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...
The microclimate of plastic shelters used for vegetable production
Abstract does not appear. First page follows.
 Introduction
 In many areas of California, warm-season crops such as cantaloupes, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers
 are planted during winter or early spring and are artificially provided with an environment
 suitable for growth during a period of adverse temperature conditions. This is accomplished
 by means of paper or plastic structures placed over the growing plants which provide,
 in effect, a miniature greenhouse. In the past, paper was used almost exclusively
 as hot-cap material. Recently, however, plastic has been used as continuous row covers
 or tunnels and has been shown to be superior in many respects to the conventional
 paper (Shadbolt and McCoy, 1960).5 As these covers often remain in place for as long as three months, temperature, humidity,
 and other environmental factors must be maintained in order to provide good growing
 conditions for the plants.
 Previous studies (Shadbolt and McCoy, 1960) have indicated that the shape and method of ventilation of these continuous covers
 have a marked influence on the soil and air temperatures as well as on plant response.
 It was considered desirable to expand these studies and to determine more critically
 the effects of these factors on the temperature patterns throughout the enclosed air
 and soil. Accordingly, experiments were conducted at the University of California
 Imperial Valley Field Station near Holtville and at the University of California,
 Riverside, during the winters of 1960 and 1961.
 Polyethylene mulching has also been used in many vegetable-growing areas of the country
 to increase earliness and yields. In contrast to raised covers, mulches involve the
 control of conditions primarily below the soil surface. Both clear and black films
 have been successfully used. Clear film has been shown to provide a greater increase
 in soil temperature than black film (Voth