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Brushing is an effective method to control hypocotyl elongation in cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L. `Turbo') grown in plug trays for transplanting. The amount of daily brushing and the number of days to brush for best performance was determined. Treatment with 10 strokes per day for the 4 days of maximal hypocotyl elongation was sufficient to reduce final hypocotyl length by 25%. More brushing did not meaningfully reduce elongation further. Inhibition of dry weight gain, which is detrimental, was minor (<10%) compared with the height control achieved. Despite seasonal differences in absolute elongation, the effects of brushing were the same.

Buckwheat has historically been used to suppress weeds and improve soil condition, but many of the tricks to success have been lost to history. Buckwheat is inexpensive and particularly effective in short windows between crops. We are documenting the techniques of existing experts and complementing that with research. We surveyed northeastern vegetable and strawberry growers to identify what information they need in order to feel confident that they could succeed with a buckwheat cover crop. Top questions include seed availability, types of weeds controlled, relation to other cover crops, volunteer management, and herbicide tolerance. One question tested experimentally was how to establish a full stand with minimum cost. We tested the minimum tillage requirement following pea harvest. No-till resulted in good emergence but slow growth, and dominance by weeds. Disk incorporating the pea residue resulted in excellent growth, which was not further enhanced by chisel plowing before disking. Buckwheat seedlings are intolerant of waterlogging, so deeper tillage may be important in wet years. Sowing buckwheat immediately after tillage resulted in emergence of 35%, leaving gaps large enough for weeds to grow. Waiting 1 week gave an 80% stand and complete weed suppression. Waiting 2 weeks also gave an 80% stand, but weed growth was advanced enough that weed suppression was incomplete. Therefore, a buckwheat cover crop following early vegetables requires light tillage to permit root growth, and up to a week of decomposition. If those provisions are made, complete weed suppression is obtainable.

The genetic factors that control reproductive development in B. oleracea remain a mystery. Broccoli differs from cauliflower in its floral development stage at harvest. We are studying the role of meristem identity genes (MIGs) in the transition from inflorescence meristem (cauliflower) to floral buds (broccoli). The objectives are to determine stage-specific roles of MIGs during reproductive development and to check whether expression of flowering genes in heading B. oleracea is as predicted by the Arabidopsis flowering model. We tested a model of arrest in B. oleracea that incorporates FUL, a redundant gene of AP1 in controlling inflorescence architecture and floral meristem identity, the meristem gene TFL1, the flowering gene LFY, and AP1/CAL, and genes involved in flower transition. Conclusions. 1) Arrest at the inflorescence meristem stage is highly correlated with a decrease in LFY to TFL1 ratio, given by a decrease in TFL1 expression. 2) Transcription of AP1c is stimulated at the time of floral primordium initiation, suggesting a role in floral transition but not in floral organ specification. Plants recessive for AP1a, AP1c, and CAL formed normal floral buds containing all four whorls of organs, and did not necessarily form curd. We suggest that their ability to flower could be related with the ectopic expression of FUL by affecting TFL1 expression. FUL paralogs were highly expressed at all stages of development of the triple mutant plants. 3) The lack of upregulation in AP1 transcripts at the floral bud stage, and the absence of an A-function mutant phenotype imply that other genes act redundantly with AP1 in the specification of sepal identity and questions the role of AP1a and AP1c as A-function genes in B. oleracea.

Production of broccoli in areas where summer temperatures exceed 30C is difficult because the head may not form properly. The high temperature causes an unevenness in the head due to widely differing sizes of buds. The sensitive stage of development was determined for the early maturing variety `Galaxy' by exposing it to 1-week at 36C at varying developmental stages, and subsequently analyzing the head structure. The injury is a cessation of bud enlargement during the high-temperature exposure. There is no corresponding cessation of bud initiation at the apex. The patter of injury is consistent with susceptibility over a relatively small range of bud development: even with a 1-week exposure, only about 1/3 of the buds will be affected. The plant's most developmental stage at this sensitive period still appears vegetative, but the youngest leaves are just beginning to reorient as a consequence of the reduced stem elongation rate. The meristem is less than 1 mm wide, and scanning electron micrographs show floral primordia just forming, still subtended by leaf primordia. The injury is fully expressed when the head is first exposed (≈10 mm wide), though it becomes more apparent as the head matures. The buds that were delayed in development by the high temperature developed into fertile flowers, albeit about a week late.

