Maximum Potential Vegetative and Floral Production and Fruit Characteristics of Watermelon Pollenizers

Dittmar, Peter J.; Monks, David W.; Schultheis, Jonathan R.

doi:10.21273/hortsci.44.1.59

Cited by 13 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…2A and 3A), it might not be the optimum pollenizer. The number of flowers per plant shows a similar pattern as was observed in previous studies (Dittmar et al, 2009;, although a lower absolute number of flowers was observed in the current study. The data for the number of pistillate flowers are not shown.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

“…The current study focused on early flowering and specifically aims to make recommendations for synchronization of pollenizer flowering patterns with the peak period of triploid pistillate flowering. However, growers may want to extend the length of the harvesting window and that would require pollenizer cultivars that flower consistently for a long period of time (Dittmar et al, 2009;Maynard and Elmstrom, 1992). At the end of our study at Week 6, most of the pollenizer plants were still flowering at a high level and other studies have shown that the number of flowers per plant is still increasing at this stage (Dittmar et al, 2009;.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

“…There are several traits that are considered desirable for pollenizers such as compact growth habit and flower attractiveness to pollinators . However, the most basic requirement is synchronized flowering patterns between the pollenizer cultivar and triploid cultivar (Dittmar et al, 2009(Dittmar et al, , 2010. The goal is for the pollenizer to have plentiful staminate flowers at the time the triploid plant produces pistillate flowers, simulating the flowering pattern of a single plant on two different plants.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The choice of pollenizer-triploid combination is critical for timely production (Dittmar et al, 2010;Maynard and Elmstrom, 1992). Dittmar et al (2009) compared flowering patterns of two triploids and 13 pollenizers by collecting data for the number of pistillate and staminate flowers from 4 to 9 weeks after transplanting and found that peak performance of pistillate flowers was often in Week 5 or 6, which was earlier than the peak production of staminate flowers for the pollenizers. In 2005 one of the triploid cultivars, Tri-X-313, already had a large number of pistillate flowers when the study started.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Flowering Patterns of Pollenizer and Triploid Watermelon Cultivars

McGregor¹,

Waters²

2014

horts

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The past 10 years has seen a steep increase in production of seedless watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) in the United States. Seedless fruit is produced on triploid plants that require pollination from diploid pollenizers for fruit set. Synchronization of the staminate flowers on the pollenizers with the appearance of pistillate flowers on the triploids is a fundamental requirement for this production system. Previous research suggested that pistillate flowers reach peak production early in the season, but data are only available for a small number of triploid cultivars. We compared the flowering patterns of 29 triploid cultivars and 20 pollenizers, including 10 harvested pollenizers, during the first 6 weeks after transplanting over 2 years. The average number of days from transplanting (DAT) to the first staminate flower was between 5.3 days and 19.1 days in 2012 and 9.7 days and 24.4 days in 2013 for the pollenizers and between 18.7 days and 27.6 days and 22.1 days and 32.7 days for the pistillate triploid flowers in the 2 years, respectively. K-means clustering of the weekly percentage of plants with staminate and pistillate flowers for the different cultivars shows that different triploid and pollenizer cultivars have different flowering patterns and that some combinations have better synchronized flowering than others. Growers should take particular care when choosing pollenizers for early-flowering triploid cultivars. Harvested pollenizers are better suited to late-flowering triploids and growers should choose triploid and pollenizer cultivar combinations with flowering patterns that best satisfy their specific production goals.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 91%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 69%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Flowering Patterns of Pollenizer and Triploid Watermelon Cultivars

McGregor¹,

Waters²

2014

horts

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“…The pots were spaced 0.8 m between rows and 0.4 m between plants. A 3:1 ratio between triploid and diploid varieties was used in dedicated rows (Fiacchino & Walters, 2003;Dittmar et al, 2009) for seedless watermelon cultivation. Plants were trellised to facilitate management of this crop in a protected environment greenhouse.…”

Section: Site and Agricultural Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Adaptive and Foraging Behavior of Two Stingless Bee Species in Greenhouse Mini Watermelon Pollination

Bomfim¹,

Bezerra²,

Nunes³

et al. 2015

Sociobiology

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The growth of protected cultivation in world agriculture has led to crops traditionally cultivated in open field to be grown in protected environments, but this condition creates a physical barrier which prevents the access of natural pollinators to flowers (Guerra Sanz, 2008). Hand pollinating the flowers in a protected environment, as well as the application of hormones to induce fruit production, is laborious and increases production costs (Cruz & Campos, 2009). Thus, a more economical alternative would be the introduction of native pollinators that are able to adapt to the conditions of closed environments and to meet the pollination requirements of crops under these conditions (Banda & Paxton, 1991; Cruz & Campos, 2009). The most promising pollinator in Brazil seems to be the stingless bees (subtribe Meliponina), since they occur

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