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- Author or Editor: Peter Hicklenton x
- HortTechnology x
Two commercial freezers were modified to provide an inexpensive chamber system to investigate frost effects on wild, lowbush blueberries (Vaccinium angustifolium) under field conditions. A computer control system was developed with software written in Visual Basic 6.0 for MSWindows, which precisely controlled temperature in the plant canopy when the chambers were placed over blueberry plants in the field. Frost events (with temperatures ranging from -2 to -15 °C (28.4 to 5.0 °F)) were simulated by user input to control the cooling and warming rates, and minimum temperatures. The system records temperature set points, and current temperature in the plant canopy, or elsewhere in the plant environment, and provides a graphical display of key parameters. Trials have verified the reproducability of temperature profiles and the chambers have been used to provide preliminary information on the effects of frost at bloom on fruit set and development.
Transplant quality can have a major effect on the productivity of many crops. Bare-root, green-top transplants for Florida winter strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa) production are produced mainly in highlatitude (>42° N) nurseries. Mechanical digging machines are used to remove plants from the soil at these nurseries before transport to production fields in Florida. In the course of this operation, crowns, petioles, and leaves may be crushed and broken. Machine and hand-dug bare-root transplants of `Camarosa' and `Sweet Charlie' were obtained from a Nova Scotia, Canada nursery, planted at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, Dover, Fla. field facility on 2 Nov. 1999 and 10 Oct. 2000, and grown using standard annual-hill production practices. Plots were harvested twice weekly beginning 5 Jan. 2000 and 15 Dec. 2000. Hand-dug transplants produced significantly higher monetary returns both seasons. Therefore, fruit producers may consider paying the higher cost associated with changes in harvesting and packing operations needed to reduce damage to transplants.