Erin Hill

Cucumber is an important vegetable in Michigan, where it is grown for slicing (fresh) or processing. Michigan is the top producer of pickling cucumbers in the United States, with over 27% of the total national production. Studies were conducted in 2004 to test the effects of plant density on cucumber fruit quality. Cucumber var. `Vlaspik' was seeded in 30.5, 45.7, 61.0, and 76.2 cm rows with 12.7 cm spacing between plants inside the row, corresponding to final plant populations of 258, 172, 129, and 103 thousand plants/ha, respectively. The experiment used a randomized complete-block design with 4 replications and four rows per plot. At harvest, 10 fruits of grade 2 were randomly selected from each plot for measurement of specific gravity, firmness, soluble solids, color, and seed size. Cucumber fruit specific gravity, soluble solids, and seed size were not affected by plant population size. However, fruit firmness and color varied with plant density. Low plant populations, when...

Hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) (HV) and cowpea [Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.] (CP) are two leguminous cover crops used in vegetable production systems. The residues of both species have been shown to suppress weeds via allelopathic interactions; however, they may also carry a risk of crop injury. A laboratory experiment was designed to study the dose response of carrot, sweet corn, cucumber, lettuce, onion, pepper, and tomato germination and radicle elongation to the aqueous extracts of both HV and CP. Aqueous extracts of fresh, whole plants were lyophilized to obtain a dry powder. Treatments of 0.00, 0.25, 0.50, 1.00, 2.00, 4.00, and 8.00 g dry extract/L of distilled water were applied to 10 seeds on filter paper in petri dishes. The petri dishes were then sealed and placed in the dark at 21 °C for 4 to 7 days, depending on the species germination. After the incubation period, germination rates and radicle lengths were recorded. Each treatment had 4 replications and the full expe...