|
|
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
Green-seeds.com:
publications & research: articles
|
|
|
|
Vegetarian Newsletter 2
A Vegetable Crops Extension Publication
University of Florida
Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences
Cooperative Extension Servic
Vegetarian 99-11
Watermelon Variety Evaluation, Spring 1999
Watermelon varieties were evaluated in the spring 1999 season at the Gulf
Coast Research and Education Center, Bradenton. The trials included 32 diploid
entries and 28 triploid (seedless) entries.
Production Practices
 The EauGallie fine sand
was prepared in late January by incorporation of 0-0.8-0 lb N-P205-K20
per 100 linear bed feed (lbf). Beds were formed and fumigated with methyl
bromide: chloropicrin, 67:33 at 2.3 lb/100 lbf. Banded fertilizer was applied
in shallow grooves on the bed shoulders at 3.1-0-4.3 lb N-P205-K20/100
lbf after the beds were pressed and before application of the black polyethylene
mulch. The total fertilizer applied was equivalent to 148-40-206 lb N-P205-K20/acre.
The final beds were 32 in. wide and 8 in. high and were spaced on 9 ft centers,
with four beds between seepage irrigation/drainage ditches which were on
41 ft centers. The diploid watermelons were planted in rows adjacent to
the ditches and also served as pollenizers for triploid watermelons that
were being evaluated in the two center beds of each land.
Diploid watermelon seeds
were planted on 15 February in holes punched in the polyethylene mulch at
3 ft in-row spacing. Seedlings were thinned at the two true-leaf stage to
one per hole. Triploid watermelon transplants were field planted on 15 February.
The 30-ft long plots had ten plants each and were replicated three times
in a randomized complete-block design. Weed control in row middles was accomplished
by cultivation and application of paraquat. Plant stand counts recorded
just before vines grew together showed no significant difference among plots.
Pesticides were applied as needed for control of silverleaf whitefly (endosulfan,
esfenvalerate, abamectin, and ultrafine oil), gummy stem blight (chlorothalonil
and azoxystrobin) and worms (Bacillus thuringiensis and methomyl).
Watermelons were harvested
from late May to mid-June. Marketable (U.S. No. 1 or better) fruit according
to U.S. Standards for Grades of Watermelons were separated from culls and
counted and weighed individually. Triploid fruit 8 lbs and larger and diploid
fruit 12 lbs and larger were assumed to be marketable. Tetraploid fruit,
where they occurred, were not included in the marketable category because
they are not seedless. Soluble solids (a measure of sweetness) were determined
with a hand-held refractometer on at least six fruit from each entry at
each harvest. The resulting data were subjected to analysis of variance
and mean separation was by Duncanís multiple range test.
Diploid Results 
Early yields, based
on the first of two harvests, ranged from 0 for ëStarbriteí and ëStargazerí
to 426 cwt/acre for ëSentinelí. Twenty-one other entries had early yields
similar to those of ëSentinelí. Average fruit weight ranged from 19.9 lbs
for SWD 8307 to 30.6 lbs for ëBig Stripeí. Soluble solids concentration
varied from 10.9% for ëHuck Finní to 13.2% for WX 8. The incidence of hollowheart
ranged from 0 in ACX 7402, ëFiestaí, ëHuck Finní, ëLegacyí, ëRoyal Starí,
RWM 8036, RWM 8074, ëSentinelí, ëSultaní, ëSummer Flavor 500í, ëSummer Flavor
800í, ëSummer Flavor 810í, ëSummer Flavor 820í, SWD 8307, SXW 5023, and
SXW 5038 to 100% in ëBig Stripeí, ëPiñataí, and ëStars-N-Stripesí.
Total yields varied
from 450 cwt/acre for SXW 5023 to 856 cwt/acre for ëBig Stripeí. Twenty-six
other entries had yields statistically similar to those of ëBig Stripeí.
