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Performance of Pumpkin Cultivars, Middle Tennessee Experiment Station, 2000 Charles A. Mullins, Dennis Onks, and Roy Thompson Interpretative Summary
All pumpkin cultivars were highly productive, and fruit size was average for most of the cultivars. ‘Gold Strike’ and ‘Mother Lode’ produced the highest tonnage of pumpkins that weighed over 20 lbs per pumpkin. ‘Gold Rush’ and ‘Old Zebs' had a larger average weight than all cultivars except ‘Mother Lode’. ‘Gold Fever’, ‘Gold Standard’, and ‘Howdy Doody’ produced a high tonnage of pumpkins that weighed less than 10 lb. Introduction Pumpkins for Halloween usage are grown throughout Tennessee . The primary acreage of pumpkins is on the Cumberland Plateau. Cultivars have been found to perform differently at different locations. Rainfall and temperature differences affect fruit set and development and disease problems. Pumpkins have been a profitable crop for producers in recent years, and acreage production seems to increase each year. Several tobacco and row crop producers have considered or actually produced pumpkins as an alternative crop. Pumpkin production has many problems that need to be considered by growers. Weed control can be a problem in pumpkins as labeled herbicides fail to control all species of weeds adequately. Insecticides and fungicides need to be applied on a 7 to 10 day frequency. Bees are needed for pollination. Pumpkins require a fairly high degree of management for successful results. An experiment was conducted at the Middle Tennessee Experiment Station at Spring Hill, TN in 2000 to evaluate performance of 10 pumpkin cultivars. Materials and Methods The site was prepared for planting by conventional tillage methods. Fertilizer was broadcast at 750 lb/A of 15-15-15 and incorporated with a disk on May 18. Plots were direct seeded with the selected cultivars on May 19. Plot size was one row, 12 by 20 ft. Each row contained 5 hills with 3 seeds/hill. Plants were later thinned to 2 plants/hill. Experimental plot design was a randomized complete block with four replications. A preemergence application of clomazone (Command) at 0.375 lb ai/A was made on May 19.
Insect control was by esfenvalerate (Asana) at 0.05 lb ai/A on a 7 to 14 day frequency. Fungicides were azoxystrobin (Quadris) at 0.25 lb ai/A or (Bravo) at 2.0 lb ai/A applied with each insecticide treatment. Pumpkins were harvested on Sept 7. Harvested pumpkins were sorted according to sizes of over 20 lb, 15 to 20 lb, 10 to 15 lb, and less than 10 lb. Number and weight of pumpkins in each weight range were recorded. Quality ratings were made at harvest. All ratings were on a 1 to 10 scale with 10 the most desirable. All data were analyzed by analysis of variance methods, and means were separated by Duncan’s multiple range tests at the 0.05 level of probability.
Results and Discussion
Pumpkin yields in tons and number per acre were relatively high (Tables 1 and 2). ‘Mother Lode’ had a higher total tonnage than all cultivars except ‘Gold Fever’, ‘Gold Standard’ , ‘Howdy Doody’, and ‘Magic Lantern’. ‘Gold Fever’, ‘Gold Standard’, and ‘Howdy Doody’ produced a higher tonnage of pumpkins that weighed less than 10 lb per pumpkin than all other cultivars. ‘Gold Standard’ was among cultivars that produced the highest tonnage of pumpkins that weighed 10 to 15 lb per pumpkin. ‘Gold Fever’, ‘Howdy Doody’, ‘Magic Lantern’, and ‘Mother Lode’ were among cultivars that produced the highest tonnage of pumpkins that weighed 15 to 20 lb per pumpkin. ‘Gold Rush’ and ‘Mother Lode’ produced more tonnage of pumpkins that weighed over 20 lb per pumpkin than any other cultivar. Yield in number per acre was very similar to yield in tons/acre for the 10 cultivars. ‘Howdy Doody’ and ‘Mother Lode’ were among cultivars rated as having the best color (Table 3). ‘Howdy Doody’ was among cultivars rated as having the best appearance. ‘Mother Lode’ was among cultivars with the longest fruit. Average fruit diameter did not vary due to cultivar.
z Means within a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level of probability, Duncan’s multiple range tests.
Table 2. Yield in number per acre of different size classes of pumpkin cultivars at The University of Tennessee Middle Tennessee Experiment Station at Spring Hill, 2000.
z Means within a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level of probability, Duncan’s multiple range tests.
y Ratings on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 most desirable.z Means within a column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level of probability, Duncan’s multiple range tests. |
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