sp.) (SP) were established on the vertical sides of the raised beds before transplanting bell pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) into the beds. Phytophthora capsici reduced pepper plant stand in PL-mulched plots compared with organic mulch (OM) and LM. Despite the stand reduction, total pepper yields were highest in PL plots and, in the OM plots, decreased in the order SY > MW > WC. Early fruit yields and yield per plant were highest from plants in PL plots followed by SY. Among LMs, plants in SP plots produced highest early yields and FT produced the lowest. Plants in PL plots produced the largest fruit. When the same plots were seeded with winter (butternut) squash (Cucurbita pepo L.), plant stands were higher in MW than WC and SY. Squash yields were similar between PL and OM plots.
Using herbs for medicinal purposes, ornamentals, and landscape plantings has increased significantly. Propagating from seeds is considered the most-efficient method of producing medicinal plants for commercial production. Among the herb seeds the purple coneflower (Echinacea angustifolia) was found difficult to germinate. Laboratory studies were conducted to: 1) determine optimum temperature from a temperature range 15 to 30 °C for seed germination; 2) determine effects of 5 10, 20, and 30 days of stratification at 5 and 10 °C in darkness on germination; and 3) determine effects of priming in the dark for 1, 3, 6, and 9 days with 0.1 M KNO3 and biostimulants at optimum temperature to enhance early emergence and final germination. Germination was enhanced from 45% in untreated seeds to 81% in seeds treated with either 50 ppm GA4/7 or 100 ppm ethephon at 24 °C. Final germination was 81% under daylight conditions when seeds were stratified in dark at 10 °C for 30 days over nonstratified seeds (13%). Priming seeds in 0.1 M KNO3 for 3 days significantly enhanced early germination to 70% with 100 and 150 ppm ethephon and final percent germination of 88% with either 100 ppm ethephon or 150 ppm GA4/7, while untreated control seeds resulted in 31% for same period of priming.
Early plant growth, root quality, and yield from sweetpotato plants obtained from zygotic seed, somatic embryos, or cloned from stock plants (through micropropagation, rooted node explants, or nonrooted terminal vine cuttings) were compared in field plantings established in 1986, 1987, and 1988 in Gainesville and/or Homestead, Fla. At planting, transplants derived from somatic embryos had more nodes than the other propagules, while vine length per plant was greatest with nonrooted vine cuttings obtained from stock plants. The number of nodes (up to 253%) and vine growth (up to 517%) were greater when plants were derived from stock plants and zygotic embryos than from somatic embryos 4 weeks (1987) and 6 weeks (1988) after planting. Vegetative growth, larger-sized storage roots (>6 cm in diameter), and total yields (all root grades combined) were consistently reduced when plants were derived from somatic embryos compared with propagules of stock plant origin. Plants obtained from somatic embryos required more time for roots to bulk or size than the other propagule types. Root yield from plantlets derived from somatic embryos showed a 14-fold increase when harvest was delayed at least 53 more days. Root weight, regardless of harvest date, was greater when plants were derived from stock plants rather than from somatic embryos, while in most cases plants derived from somatic embryos yielded a greater number of roots than from stock plants. Plants obtained through somatic embryony and harvested at a later date typically had yields exceed 1.8 kg per plant. Morphology of plants obtained from somatic embryos was uniform and identical to plants derived from stock plants.
A mulch of municipal solid waste compost at 224 t·ha was compared with glyphosate sprays and a nontreated check for weed control in vegetable crop bed alleys during Spring and Summer 1992. In both experiments, there was a significantly lower percentage of weed coverage in the compost mulch and herbicide spray plots than in the control plots. Weed control in the compost and herbicide treatments was similar. In the spring experiment, tractor tire traffic through the alleys reduced weed growth in all plots by 62 % and 44% at 16 and 73 days after treatment initiation, respectively. These results suggest that municipal solid waste compost may have potential as a viable mulch for weed control in vegetable crop alleys. Chemical name used: isopropylamine salt of N -(phosphonomethyl) glycine (glyphosate).