Average fruit weight over the entire season ranged from 20.6 lbs for ëSangriaí
to 28.2 lbs for ëBig Stripeí. ëSummer Flavor 810í average fruit weight was
26.7 lbs., ëHuck Finní average fruit weight was over 26.0 lbs and a number
of other entries had substantial average fruit weights. Fruit per plant
varied from 1.3 for SXW 5023 to 2.2 for ëMardi Grasí. Soluble solids concentrations
ranged from 10.8% for RWM 8074 to 12.9% for ëSultaní. Seasonal average soluble
solids for all entries exceeded the 10% specified for optional use to designate
very good internal quality in the U.S. Standards for Grades of Watermelons.
The incidence of hollowheart varied from 0 in ëStarbriteí and SKW 5023 to
83% in ëPiñataí (large seed).
Based on this and previous
trials, the following Allsweet and blocky Crimson Sweet type varieties are
expected to perform well in Florida: ëFiestaí, ëMardi Grasí, ëRegencyí,
ëRoyal Flushí, ëRoyal Starí, ëRoyal Sweetí, ëSentinelí, ëStarbriteí, ëStars-N-Stripesí
and Summer Flavor 800 and 900 series. Other varieties may perform equally
well on some farms.
Triploid Results
Early yield, as represented
by the first of two harvests, varied from 157 cwt/acre for DPS 4571 to 648
cwt/acre for XWT 8706. Twenty-two other entries had yields similar to those
of XWT 8706 and 15 other entries had early yields statistically similar
to DPS 4571. Average fruit weights at the first harvest ranged from 13.5
lbs for RWM 8084 to 28.3 lbs for DPS 4548. Soluble solids concentrations
varied from 12.4% in RWM 8089 to 14.3% in DPS 4548 at the first harvest.
The percentage of fruit having hollowheart at the first harvest ranged from
0 in ëFandangoí, ëSummer Sweet 5544í and ëTritoní to 83% in ëConstitutioní.
Total yields ranged
from 686 cwt/acre for ëTritoní to 1186 cwt/acre for XWT 8706. Only seven
entries produced yields significantly lower than XWT 8706. Average fruit
weight for the entire season varied from 13.0 lbs for RWM 8089 to 24.3 lbs
for DPS 4548. The number of fruit per plant ranged from 2.3 for DPS 4548
to 4.3 for XWT 8706. Soluble solids concentrations varied from 12.1% for
ëTritoní to 13.6% for SXW 1003. Accordingly, soluble solids in all entries
far exceeded the 10% specified for optional use in the U.S. Standards for
Grades of Watermelons to describe very good internal quality. The incidence
of hollowheart ranged from 0 in ëFandangoí and ëSummer Sweet 5544í to 67%
in ëConstitutioní.
Based on results of
this and previous trials, triploid hybrids, in alphabetical order, that
should perform well in Florida include ëConstitutioní, ëCrimson Trioí, ëFreedomí,
ëGenesisí, ëKing of Heartsí, ëMillionaireí, ëRevereí, ëSummersweet 5244í,
ëSummersweet 5544í, ëTri-X-313í and ëTri-X-Carouselí. ëTritoní, a yellow-flesh
variety should be evaluated for that niche market. Other varieties may perform
well on individual farms.
Those readers needing
more details on these trials should request Research Reports BRA-1999-5
and BRA-1999-6, from the author.
(Maynard, Vegetarian 99-11)
The End of the "Dead Bed" Era
In case you havenít
noticed, we are about to leave the "dead bed era." Methyl bromide served
us well, killing most soil-borne pathogens, insects, nematodes, and weeds.
But by all accounts (i.e., IFAS research) the alternatives leave something
to be desired. Hence, a "lively" bed will be the result. Sure, weíll develop
chemical cocktails tailored to certain situations, but we are losing more
ground than we are gaining when it comes to the use of agricultural chemicals.
If we continue on the present course, most of what we are using today will
either be ineffective or have lost itís registration when we lose methyl
bromide (2005). So whatís an alternative? Dare I say it? Biologicals!
Believe it or not, over
the past two years many transplant houses in Florida have silently put away
their copper/EBDC sprays in favor of "the phage," a virus that attacks bacterial
spot. Learning how to use the phage was frustrating at first, but this year
several transplant facilities have mentioned how "clean" their transplants
have been under phage technology. Transplant producers are just like vegetable
growers, except they plant hundreds of crops each year. So if biologicals
are working for them, perhaps you should take a closer look at this technology.
