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Chapter 8 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida

Chapter 16 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida

Chapter 13 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida

Chapter 4 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida

Chapter 7 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida

Sulfentrazone was recently registered for use in tomato and strawberry in Florida. Field experiments were conducted at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma, FL, to evaluate PRE sulfentrazone applications when applied on flat soil 30 days before bed formation (PRE-f), on the bed top immediately before laying plastic mulch (PRE-t), applied PRE-t as a tank mix with other PRE herbicides, or PRE-t followed by POST halosulfuron or rimusulfuron (POST). Sulfentrazone did not damage the tomato and strawberry crop and had no effect on strawberry and tomato fruit yield. It was as effective as the industry standards but none of the evaluated herbicide treatments provided adequate weed control. POST halosulfuron in tomato resulted in significantly greater nutsedge control at 11 (14%) and 13 (27%) weeks after initial treatment (WAIT) compared with other treatments in Fall 2019 and Spring 2020, respectively. However, in tomato, tank-mixing sulfentrazone with S-metolachlor or metribuzin did not enhance nutsedge control. Weed control did not improve with increased rates or with the use of PRE-f followed by (fb) PRE-t applications in tomato. PRE-t sulfentrazone fb POST halosulfuron was an efficient nutsedge management option in tomato. Sulfentrazone alone did not effectively control weeds in tomato or strawberry. Increased rates of sulfentrazone with the use of PRE-f fb PRE-t sulfentrazone applications did reduce (34%) total weed density in strawberry.

Chapter 7 of the Vegetable Production Handbook.

Chapter 13 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida.

Chapter 8 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida.

Chapter 16 of the Vegetable Production Handbook of Florida

Vegetable growers in Florida face rising production costs, reduced crop value, and competition from foreign markets. Relay cropping is a variant of double cropping, where the second crop is planted into the first crop before the harvest is finished. This cropping system may be a potential solution to lower production costs per crop by sharing some inputs for two crops. The objectives of this study were to determine the effect of cropping sequence and transplanting date of the secondary crop when relay cropping tomato and bell pepper. Two field experiments were conducted at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm, FL, in 2018 and 2019. In the first experiment, tomato was grown as the primary crop and bell pepper was added as the secondary crop, with multiple transplanting dates (8 Aug., 23 Aug., 7 Sept., and 24 Sept.). The second experiment had the same setup but the reverse cropping sequence. Bell pepper yield as the secondary crop was reduced by 65% when grown with tomato as the primary crop compared with bell pepper planted alone. Transplanting date had no effect on bell pepper yield (P = 0.091). Tomato yield was unaffected by the presence of the secondary crop. In the second experiment, tomato yield as a secondary crop was 36% lower when grown with bell pepper as the primary crop compared with tomato crop alone (monocropped). However, tomato yield was significantly reduced by the presence of bell pepper only when tomato crop was planted within 30 to 45 days after planting bell pepper. Based on these results, we recommend relay cropping tomato as the secondary crop within 30 days of planting of bell pepper as the primary crop. However, we do not recommend relay cropping bell pepper as the secondary crop with tomato.

Florida vegetable growers are facing high production costs due to high input costs, lower profitability, and competition from foreign markets. Multi/intercropping allows growers to increase the yields and profits per unit area by producing multiple crops on the same beds. Experiments determining the effects of intercropping and plant spacing was conducted in Fall 2018 and 2019 at Gulf Coast Research and Education Center, Balm. Tomato and bell pepper were intercropped at low and high planting density on plastic-covered beds. Bell pepper shoot biomass was significantly (P < 0.001) reduced when intercropped with tomato, compared with monocropped bell pepper. However, tomato shoot biomass was significantly reduced when tomato plant density increased, but it was unaffected by bell pepper intercropping. Biomass of both crops was unaffected by relay cropping. Bell pepper yields when intercropped with tomato at low density (60 cm tomato-tomato and 38 cm pepper-pepper) had similar yields to bell pepper planted alone in low and high planting density. We concluded that bell pepper plants were more sensitive to interspecific competition, whereas tomato plants were more sensitive to intraspecific competition. Intercropping may be a viable option for growers at recommended plant densities used for monocrops. However, high plant density is not recommended.

