Effect of Sequential Planting, Plant Replacement, and Planting Date on Marketable Yield of Bell Pepper, Capsicum annuum var. annuum L.
Earliest plantings of the bell pepper cv. Pip were on 16 May 1990 and 15 April 1991 at Lane, Okla. Additional plantings were at monthly intervals through July. Peppers were harvested weekly. Plants of the earliest plantings had marketable yields of approximately 21 Mg. ha-'. Marketable yields of later plantings were no higher than 8.6 Mg, ha-'. Combined marketable yields of sequential monthly lantings increased marketable yield to approximately 36 Mg.ha-(I a 1.7 fold increase over the earliest planting alone. W~th the earliest planting removed and peppers immediately replanted in June or July 1990 or May through July 1991, the marketable yield from subsequent plantings did not equal the marketable yield lost with the earliest planting maintained. Results showed sequential planting, with the earliest planting being no later than early May in the South Central United States, to be a viable method to increase marketable yield of bell pepper.
Influence of planting date and row covers on yields and crop values for bell peppers in Saskatchewan
In 1989 and 1990, bell peppers transplanted into the field in mid-May, late May or early June were grown with a black plastic soil mulch and no cover (NC) or under tunnels of perforated clear polyethylene (PT) or spunbonded polyester (ST). The ST treatment provided several degrees of frost protection, whereas the PT treatment appeared to increase the crop’s susceptibility to frost damage. Early planting had little effect on total fruit yields but did accelerate the harvest. In both years, the ST accelerated crop maturity and increased total fruit yields relative to the noncovered treatment. At times the PT improved crop development and increased fruit yields, but in many cases it reduced fruit yields relative to the noncovered treatment. By promoting early fruit set and development, early planting under the spunbonded row covers significantly enhanced the value of the crop, as early peppers command a premium price in Saskatchewan. Cumulative crop values for the PT treatments were generally similar to or p...
Intensive Vegetable Production with Row Covers

Horticulturists have, from antiquity, attempted to circumvent climate-imposed limitations to crop production. The challenge has been to modify effectively both the predictive and nonpredictive elements of weather to take advantage of out-of-season production. Although there has been little, if any, success in actually controlling the weather, the progress in compensating for low temperatures has been phenomenal. One such compensatory factor has been the use of row covers for temperature modification. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to review the recent advances in using row covers for vegetable production, and to speculate on their potential uses in horticulture.