Biological control has
been around for decades, yet success stories are few. That is because we
have expected too much. Our chemistry has been so effective in defeating
diseases and insects that we have used chemistry as the standard on which
to judge the biological. But Mother Nature operates according to the familiar
phrase "you win some, you lose some." Letís face it: you never really beat
bacterial spot!
With the public clamoring
for safe food and a turn toward reduced pesticide usage, several enterprising
companies have stepped up to market biologicals. The jury is still out on
most products as they simply havenít undergone enough testing. However,
the USDA web site (www.barc.usda.gov/psi/bpdl/bpdlprod/bioprod.htm) lists
36 commercially available products as antagonists of plant pathogens. Most
plant pathologists will tell you that in side-by-side tests, chemicals will
outperform biologicals every time. In fact, in tests that pit the biological
against the disease it is supposed to control, the biological often delivers
only minimal control at best (10% or less). Most research stops when poor
performance is indicated. And thatís the point, while these products canít
stop Mother Naturesí disease arsenal, they do provide other benefits along
the way that help you help yourself.
So how can these biologicals help you?
Easy Application. These
products are generally applied either as a seed treatment or as an amendment
to the peat/vermiculite when growing transplants. The products themselves
are either dusts, granules, or flakes, and liquid formulations are on the
drawing board. Just a one-shot deal and forget about it! No repeat applications,
no tricky timing issues, and best of all, no re-entry or pre-harvest interval
considerations.
Growth Promotion. Of
the several products tested at the SWFREC, all have shown an ability to
increase plant growth. This growth response is most noticeable in the transplants,
but measurable growth differences have been seen in the field as well. Enhanced
growth in plants can translate to an ability to "out run" seedling diseases,
rapid establishment, better foraging performance (accessing water and nutrients),
and in the long run, earlier maturity. These benefits simply increase the
plantsí ability to take full advantage of the resources in the surrounding
environment.
Disease Reduction. Tests
at SWFREC have clearly shown reductions in both the incidence and severity
of disease. Products varied in level of performance and differences may
not have been detectable to the naked eye. For example, in a trial involving
a natural infestation of bacterial spot on pepper, 20% of the untreated
plants were diseased compared to13% of the treated plants. Furthermore,
there were 6 spots per leaf on the untreated plants compared to 4 spots
per leaf on the treated plants. This may not seem like a great deal of protection,
but it might make the difference between an epidemic and a controlled outbreak.
Additionally, the slower advance of the disease provides the grower a management
tool in that chemical controls and application timing can be more effective.
Similar results were noted for Phytophthora capsici on cantaloupe (lower
incidence/slower development). However, the virulence of P. capsici simply
proved too devastating for the biologicals in the end ("... you lose some.")
This is by no means an exhaustive list of disease trials, but a trend seems
to be emerging.
Insect Repellence. We
have not seen this aspect at the SWFREC; however, insect repellence has
been documented. Researchers at Auburn University have shown that certain
biologicals altered the level of cucurbitacins in cucumbers and thereby
made them less pleasant-tasting to cucumber beetles. This biochemical phenomenon
also reduced the amount of cucurbit wilt pathogen transmitted by the cucumber
beetle apparently due to its reduced feeding. This may be just an isolated
case; however, the ramifications seem very beneficial.
Nematode Reduction.
USDA researchers have documented reduced root galling and improved root
condition in nematode infested soils for tomato and pepper, right here in
Florida. Some organisms were better than others in eliciting these responses
and some were more effective in one crop or the other.
Yield Effects. If the
biologicals bring about any of the above-mentioned effects, you will probably
see a positive impact on yield. We have seen everything from more extra-large
fruit at first harvest and more total fruit after three harvests in pepper
to no yield differences, early or late, in cantaloupe. We even had one incident
of a reduction in extra-large tomato fruit size at first harvest, but no
effect on total harvest (size, weight, or grade). Again, these effects vary
with the organism and the crop on which it is used, and will probably not
perform identically every year ... you know, like Mother Nature.