Abstract Goosegrass is a problematic weed species in Florida vegetable plasticulture production. To reduce costs associated with goosegrass control, a post-emergence precision applicator is under development for use atop the planting beds. To facilitate in situ goosegrass detection and spraying, tiny- You Only Look Once 3 (YOLOv3-tiny) was evaluated as a potential detector. Two annotation techniques were evaluated: (1) annotation of the entire plant (EP) and (2) annotation of partial sections of the leaf blade (LB). For goosegrass detection in strawberry, the F-score was 0.75 and 0.85 for the EP and LB derived networks, respectively. For goosegrass detection in tomato, the F-score was 0.56 and 0.65 for the EP and LB derived networks, respectively. The LB derived networks increased recall at the cost of precision, compared to the EP derived networks. The LB annotation method demonstrated superior results within the context of production and precision spraying, ensuring more targets were sprayed with some over-spraying on false targets. The developed network provides online, real-time, and in situ detection capability for weed management field applications such as precision spraying and autonomous scouts.

Strawberry growers face rising production costs combined with competition from foreign imports. Relay cropping vegetables with strawberries is a unique approach that can diversify income and reduce the risk associated with strawberry production. Planting vegetable transplants on the same bed before strawberry crop termination enables continued berry harvesting while the new vegetable transplants become established. Relay cropping techniques of strawberry with eggplants were evaluated during the 2016–17 and 2017–18 seasons in Balm, FL. The strawberry crop was planted in September, and eggplant was transplanted into the beds either as a sole crop or with strawberry plants. Two experiments were conducted to optimize the planting date of strawberries and the termination date of strawberries. The objective of the research was to examine the competitive relationship between strawberry and eggplant crops and to define the optimal planting date for the eggplant and termination date of strawberries to minimize the competitive interaction and maximize the yield of both crops. Strawberry yields were unaffected (P = 0.938) by relay cropping or by the planting date of the eggplant. Eggplants grown without strawberries had 27% to 32% higher yields (P = 0.004) compared with relay-cropped eggplants, and eggplant yield decreased with later planting dates (P < 0.001). A partial budget analysis showed that transplant dates of 4 and 18 Jan. for eggplants with strawberries resulted in increased profits of $7320 and $3461 per ha, respectively, over the baseline treatment of strawberries alone, but later planting dates resulted in an overall economic loss ($7800–$16,000/ha). Strawberry termination dates did not affect eggplant yields. In conclusion, relay cropping eggplants with strawberries resulted in no effect on strawberry yields, reduced eggplant yields, but increased overall profits when eggplant were transplanted in early to mid-January. Relay cropping of strawberries with eggplants in early February to early March is less profitable than a monocrop of strawberries.

Ragweed parthenium is an herbaceous annual or short-lived perennial weed. It is difficult to manage in many fields due to known resistance to commonly used herbicides. There are a limited number of modes of action that can be used in some vegetable and berry crops. This new 4-page publication of the UF/IFAS Environmental Horticulture Department provides management recommendations. Written by Nathan S. Boyd, Shaun M. Sharpe, Chris Marble, and Shawn Steed. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep613

Chapter 16 of the Vegetable Production Handbook.

Chapter 18 of the Vegetable Production Handbook.

Chapter 8 of the Vegetable Production Handbook.

Chapter 13 of the Vegetable Production Handbook.

Chapter 4 of the Vegetable Production Handbook.

Chapter 7 of the Vegetable Production Handbook.

Herbicide resistance was historically not a significant issue in most horticultural crops because few herbicides were applied. Close proximity of agronomic crops and the loss of methyl bromide has led to a gradual increase in herbicide inputs and the increased occurrence of herbicide-resistant weeds in tomato fields. Very few herbicides are registered for tomato, and resistance is a major concern. This new 11-page publication of the UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department provides a definition of herbicide resistance, explains how it develops, and provides management recommendations for tomato growers. It was written for growers and Extension agents, but the information may be of interest to anyone concerned about herbicide resistance in vegetable and small fruit crops. Written by Shaun M. Sharpe, Nathan S. Boyd, Ramdas G. Kanissery, and Peter J. Dittmar. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1398

This 33-page fact sheet is chapter 13 of the 2020–2021 Vegetable Production Handbook. Written by Nathan S. Boyd, Eugene J. McAvoy, Christian F. Miller, Johan Desaeger, Gary E. Vallad, and Phillip B. Williams, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, April 2020. HS732/CV130: Chapter 13. Pepper Production (ufl.edu)

This chapter covers production of cucurbits, such as cantaloupe, cucumber, squash, watermelon, and pumpkin.

