Bill Kerr
Just When you think you’ve got your cucurbit spacing sorted out, other factors come into play if you adjust the planting season – temperature, which reduces internode length, and day length, which determines where the first female fruits are going to be set. With shorter day length and cooler temperatures, the plants will be more compact and produce more female flowers. The opposite applies when planting in midsummer and in hot conditions.
In combination with growing conditions, spacing will have a huge impact on yield. Understanding it not only explains unexpected results, but also enables fine-tuning for maximum yields on a consistent basis. With different varieties, the principles remain the same but the bearing habits differ. One may peg the row spacing of boer pumpkins 5m apart for a certain season and yet 4m rows would perhaps give Crown Prince-types the highest yield in the same conditions. More compact growers change everything again.
Though sometimes referred to as bush types, strictly speaking these are compact runners, as they begin with very close internodes and start setting fruit close to the crown. We don’t actually want a true bush type, which would bear like a marrow, as it wouldn’t have enough leaf area to bring even one pumpkin to a good size. This type of growth is best suited to the “baby” market, where constantly harvesting immature fruit keeps the plant producing.
Compact types have the advantage of being able to produce good yields at high populations. They may form one or two fruit and then abort the rest. These types mustn’t get an early setback and should be pushed from the word go. Each type has different optimum spacing in the same conditions, and the seed supplier should be able to give you guidance. To get one or two fruit per plant, judge the spacing so the plants meet in the middle as soon as this phase is over.
As a challenge, breeders should develop a variety which doesn’t set first fruits too close to the crown, then continues setting fruit along the compact runners without favouring the first fruits and aborting the rest. Something between both types will most likely provide the highest yield potential. Whatever type is planted, farmers must understand the plants’ functioning for the most economical production. – Bill Kerr ((016) 366 0616 or e-mail [email protected]). |fw