So what are we to make
of all this? At this level of development you cannot expect great things
from biologicals. However, you can expect these organisms to show up every
day of the season and give you the best they can give. Itís the little things
that add up over the course of the season that produce the successful year.
As we enter the "lively bed" era without the "grand slam" of methyl bromide,
we are going to need all the help we can get, and this broad spectrum of
benefits provided by biologicals will certainly help. What better way to
help yourself than to put something "live" in that transplant plug or on
that seed.
(Vavrina, Vegetarian 99-11)
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlingsí Vegetable Garden
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
became well-known world-wide due to her writings. Her story about a boy
name Jody and his little pet deer name Flag growing up together in the back-woods
of central Florida won her the Pulitzer award for literature in 1939. While
The Yearling was her crowning achievement, at least one of her other books,
Cross Creek, was not far behind.
In Cross Creek we find
that Marjorie was not only a talented writer, but she was adept in many
other fields. One in particular about which she writes at length was horticulture.
It was her oranges that she knew most about, for her grove was what first
attracted her away from Rochester, N.Y. to rural Florida; however, it was
her vegetable garden and truck crops that filled most of the dishes on her
table.
For this article, I
would like to look back to the period of 1928-1941, her first years at the
Creek, and enter the old rusty gate to her kitchen garden for a look at
what sort of vegetable garden she might have grown at that time.
I suppose I just missed
meeting Marjorie Rawlings (Baskin), for I arrived at the University of Florida
in 1954, less than one year after her death in December, 1953. So while
I do not have first-hand knowledge, I do have the following sources of information:
1) her book, Cross Creek; 2) A.P. Spencerís 1930 Vegetable Crops of Florida;
3) F.S. Jamisonís 1935 The Florida Home Garden; and 4) my experiences with
the present garden on her farm.
As in all of her endeavors,
Marjorie seemed to approach gardening with a comfortable blend of academia
and osmosis, graduating early from the school of hard knocks. Her understanding
of the botanical and horticultural aspects of her crops and plants was amazing
accurate. For example, she found out by trial and error that her craving
for asparagus was not going to be fulfilled at Cross Creek, and she explained
this demise correctly on the basis of the plantís lack of dormancy due to
the warm winters.
Based on the cultivation
techniques she describes, Marjorie does not appear to have been what we
would call an "organic" gardener or farmer. She sent her grove man Snow
Slater to town for fertilizer, and had him spread it in the orange groves,
and probably on the row crops. But in the garden, she used humus, mingled
with the droppings of Dora and Lady. MKR: "Hammock soil is dark and rich,
made up of centuries of accumulation of humus from the dropping of leaves.
I dig leaf mold from this hammock to enrich my roses and camellias and gardenias."
Her stance on the use of pesticides is even less clear, as is indicated
by the following passage. MKR:"The balance of nature is a mysterious thing,
and man must fight on one side or the other with caution, or he will find
that in his battle he has exterminated some friendly element. Old-timers
in citrus growing do not believe in much of the spraying for unfriendly
parasites, and some of the moderns are agreeing, for in destroying them,
the friendly parasites are also destroyed."
To Marjorie, the seasons
dictated as much what she would plant as did her mere cravings. For that
reason, her vegetable gardens followed the seasons as best they could be
distinguished.
Her Spring Garden
MKR:"We say at the Creek,í
when the first whippoorwill calls, itís time for the corn to be in the groundí.
