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Effects of planting methods and rowcover on the production of yellow crookneck squash, Cucurbita pepo L. var. melopepo Alef., were evaluated over 2 years at the E.V. Smith Research Center, Shorter, Ala. Summer squash was direct-seeded or transplanted in the field with or without black plastic mulch and grown with or without rowcover. Yield of transplanted squash was significantly increased over the same squash direct-seeded. Neither plastic mulch nor rowcover had an effect on summer squash production. Transplants matured 8 to 10 days earlier than the direct-seeded plants.
Yellow crookneck `Dixie' hybrid summer squash, Cucurbita pepo L. var. melopeop Alef., was evaluated at E.V. Smith Research Center, Shorter, Alabama. Summer squash was grown in single rows spaced 6 feet apart. Plants were seeded 18 inches apart within 20-foot row plots. Treatments were: 1) black plastic mulch (BPM), 2) yellow painted plastic mulch (YPM), 3) white plastic mulch (WPM), 4) bare soil (BS), 5) aluminum painted plastic mulch (APM) and 6) bare soil with Diazinon insecticide (BSI). Aphid traps caught more aphids in BS or BPM plots than those from APM or YPM plots. The onset of mosaic disease incidence of squash infected with the two viruses identified as zucchini yellow mosaic and cucumber mosaic was delayed by as much as three weeks when compared to BSI or BS. Summer squash planted in APM, WPM, YPM and BPM produced 96%, 98%, 75% and 21%, respectively, more total squash yield than that produced on bare soil (control). A higher percentage of green squash (virus infected) was produced from plants grown over BPM (72%), BSI (68%), BS (59%), YPM (57%) or WPM (57%) than from APM (39%)