Starter phosphorus (P) is often recommended for warm-season vegetables sown in cool soil, even if soil P index levels are already high. The cost and environmental risk associated with excessive P fertilization justify re-examination of the practice. The objective of the study was to confirm that performance of early plantings of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is improved by starter P application and to test whether solubilizing soil P with potassium bicarbonate (KHCO₃) can serve as an alternative in western New York soils. Addition of starter fertilizer at either recommended (15 kg·ha⁻¹) or supraoptimal (35 kg·ha⁻¹) P rates did not generally improve seedling tissue P concentration, early growth (biomass at flowering), or pod yield. Starter P application increased tissue P in only two of 11 experiments, and it never increased yield. Application of 6 kg·ha⁻¹ KHCO₃ to release soil-bound phosphate was not phytotoxic to snap beans. In the two experiments in which starter P increased tissue P, KHCO₃ application had a smaller effect in one and no effect in the other. KHCO₃ application did not increase yield in any of the six experiments where it was tested. A direct test of the contribution of P limitation to the poorer performance of early plantings showed that neither starter P nor KHCO₃ application increased yield at early planting. Seasonal differences in crop performance could not be attributed to mineralization of soil phosphate after soil warmed. Water-extractable soil P was not lower in the spring than in summer, remaining constant at all 11 bean fields that were sampled from mid-April through mid-July. In these trials, P was likely not growth-limiting in the cool soils tested. Because starter P may not be necessary in vegetable soils testing high or very high for P, vegetables would also not likely benefit from bicarbonate application under high P conditions.

Excessive stem elongation reduces plant survival in the field and hinders mechanical transplanting. Mechanical conditioning is an effective method for reducing stem elongation during transplant production. This investigation examined the consequences of mechanical conditioning, using brushing and impedance, on subsequent field performance of tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.). Mechanically conditioned transplants of processing tomatoes resumed growth after transplant shock as quickly as did untreated plants, and subsequent canopy development was also equal. In 4 years of field trials, yield was not reduced by mechanical conditioning. Transplants for fresh-market tomatoes may be more sensitive to injury than those for processing tomatoes because they flower sooner after the conditioning treatments. Nevertheless, neither earliness nor defects in the fruits of the first cluster were affected by mechanical conditioning. Early and total yields were equal in both years that fresh-market crops were tested. Thus, there were no adverse effects on field performance of either processing or fresh-market tomatoes as a result of reducing stem elongation by mechanical conditioning before transplanting. Improved wind tolerance was tested both in a wind tunnel and in the field. In wind-tunnel tests, brushed and impeded plants resisted stem bending at wind speeds 4 to 12 km·h^–1 higher than did untreated plants. A 70 km·h^–1 wind after transplanting killed 12% of untreated plants but only 2% of treated plants. Mechanical conditioning with brushing and impedance produced transplants with desirable qualities without adverse effects on field performance.

Establishment of a weed-suppressive cover crop after vegetables harvested early in the season is important in the northeastern United States because of the short growing season. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is an effective cover crop in vegetable production because of its short growing season, ability to outcompete many weeds, resistance to damage by insects and disease, and requirement for only moderate soil fertility. In two separate 3-year field experiments, we determined the best tillage techniques and the optimal timing for use of buckwheat as a cover crop after early vegetables in the northeastern United States. Incorporating crop residue with a disk was necessary and provided sufficient tillage to obtain a weed-suppressive buckwheat stand. Buckwheat growth was stunted when direct seeded with a no-till drill immediately after pea (Pisum sativum) harvest because of poor soil penetration by buckwheat roots. Planting buckwheat after incorporating the pea crop was successful; waiting 1 week to plant was optimal, whereas a 2-week wait produced a weaker stand. We determined that optimal timing for sowing buckwheat in central New York was late June to early August. Generalizing to other geographical regions in the United States, we calculated that a minimum accumulation of 700 growing degree days is necessary to reach 1 to 1.5 tons/acre of buckwheat dry matter at the appropriate growth stage for incorporation (6 weeks after sowing).