The first whippoorwill may call in late February or in March. I have never
known frost to come after that first plaintive, heart-tearing cry." (Those
of you who have my new book, Vegetable Gardening in Florida, will recognize
this famous quote on page 116 to introduce the Planting Guide)
Her Cravings
Whether possessed by
a craving for a certain dish or by the sheer joy of cooking, preparing the
products of her own garden and grove, or the surrounding woods and wetlands
was a pure passion with Marjorie. Just as the seasons, this obsession instilled
a desire and determination to grow favorite vegetables. MKR:"But the bacon
itself is very tasty and is a requirement in cooking many vegetables. I
can not conceive of cow-peas without a few thin slices boiled along with
them, and even string beans, which here we call green beans or wax beans
according to color, now seem insipid to me when cooked with butter or even
with cream. Greensí probably save more backwoods lives than the doctors,
for they are the one vegetable, aside from cow-peas, for which country folks
have a passion. Spinach as a green is unheard of, although it is raised
for the northern market. Beet greens are not relished, but turnip greens,
mustard greens, and above all, collard greens, cooked with white bacon,
with cornbread on the side, make an occasion. Mustard greens are strong
and hot and are best used sparingly along with turnip greens. Whenever mustard
greens has been planted, it goes wild and spreads, so that today, ten years
after my last planting, I can still go down toward the lake under the old
seedling pecan trees and pick a good mess in season. Collard greens are
my favorite of the three. They have a sweet nutty flavor."
While Marjorie did not
elaborate on the planting of several other common vegetables usually grown
in the areaís spring gardens, it is highly likely that she grew them. Few
gardens of that day, and even today, were without such crops as pole beans,
lima beans, cucumbers, melons, potatoes, pumpkins, radish, and the tomato.
But she was quick to praise the merits of several lesser-known kinds that
apparently fascinated her sufficiently to grow them, or in certain cases,
to collect them. MKR:"Pokeweed flourishes here, and in the late winter or
early spring the broad-leaved green shoots spring up all over the grove.
Others at the Creek use the leaves for ëpoke salatí, or cook them like other
greens. I hunt through the grove after a spring rain, basket in hand, for
the most tender shoots, cutting those from six to eight inches in length.
I trim off the leaves and thin skin and cook the shoots exactly as I do
asparagus, serving them on buttered toast with a rich cream sauce poured
over, and strips of crisp bacon around them. The flavor is delicate and
delicious, with a faint taste of iron."
"Longing for asparagus,
I imported a quantity of the roots and made a deep rich bed according to
instructions. The asparagus grew and thrived, but the year-round blandness
of temperature here, with no long dormant period, excited it so violently,
that it grew twelve months of the year, sending up long neurotic shoots
every night, no larger than a bridge pencil. It grew so fast that there
was never a moment of that crisp succulence in which to cut it. By noon
the thin sprigs had burst into ferny leaf. I was discouraged, but I think
the asparagus was not, for after a generation of offering damp heads to
a cold April northern sky, here were sun and heat all day long and the asparagus
went wild with joy."
Since Marjorieís experience
with asparagus, we at the University have learned to cut back the entire
plant to the ground twice a year, first in January, then again in July.
The resulting spears are larger and more succulent, but still lack the quality
of the northern-grown crop.
Today, next to her garden
gate, there is a trellis completely enshrouded by a dark green cucumber-like
vine. Since it is perennial, it may even be a holdover from her past. Marjorie
described it thus: "We raise here successfully an ethereal relation of the
squash family, the choyote. The fruit-like vegetable grows on a luxurious
vine that has been known to cover an acre. I used it through a hot summer
for a shade over my mallard duck pen. The choyote is the shape of a blunt,
enormous pear, pale jade green in color." (The correct spelling is chayote.)
Since I come from a
Florida Cracker background, I am not surprised to see that she included
in her garden the "Florida cranberry", so-called due to the sweet drink,
resembling cranberry juice, made from its immature pods. MKR: "The roselle
belongs to the okra and cotton and hollyhock family, and when the flowers,
which we raise for ornaments, are just past full bloom, we make the jelly
of the seed pods that have begun to form, seed pods that resemble rose hips,
rosy pink, tasting like candied rose petals." (Today there is a large plant
of roselle beside the back porch).
Cassava was one of the
early pioneer Florida crops, sustaining man and beast, so the fact that
Marjorie wrote of it is also not surprising. MKR:"There are several tropical
edibles that are poisonous when improperly treated, notably the coontie
palm root and the cassava. Both must be soaked and pounded to get rid of
the poisonous element. The coontie palm root makes a starchy flour for bread,
and the reason the Seminole Indians were able to hold out against us was
their use of the root. The treated cassava makes a delicious pudding, amber
in color, translucent, delicately sweet."
