Strip Tillage Pumpkin Production Using Rye, and Rye/Hairy Vetch Cover Crop

Pumpkin is usually grown on bare ground. Weeds are controlled by pre-emergence herbicides and cultivation early in the season before pumpkin vines cover the ground. The pumpkin fruit lie on bare ground and covered with soil. In pick-your-own pumpkin operation it is impossible to walk on muddy fields to pick pumpkin fruits. Experiment was carried out using three treatments (Control-bare ground, Rye only mulch, and rye/hairy vetch mulch) replicated four times in complete randomized block design with plot sizes of 30 ft (9 m) by 30 ft (9 m). In each plot, two pumpkin rows were planted 8 ft (2.4 m) a part and 2 ft (0.6 m) a part within rows. In rye only, and rye/hairy vetch plots, two 2-ft wide strips 8-ft a part were mowed and rototilled in each plot. Cover crop in between the rows were rolled using a multi-culchler roller, and emergence of eastern black night shade ( Solanum phytanthum Dun.), red root pig weed ( Amaranthus retroflexus L.), and common lambsquarters ( Chenopodium album L.) on cover crop plots between the rows were evaluated 4-10 weeks after transplanting. The effect of cover mulches on pumpkin fruit number, yield, fruit size, and fruit rots were assessed as well. Emergence of red root pigweed, black nightshade, and common lambsquarters was less than 2, 1, and 1/2 seedlings per 12-ft -2 (1-m -2 ) area respectively. There was no significant difference in marketable fruit number between control and strip tilled plots. Control plots had higher pumpkin fruit weight than rye/hairy vetch plots, and no significant difference between rye only and rye/hairy vetch plots. Control plots had significantly larger fruits and higher fruit rot incidence than strip tilled plots.