Scheduling Production of Florida Vegetables 1

Transcription

1 H 0 cheduling Production of lorida Vegetables Donald N. Maynard Experienced vegetable growers have learned to time the harvest period of the crops that they grow to avoid unfavorable weather and to take advantage of market windows. On the other hand, when alternative or new crops are introduced into a production area, there may be little information or experience on which to base planting schedules and projected harvests.likewise, new growers or experienced growers of other crops may have difficulty in determining the correct planting date of a new crop for a particular market. Many commercial seed catalogs provide days to maturity data as part of variety descriptions. hese data correct for the area where the evaluation occurred, most commonly California or the northern United tates. Unfortunately, days to harvest listed in seed catalogs may be quite misleading for lorida growers. Pumpkin production for Halloween is an excellent example of this situation. he market is fixed as the last two weeks of October and the product is fairly perishable under unprotected lorida conditions. herefore, it is important to have the crop in prime condition for harvest on about October. Most pumpkins varieties listed in seed catalogs have from 00 to 0 days required for maturity. Using this information, pumpkins should be planted from June to July. However, in trails conducted in central lorida, pumpkins required only to days from seeding and 9 days from transplanting to reach maturity. his means that seeding July 0 or transplanting on July would result in an October harvest. Accordingly, there is a two to five week discrepancy between listed times to maturity and actual times to maturity under lorida summer conditions. Many lorida production areas have distinct fall and spring seasons, and time to maturity is usually less for the fall season than for the spring season. or example, cucumbers, from seeding, at required an average of day for the spring crop but only days for the fall crop. At, tomatoes required an average of 90 days in the spring and days from transplanting in the fall. ime of maturity within a production season varies from south to north on the peninsula. or example, peppers in the spring season required 9 days at Boynton Beach, days at, days at, and days at from transplanting. Even though all of these plantings were for the spring season harvest, plantings were later in the season from southerly to northerly locations, and. his document is H 0, one of a series of the Horticultural ciences Department, lorida Cooperative Extension ervice, Institute of ood and Agricultural ciences, University of lorida. Original publication date May 99. Revised August 00. Visit the EDI eb ite at Donald N. Maynard, ProfessorVegetable Crops pecialist, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, Institute of ood and Agricultural ciences, University of lorida, he Institute of ood and Agricultural ciences (IA) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with nondiscrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. U.. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension ervice, University of lorida, IA, lorida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Larry Arrington, Dean

2 cheduling Production of lorida Vegetables growing conditions improved as the season progressed, thereby reducing the number of days from transplanting to first harvest. Maynard, D.N. 99. Vegerable Variety rial Results in lorida for 9. la. Agr. Expt. ta. Circ. In addition to the seasonal and geographic effects on maturity, varieties of nearly all vegetables may be classed as being early, midseason, or late in maturity. In some crops, early varieties may mature as much as a week or two earlier than late varieties. Because of the discrepancy between published and actual time to maturity and seasonal and site variations in days to maturity, the accompanying data were compiled from the annual lorida Agricultural Experiment tation Circulars on vegetable variety trail results that are listed in the References section. Note that the days to harvest is for the earliestmaturing varieties. hen more than one years data are available, the days to harvest is an average. he range in days to maturity occurs because of year to year variation in weather and variation of planting time within a production season. References Lazin, M.B. 9.Vegetable Variety rial Results in lorida for 9. la. Agr. Expt. ta. Circ. 0 Maynard, D. N. 9 Vegetable Variety rial Results in lorida for 9. la. Agr. Expt. tat. Circ. 0 Maynard, D.N. 9.Vegetable rial Results in lorida for 9. la. Agr.Expt. ta.circ. Maynard D.N. 9. Vegetable Variety rial Results in lorida for 9. la.agr. Expt. ta. Circ. Maynard, D.N. 9. Vegetable Variety rial Results in lorida for 9. la. Agr.. Expt. ta. Circ. Maynard, D.N. 9.Vegetable Variety rial Results in lorida for 9. la. Agr. Expt. ta. Circ.. Maynard, D.N. 9 Vegetable Variety rial Results in lorida for 9. la. Agr. Expt. tat. Circ.

3 cheduling Production of lorida Vegetables able. Days to first harvest, by season of harvest and method of stand establishment, for vegetables at several lorida Vegetable Location Crop or No. of Days to Harvest Establishment Harvest Observations Range Average BLACK BEAN t. Pierce t. Pierce BUH BEAN t. Pierce BROCCLOI t. Pierce anford 9 90 CANALOUPE CARRO Zellwood 9 CAULILOER anford CELERY outh Bay outh Bay CHINEE (Napa) 9 0 CHINEE (Pakchoi) COLLARD 09 0

4 cheduling Production of lorida Vegetables able. Days to first harvest, by season of harvest and method of stand establishment, for vegetables at several lorida CUCUMBER (slicing) CUCUMBER (pickling) anford anford EGGPLAN 90 LEEK 9 LEUCE (Crisphead) LEUCE (Romaine) 09 OKRA ONION (snap) (now) (outhern) PEPPER (Bell) PEPPER (Cubanelle) POAO PUMPKIN QUAH (inter) QUAH (ummer) 9 9 t. Pierce 0 9 Bownton Beach t. Pierce Hastings anford t. Pierce

5 cheduling Production of lorida Vegetables able. Days to first harvest, by season of harvest and method of stand establishment, for vegetables at several lorida EE CORN Palm Beach anford Zellwood RADICCHIO RADIH 9 9 RABERRY Dover 0 9 OMAO t. Pierce t. Pierce OMAO (Cherry) 9 AERMELON Live Oak AERMELON (Icebox) Live Oak AERMELON (eedless) =direct seeding, =transplanting. or harvest in the fall (=Oct, Nov, Dec); winter (=Jan, eb, Mar); or spring (=Apr, May, June).