When Marjorie cooked
a possum, it was stuffed with sage, with sweet potatoes roasting on the
side. She talks about her sweet potatoes (yams), and very likely she would
have as a "side-dish" to her vegetable garden, a small plot of assorted
culinary herbs. Her menu for a duck meal included: sweet potato, whole white
onions, tossed salad of endive, chives, marjoram, basil, thyme, and tarragon.
Her Summer Garden
Marjorie wrote of things
slowing down around the Creek in the summer, and that went for her vegetable
garden as well. MKR:"I went then, the porch well cleaned, wet and glistening
in the fading light, to water my garden. There were a few carrots that I
had hoped to bring through the heat, a few zinnias, half a dozen desperate
collard plants, poor things but mine own." ( Also in my book). By early
August, in a good year, her garden rows could have included sweet potatoes,
cassava, eggplant, pepper, cow-peas, peanuts, and okra. Of okra she wrote,
"Okra is a Cinderella among vegetables. It lives a lowly life, stewed stickily
with tomatoes,or lost of identity in a Creole gumbo."
Her Fall Garden
Although spring has
always been known as the prime gardening time of the year, fall initiated
a lot of green-thumb activity around the Rawlings household. MKR:" The second
week in September I gamble on the season and plant most of my seed-beds.
The broccoli will probably survive in any case, but if the storms with their
rain do not come soon, the parsley and lettuce will never germinate, nor
can I bring through my seedling flowers, for my well water is harsh, and
the delicate plants resent it......! When the September storms are over,
we have some of our most superb weather. If they are not planted already,
we hurry to put in our fall crops: beans, English peas, squash and cucumbers;
our winter crops of cabbage, lettuce, carrots, beets, broccoli, turnips,
collards, kohlrabi, cauliflower, and celery.
The hurry now for the
fall market crops is against the first frost. The beans are delicate and
must make before the cold has touched them. The crops that have matured
through the long summer are ready. Sweet potatoes are dug and mounded for
the winterís use, the vines fed to the cows and the nubbins to the hogs."
The Winter Garden
Of the winter as a growing
season, Marjorie had only a few comments, all related to the community at
large. MKR: "Ahead of us is the good season, when growth is slowed and a
very little hoeing keeps clean the farm fields, the groves, and the gardens.
It is the tidy time." And of her own endeavors, she adds: "My own flower
and vegetable gardens are thriving, if they will thrive at all, and my citrus
crop will not be ready for picking before Christmas."
Other Plants and Crops
From the foregoing it
seems difficult to fully comprehend that her vegetable garden represented
merely a small fraction of the multitude of chores, projects, activities,
hobbies, pleasures, enterprises, and just plain hard work that encompassed
the daily and seasonal routine of of this phenomenal and marvelously gifted
woman. Her fields were planted and harvested for market, and included a
range of crops from lettuce and cowpeas to peanuts and beans. Her yard and
premises abounded with fruit and nut trees, berry bushes, grape vines, flowers,
and ornamentals of all sorts. Her citrus groves are legendary. Her animal
raising projects, whether for pet, product, or profit, are yet another story,
as are her forays onto the lakes and into the woodlands for sport and culinary
purposes.
And, yes. Oh, yes! Above
all else, she was a writer- the creator of prose the likes of which we may
never see again. Enjoy her works, but as you read, look not just at her
garden of fables, but stoop to peer down the measured rows and into the
foliage of her hyperbole; strip away the peel to reveal the core of her
message; then perhaps you will be pleasured with one tiny seed that germinates,
and the wisdom of her vision, understanding, appreciation, and concern for
Cross Creek and all that it symbolizes starts to grow within you. Marjorie
planted her garden well; now the cultivation is in our hands!
(Stephens, Vegetarian 99-11)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Green - Seeds Co., Ltd.
81/10B Ho Van Hue Street, Phu Nhuan District, Ward 9, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel: +84 (8) 847 6901 - Fax: +84 (8) 844 1392 - Email: info@green-seeds.com
|
|
|
