Doug%20Waterer

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U of SResearch Update

• Doug Waterer
• SVGA 2007

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What I Did on My Summer Holidays

• Doug Waterer
• SVGA 2007

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Vegetable Cultivar EvaluationTrials funded by
SDAF for gt 20 years
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Why Cultivar Trials ?

• Many new cultivars released every year
• Each claims to be the best, earliest,
  tastiest
• Many old standards dropped each year need to
  I.D. new material
• Too many new lines for growers to evaluate
  every year

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Objective - identify new cultivars suited to SK
conditions, changing production practices and
market requirements

• Seedling vigor
• Resistance to disease/insects/stress
• Earliness
• Quality (visual and flavor)
• Yields
• Storage potential

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Methods - crops managed with the objective of
maximum productivity

• Irrigated
• Micro-climate modification where needed
• Careful pest management
• Multiple harvests
• Replicated over years

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U of S Cultivar Trials

• 10 crops tested/year
• Test seed from anywhere ... but emphasize
  accessible suppliers
• Compare new releases against previous
  recommendations industry standards

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U of S Cultivar Trials

• Trial results distributed to ...
• - commercial growers
• - seed companies
• - local garden centers
• - industry support staff
• - gardening public

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Asparagus

• 2nd year from seed
• previous planting (1998) wiped out by disease
• 29 cultivars
• mostly all male types
• ALL DOING WELL

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Red Cabbage - direct seed transplant

• 15 varieties
• Wide range maturities
• Nothing exceptional

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Cabbage - (direct seed transplant)

• Transplanting gives
• Superior stand
• Earlier yields
• More uniform harvest
• Denser, larger heads
• Greater losses to maggots ?

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Corn

• Se, Su, Sh2, synthetics
• 57 varieties
• Earliness
• Uniformity
• Quality

2007 great corn year
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Garlic

• Fall Planted
• both Stiff and Softnecks do well
• supermarket good source of seed garlic
• mulching in the fall
• Does it improve overwinter survival ??
• Weeds in the mulch !!

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Watermelons

• Transplanted
• Row covers until late June
• Excellent year despite cool August
• Great yields and quality

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Spanish Onions

• Transplanted
• - Excellent crop
• - Many good cultivars
• - Yellow types superior yields and quality to
  white
• - Storage trial ongoing

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Basil

• Transplanted
• - Multiple harvests
• - Many excellent cultivars
• - Wide range colors, plant types, flavors
• - Root rots

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Bunching Onions

• Multiple plantings
• Assess for uniformity, quality and taste

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Tomato (2006)

• Heritage types
• transplanted
• IRT mulch

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Tomato (2007)

• Heritage types
• transplanted
• Biodegradable mulch
• Staked pruned

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Turnip

• - seed row treated with Furadan (!!!)
• - Lorsban drench

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Turnip
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Additional Crops Tested in 2007
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Beans !!!

• 57 cultivars
• Near perfect stand
• Near ideal growing conditions
• Weekly harvest
• 2-4 people
• 4h/day for 8 weeks

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Web

• Cultivar and Cultural trial results
• Sortable databases
• Articles
• Presentations

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Plastic Mulch Assessment
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• Mulches
• - alter soil temperature
• - preserve soil moisture
• - weed control
• - enhanced crop quality

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• Mulch Cost
• - materials
• - installation
• - removal
• - disposal

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• Biodegradable mulches
• - mfg from corn byproducts
• - degrade with exposure to sunlight, moisture
  and microbes
• - available in clear, black, IRT
• - Durability/performance ???
• - Cost/benefit ?

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Vegetable Projects (2006)

• Degradable Mulches
• Ideally .
• - mulch lasts long enough to benefit crop then
  dissolves
• - eliminates fall clean up

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• 2007 Mulch trial
• Mulches tested
• - clear, black, IRT, no mulch
• - regular and biodegradable
• Crops tested
• - corn
• - zucchini
• - melons

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• 2007 Mulch trial
• General observations
• - all crops did well on all colors
• - clear gave an earliness advantage but
• - biodegradable clear broke down too early
• - biodegradable mulch minimized fall clean up

Biodegradables cost about 15 extra
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• Mulches
• - alter soil temperature
• - preserve soil moisture
• - weed control
• - enhanced crop quality
• - alter crop growth ???

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• Colored Mulches
• - mulch color reflected light all other
  wavelengths absorbed
• - reflected light has potential to alter crop
  growth

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• Colored Mulches (2007)
• - colors tested
• - red, blue, white, yellow
• - crops tested
• - cucs, corn, zucchini, transplanted onion

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• Colored Mulches
• - definitely alter growth of some crops
• - cucs earlier on blue
• - spanish onions love white
• - economics ???

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Vegetable Projects (2006 2007)

• Disease Control in Pumpkin
• - range of diseases attack fruit in field and
  during storage
• Step 1. Try to I.D. diseases
• Step 2. Potential to control in field and in
  storage ?

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Vegetable Projects (2006 2007)

• Disease Control in Pumpkin
• Control concepts
• - spray flowers with fungicide
• - spray maturing fruit
• - spray after harvest
• - post-harvest disinfection

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Vegetable Projects (2007)

• Wireworm survey
• looking at seed and table potato fields across
  the province
• Checking wireworm numbers and crop damage
• Need to keep Thimet ?

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Hits and Misses in the Vegetable Patch in 2007

• Miss !!
• - Early season maggot control
• Hit (Luck only)
• - Minimal problems with late season maggots

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Hits and Misses in the Vegetable Patch in 2007

• Miss !!
• - Aster yellows
• - hit carrots, coriander, zucchini, various
  weeds
• Hit (Luck only)
• Opportunity to assess carrot cultivars for
  reaction to aster yellows
• Some cultivars gt 50 grade-out others lt10

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Hits and Misses in the Vegetable Patch in 2007

• Hit/Miss
• Callisto herbicide for sweet corn.
• Safe for all cultivars
• Controls many emerged weeds and also gives some
  residual control
• but useless against sowthistle and volunteer
  heritage tomatoes

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Hits and Misses in the Vegetable Patch in 2007

• Miss - Herbicides for control of volunteer
  Coriander

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Hits and Misses in the Vegetable Patch in 2007

• Miss
• High Tunnel Trials

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Vegetable Projects (200????)

• Haygrove Tunnel System
• - ca. 1 acre
• - operation and cropping potential

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Hits and Misses in the Vegetable Patch in 2007

• Hit
• Spinosad/Entrust for loopers
• Again, very effective
• 24h per-harvest
• soft product
• ?

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New in 2008 .

• Buctril in onions
• Linuron in corn
• New products for wireworms ?
• New products for maggot ?

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Http//www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/vegetable

www.usask.ca/agriculture/plantsci/vegetable or Veg
etables Saskatchewan
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Thanks to
University of Saskatchewan Plant Sciences
Department

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Thanks to