Fairview Produce Auction Vegetable Demonstration - 2003
Shane Bogle, Joe Masabni, Harold Eli, and Jay Stone
Department of Horticulture and Christian County Extension Office

Fairview, Kentucky is a fast growing vegetable producing community and consists of hundreds of acres for the production of farm fresh vegetables. The Fairview Produce Auction, a Mennonite owned auction facility, is used by local growers and many growers from surrounding counties and attracts buyers from as far as Atlanta, Georgia.

In 2003, a demonstration plot was set up on the auction grounds, in order to compare: 1 - new vegetable varieties; 2 - different production practices; and 3 - sales comparison of two sweet corn varieties. Finally, the demonstration plot was set up as an educational plot for the benefit of growers and members of the Fairview Produce Auction on the annual field day held every year in July.

The demonstration plot compared the effects of black and red plastic mulch on yields of different cultivars of cantaloupe, tomato, and watermelon varieties grown with trickle irrigation. The tomato varieties used in this plot are Mt. Fresh, Mt. Spring, Florida 47, and BHN 951. The watermelon varieties used are Black Diamond, Sangria Seedless, and Charleston Gray. Only one cantaloupe variety, PXC221 was used in this plot. Tomatoes were transplanted on May 30^th, whereas the watermelons and cantaloupe were direct-seeded on June^2nd. Insecticide application consisted of Admire 2F applied as a soil drench to cantaloupe, tomato, and watermelon at a rate of 16 fl oz per acre one week after planting and Pounce 3.2EC applied 6 weeks later.

The Sweet corn varieties, CSYBF1-12 (bicolor) and Attribute (GSS0978, Bt-ready F1 yellow) were planted on May 28^th. Cultural practices according to current commercial recommendations for Kentucky were followed. Fifty lbs of N per acre and all P and K were applied preplant according to UK soil tests and recommendations. Sweet corn was side-dressed with an additional 50 lbs of N per acre when it was about knee high. The second application of N for the tomato, watermelon, and cantaloupe (see ID-36 for recommended rates for each crop) was applied through the drip irrigation system over a seven week period.

Plots consisted of 8 raised beds, 100 ft long each, set up with trickle irrigation with half the rows on black plastic and the other half red plastic mulch. Bed centers were 6 ft apart. Within the row, spacing for the tomato plants was 18", and 36" for the watermelons and cantaloupes. Eight rows of CSYBF1-12 and 16 rows of Attribute were planted on 40" spacing with rows approximately 200 ft long. Preemergence weed control for the sweet corn ground consisted of 2.3 qt of Bicep and 1 pt of atrazine per acre.

Plastic laying and planting were delayed over 2 weeks due to the wet cool spring experienced in 2003. Still, the growing season was overall favorable to vegetable production in Kentucky. Excessive rain caused one low area of the field to consistently hold water which stunted several tomato plants. Raccoons also were a problem in the CSYBF1-12 but did not seem to like the Bt-ready sweet corn. When sold on the auction floor, Attribute was clearly labeled as Bt-ready sweet corn. A total of 187 dozen ears of Attribute were sold with prices ranging from $0.75 to $1.50 per dozen. Due to excessive feeding by raccoons, only 24 dozen ears of CSUBF1-12 was sold at a price of $2.00 per dozen. Buyers seemed to bypass the Bt-corn if another sweet corn was available. A total of 46 watermelons and 186 cantaloupes were sold from the demonstration plot. No significant differences were observed between yields of all 3 vegetables produced on black and red plastic mulch.

Tomato plants were harvested 5 times and separated into two grades: large and small. Each variety was harvested and weighed separately for plants grown on black and red plastic mulch. None of the 4 varieties were significantly different in yields of large or small size fruits, or in terms of total harvest weight when grown on black or red plastic mulch (table 1). Table 2 shows that the plastic mulch color didn’t influence the overall combined yields for all 5 harvest dates and all 4 tomato varieties.

Table 1. Comparisons of yields of 4 tomato varieties grown on black or red plastic mulch

Table 2. Yield comparison of tomato grown black vs. red plastic mulch

The authors would like to thank Paul Zimmerman for providing labor and equipment for field preparations, planting and pesticide sprays. Also thanks to David Weaver for crop harvests and data collection. We would also like to thank Dear Field Supplies for donating tomato plants and supplies.