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Performance of Pumpkin Cultivars, Plateau Experiment Station, 2002 A. Brent Smith and Charles A. Mullins Interpretative Summary The pumpkin cultivars were highly productive, but fruit size was less than anticipated for most of the large fruited cultivars. ‘Pik-a-Pie’ produced the highest tonnage of pumpkins for the small fruited varieties. The remaining small fruited cultivars performed well, although size and appearance varied with cultivar. Introduction Pumpkins are grown in large commercial acreage for the Halloween market in Tennessee. An estimated 3500 acres of pumpkins are produced in Tennessee, with over half being produced on the Cumberland Plateau. Pumpkins have been a profitable crop 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 addressed for successful production of pumpkins. 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 Plateau Experiment Station at Crossville, TN in 2002 to evaluate performance of 23 pumpkin cultivars. Materials and Methods The site was prepared for planting by conventional tillage methods. Fertilizer was broadcast at 400 lb/A of 15-15-15 and incorporated with a disk on May 22. Plots were direct seeded with the selected cultivars on June 4. Plot size was one row, with a spacing of 12 by 20 ft. Each row contained 5 hills with 3 seeds/hill. A pre-emergence application of clomazone (Command) at 0.375 lb ai/A and ethalfluralin (Curbit) at 1.5 ld ai/A was made on June 5. After germination, hills were thinned to 2 plants/hill. Experimental plot design was a randomized complete block with four replications. Insect control was by esfenvalerate (Asana) at 0.05 lb ai/A alternated with carbaryl (Sevin) at 1.0 lb ai/A on a 7 to 10 day frequency. Fungicides were azoxystrobin (Quadris) at 0.25 lb ai/A alternated with a combination of chlorothalonil (Bravo) at 2.0 lb ai/A and myclobutanil (Nova) at 0.125 lb ai/A applied with each insecticide treatment. Pumpkins were harvested on Sept 23 and 24. 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. Results and Discussion Most of the large and medium sized varieties tested produced similar total tonnage of pumpkins, with the exceptions being ‘Howden" and "Merlin" (Table 1). The six small fruited cultivars did not produce any pumpkins that weighed over 10 lb. ‘Lil. Ironsides’ and ‘Pik-a-Pie’ produced a higher tonnage in the less than 10 lb class than any other cultivar except ‘Mystic Plus’, ‘Touch of Autumn’, and ‘Trickster’. ‘Hybrid 500' produced a larger tonnage that weighed over 20 lb per pumpkin than all cultivars except ‘Appalachian’, ‘Hybrid 510’, and ‘Gold Strike’. ‘Appalachian’ produced a higher tonnage that weighed between 15 and 20 lb per pumpkin than all cultivars except ‘Gold Gem’ and ‘Hybrid 500', ‘Mother Lode’ and ‘Magic Lantern’. Fruit of most of the cultivars weighed less than expected. This was probably due to the extremely dry conditions that occurred. ‘Little October’ produced more pumpkins per acre and more pumpkins that weighed less than 10 lb per pumpkin than any other cultivar (Table 2). Yields in number of fruit per acre generally were quite high and ‘Howden’, the check cultivar, produced 1814 pumpkins per acre. This is a high yield since the row spacing was 12 ft in order to help separate the cultivars at harvest. ‘Hybrid 510’ produced more fruit that weighed over 20 lb per pumpkin than all cultivars except ‘Appalachian’, Gold Gem’, and ‘Hybrid 500’. ‘Appalachian’ and ‘Magic Lantern’ produced more pumpkins per acre in the 15 to 20 lb class than all cultivars except ‘Gold Gem’, ‘Howden’, ‘Hybrid 510', ‘Sorcerer’ and ‘Trojan’. Most cultivars were rated high for quality characteristics (Table 3). ‘Aspen', ‘Gold Bullion', ‘Gold Gem’ and ‘Merlin’ were among cultivars rated high for fruit color. ‘Appalachian’, ‘Aspen’ and ‘Mother Lode’ were among cultivars rated high for appearance. Fruit of ‘Gold Bullion’ and ‘Gold Standard’ were among several varieties that had very large and nice stems. Fruit of ‘Gold Gem’ and ‘Ol’ Zebs’ were the largest in diameter, and fruit of ‘Little October’ had the smallest diameter. ‘Gold Strike’ was the cultivars with the most length, while ‘Little October’ were the cultivars with the least fruit length. Table 1. Yield in tons per acre of different size classes of pumpkin cultivars at The University of Tennessee Plateau Experiment Station at Crossville, 2002.
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 Plateau Experiment Station at Crossville, 2002.
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 3. Quality ratings of pumpkin cultivars at The University of Tennessee Plateau Experiment Station at Crossville, 2002.
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.x Graded on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being dark orange color, good appearance, and good stem. |
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