Abstract
Bell peppers (Capsicum annuum L. cv. Early Calwonder) were plug-mix seeded at 13-, 25-, 38-, and 51-cm within-row spacings in two rows on raised beds and thinned to one, two, or three plants per hill upon emergence. The experiments were conducted on commercial pepper fields located in southern Florida during the Winter 1983 and Spring 1984 seasons. Populations ranged from 21,527 to 258,328 plants/ha. Plant growth characteristics were measured at anthesis and just before the final harvest in each experiment. Root and shoot weights, shoot : root ratios, and stem diameters generally decreased and plant heights generally increased in response to higher plant populations. The lower shoot : root ratios at higher plant populations indicated that plants were producing more root mass in proportion to shoot mass than plants at lower populations. Number of primary and secondary branches per plant in the two experiments averaged 2.7 and 5.3, respectively, and were generally not influenced by plant populations. Marketable fruit yields/ha increased linearly in response to higher plant populations. Marketable fruit number and weight per plant decreased with higher plant populations, whereas fruit size (g/fruit) was unaffected. This observation suggested that the higher marketable yields/ha at higher plant populations were attributed to more plants with a lower number of similarly sized fruits per plant. The 25-cm within-row spacing with two plants per hill resulted in 81,109 plants/ha, the optimum marketable pepper fruit yield.
In the quest to produce tomatoes without using methyl bromide, cover crops including sunnhemp, cowpea, hairy vetch, and sorghum sudan were planted on calcareous gravelly soils of southern Florida in Oct. 1998. These crops, singly or in mix, were grown on raised beds for 3 months before they were mowed down with no tillage. Sorghum sudan was plowed down and covered with plastic mulch, a conventional farming practice. In addition, uncropped plots fertilized with 6 N–2.6P–10K at 0 or 1124 kg·ha–1 were either treated with or without methyl bromide-chloropicrin and plowed down. `Sanibel' tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) were transplanted in two plant densities (one row vs. two rows on a bed) immediately after mowing. Tomatoes were fertigated with 112 N and 186 K kg·ha–1 during the growing season. Sunnhemp biomass alone or in mix with cowpea was higher than any other treatment. Biomass of sorghum sudan and hairy vetch were lowest. Canopy coverage, nutrient content of cover crops, and their effects on tomato growth, nutrient content, and yield will be discussed.
Primed, pregerminated, or nontreated `FloraDade' tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) seeds in combination with several soil amendments were evaluated in three experiments for stand establishment characteristics and fresh-market fruit yields. Total percent emergence, seedling shoot weight, and marketable fruit yield were not consistently improved by GrowSorb, gel-mix, plug-mix covers, or mixtures with seeds as compared with a control (soil cover). However, rate of emergence was generally faster for plots containing primed or pregerminated seeds with soil amendments than for plots with a soil cover. Primed or pregerminated seeds emerged faster, and had higher total percent emergence and heavier seedling shoot weights than nontreated seeds, but there was little difference in response between primed and pregerminated seeds. Plants from the primed or pregerminated plots produced earlier (first harvest) marketable fruit than did plants from nontreated seed plots in one of three experiments. Priming or pregermination of tomato seeds resulted in a more consistently improved stand establishment than soil amendments.
Primed, pregerminated, or nontreated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) seeds were field-sown with several soil amendments to assess stand establishment at high temperatures. Soil amendments did not consistently improve tomato stand establishment. However, covering seeds with a fine-textured calcined montmorillonite clay (Growsorb) resulted in similar or improved total percent emergence, emergence rate, and seedling shoot dry weight as compared to the soil cover (control) for nontreated, primed, or pregerminated seeds. Plug-mix (a peat-vermiculite medium) or gel-mix [a 1:1 mixture (v/v) of plug-mix and gel, starch-acrylate copolymer, or polyacrylate polymer], covered over or mixed with nontreated, primed, or pregerminated seeds, did not consistently improve total percent emergence over the soil cover. However, soil amendments generally resulted in faster emergence than the soil cover. Pregerminated seeds imbibed for 60 or 72 hours at 25C generally resulted in reduced stands compared to primed or nontreated seeds. Moisturized seeds imbibed for 48 hours at 25C had faster emergence and heavier seedling shoots than nontreated seeds, regardless of soil amendment. However, primed seeds generally resulted in faster emergence and more plants with heavier seedling shoot weights than nontreated or pregerminated seeds sown at high temperatures.