Brassica oleracea species differ in the developmental stage of their reproductive meristems at harvest. The stage that characterizes each variety depends on its genetic makeup, environment and the interaction between them. We tested a model of arrest in B. oleracea to determine functional redundancy among the paralogous genes CAL, AP1a, AP1c, FULa, FULb, FULc, and FULd; and to resolve the immediate effect of temperature on gene expression in meristems whose developmental fate is temperature regulated. By varying temperature during reproductive development, three stages of arrest were obtained: inflorescence meristem (cauliflower), floral meristem (intermediate) and floral bud (broccoli), the latter initiated by low temperature. Gene expression was measured by quantitative real time PCR (qRT-PCR). The LFY/TFL1 ratio increased as the reproductive development advanced, mainly due to decreased TFL1 expression; influenced by a dramatic increase in AP1c toward floral bud formation. The expression patterns of the FUL paralogs indicate different roles in reproductive development. FULa was more abundant in the floral primordia, while FULb, FULc, and FULd were associated with earlier arrest at the inflorescence meristem stage. The high expression of FULc and FULd at all stages of arrest differs from their homolog in Arabidopsis. High temperature reduced AP1 and LFY expression but the meristem did not revert from reproductive to vegetative. Floral bud formation in plants recessive for AP1a and CAL reaffirm that functional redundancy among some of these genes can complement the mutations. Varying temperature alone, at a fixed developmental stage, caused little variation in the expression of genes studied, causing small significant differences in TFL1 and AP1c.

Mechanical stimulation is known to control excessive stem elongation in high-density tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) transplants. Mechanical stimulation using physical impedance provided height control equivalent to that obtained using brushing. Low-cost materials can be used to apply the impedance. Mylar film in a plastic frame was equivalent to expensive acrylic sheets in its effect on plant height (40 mm shorter than nontreated, a 40% reduction in the elongation rate during the treatment period), stem diameter (18% thicker), and biomass (14% lighter) when they applied a pressure of 66 N·m^-2. Stem elongation was not reduced if less pressure was applied (25 or 50 N·m^-2). Height control was equally effective with a solid material (mylar film) and a permeable material (fiberglass insect screen), indicating that restricting air movement is not an important mechanism for the growth response. Overnight treatments resulted in the desired growth response (27 mm shorter than nontreated, a 30% reduction in elongation rate), but 0.5-h treatments had insufficient effect for commercial use (11 mm shorter, 10% reduction in elongation rate). These experiments demonstrate that impedance can be used in commercial production conditions to control tomato transplant height with inexpensive materials. However, satisfactory height control requires a large applied force and a long daily treatment period.

Stretching is a problem in high-density transplant production. Mechanical conditioning provides good height control for many crops, but there may be adverse effects on field performance. Mechanical conditioning was applied to processing tomatoes (Ohio 8245) grown in #288-deep flats (=2000 plants/m²) using two methods, brushing and impendance. Brushing was applied by gently stroking the plant canopy with a Styrofoam planter flat 20 times back and forth every morning. The impeded plant canopy was compressed slightly by apiece of Plexiglas suspended overnight. The treatments were applied from canopy closure until transplanting to the field. At transplanting, brushed plants were 31% (1993) and 12% (1994) shorter than control plants, and impeded plants were 25% (1993) and 24% (1994) shorter than control plants. In both years, the caliper of impeded transplants was significantly larger than that of both the control and brushed plants. There was also no reduction in dry weight and no noticeable difference in plant quality between treatments. The treatments did not affect the speed at which the plants recovered from transplant shock or the rate at which they grew in the field. Within 5 weeks after transplanting, there were no significant differences between treatments in biomass, leaf area estimates, stem caliper, flowering, early set, or field yield, despite differences in size at transplanting. Therefore, both brushing and impendance result in sturdy, high-quality transplants without adversely affecting establishment or yield.