Season Extension in Organic Systems

Evans, William B.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-26803-3_13

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…One promising alternative pest control strategy is the use of fabric or fine mesh row covers that exclude insect pests and insect vectored diseases. Low tunnels (45.72 cm tall) covered by a spunbond polypropylene fabric are traditionally used in season extension for protection against frost and cooler temperatures (Evans, 2016). Beyond season extension, low tunnels also increase growth, yield, water, and nitrogen use efficiency in addition to excluding pests (Acharya et al, 2019(Acharya et al, , 2020a.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Row covers limit pests and disease and increase profit in organic acorn squash

Fiske,

Cheng,

Kuesel

et al. 2024

Front. Sustain. Food Syst.

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Organic cucurbit growers face many challenges to production including insect pests, insect-vectored diseases, and non-vectored diseases. While Organic Material Review Institute (OMRI) -listed pesticides underperform at suppressing pests and diseases, some alternative pest management strategies hold promise, but little research exists on their cost-effectiveness. We compared the efficacy of mesotunnel systems (nylon-mesh netting row covers deployed over bent metal hoops) and OMRI-listed pesticides (fungicides and insecticides) on acorn squash across 2 years. During the early part of the season, before row covers were removed for pollination, we found 1.7 (2020) and 0.3 (2021) times more cucumber beetles in the uncovered plots compared to the mesotunnels. Powdery mildew incidence was 36 and 25% lower under the mesotunnels compared to the uncovered plots in 2020 and 2021, respectively. Marketable yield of acorn squash was 46–54% higher in the mesotunnels compared to the uncovered treatments. OMRI-listed pesticide treatments reduced powdery mildew incidence compared to untreated control treatments. However, for pest presence, OMRI-listed pesticide treatments did not differ from untreated control treatments in either year, nor did it differ in marketable yield in 2020. Finally, the mesotunnel-only system was 47% more profitable compared to the OMRI-listed pesticide treatment and 47% more profitable compared to the uncovered plots. These results highlight mesotunnels as an economically viable pest management strategy for organic cucurbit growers in the U.S.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%