Precision herbicide application can substantially reduce herbicide input and weed control cost in turfgrass management systems. Intelligent spot-spraying system predominantly relies on machine vision-based detectors for autonomous weed control. In this work, several deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN) were constructed for detection of dandelion (Taraxacum officinale Web.), ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea L.), and spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata L.) growing in perennial ryegrass. When the networks were trained using a dataset containing a total of 15,486 negative (images contained perennial ryegrass with no target weeds) and 17,600 positive images (images contained target weeds), VGGNet achieved high F1 scores (≥0.9278), with high recall values (≥0.9952) for detection of E. maculata, G. hederacea, and T. officinale growing in perennial ryegrass. The F1 scores of AlexNet ranged from 0.8437 to 0.9418 and were generally lower than VGGNet at detecting E. maculata, G. hederacea, and T. officinale. GoogleNet is not an effective DCNN at detecting these weed species mainly due to the low precision values. DetectNet is an effective DCNN and achieved high F1 scores (≥0.9843) in the testing datasets for detection of T. officinale growing in perennial ryegrass. Moreover, VGGNet had the highest Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) values, while GoogleNet had the lowest MCC values. Overall, the approach of training DCNN, particularly VGGNet and DetectNet, presents a clear path toward developing a machine vision-based decision system in smart sprayers for precision weed control in perennial ryegrass.

All eight species of Bidens in Florida are commonly referred to as Spanish needles or beggar-ticks. This document focuses on Bidens alba and B. pilosa, which are common weeds in container nurseries and landscapes in Florida. This 6-page EDIS publication, written by Yuvraj Khamare, Chris Marble, Shawn Steed, and Nathan Boyd and published by the UF/IFAS Environmental Horticulture Department, is designed for landowners, gardeners, horticulturalists, and consumers hoping to learn more about Spanish needle classification and management. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep572

This 45-page fact sheet is chapter 18 of the 2018 Vegetable Production Handbook. Written by Josh H. Freeman, Eugene J. McAvoy, Nathan S. Boyd, Ramdas Kanissery, Monica Ozores-Hampton, Hugh A. Smith, Johan Desaeger, Joseph W. Noling, and Gary E. Vallad, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, 2018. HS739/CV137: Chapter 18. Tomato Production (ufl.edu)

This 21-page fact sheet is chapter 16 of the 2018 Vegetable Production Handbook. Written by Vance M. Whitaker, Nathan S. Boyd, Natalia A. Peres, Johan Desaeger, Joseph W. Noling, and Justin Renkema, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, 2018. HS736/CV134: Chapter 16. Strawberry Production (ufl.edu)

This 28-page fact sheet is chapter 7 of the 2018 Vegetable Production Handbook. Written by Josh H. Freeman, Eugene J. McAvoy, Nathan S. Boyd, Monica Ozores-Hampton, Mathews Paret, Qingren Wang, Christian F. Miller, Johan Desaeger, Joseph W. Noling, and Xavier Martini, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, 2018. HS725/CV123: Chapter 7. Cucurbit Production (ufl.edu)

This 33-page fact sheet is chapter 13 of the 2018 Vegetable Production Handbook. Written by Monica Ozores-Hampton, Nathan S. Boyd, Eugene J. McAvoy, Christian F. Miller, Johan Desaeger, Joseph W. Noling, and Gary E. Vallad, and published by Horticultural Sciences Department, 2018. HS732/CV130: Chapter 13. Pepper Production (ufl.edu)

This 27-page fact sheet is chapter 8 of the 2018 Vegetable Production Handbook. Written by Eugene J. McAvoy, Nathan S. Boyd, Monica Ozores-Hampton, Pamela D. Roberts, Johan Desaeger, Joseph W. Noling, and Hugh A. Smith, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, 2018. HS726/CV124: Chapter 8. Eggplant Production (ufl.edu)

Black medic is an annual broadleaf weed that competes with strawberry crops and impedes harvest. This 4-page document describes how to manage black medic in strawberry production. Written by Shaun M. Sharpe and Nathan S. Boyd and published by the UF/IFAS Horticultural Sciences Department, July 2018. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/hs1319

Dodder are a group of over 150 species in the genus Cuscuta. This 4-page publication was developed to help commercial growers, landscape professionals, and homeowners identify and manage dodder infestations in their greenhouses, nurseries, or landscapes. Written by Kaley Mierek, Chris Marble, Nathan Boyd, and Shawn Steed and published by the UF/IFAS Environmental Horticulture Department, May 2018. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep556

This article discusses management of liverwort in ornamental plant production. Liverwort is a unique weed species that poses special challenges for growers in terms of management. This article is the result of numerous consultations with FL growers seeking advice on management options for this species in nurseries, containers, and in greenhouses and other production areas.

This six-page fact sheet provides information about the biology and management of goosegrass, including preemergence and postemergence control options. Written by Shawn Steed, Christopher Marble, Nathan S. Boyd, Andrew MacRae, and Kiran Fnu and published by the Environmental Horticulture Department.­http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep538

Typically found in shadehouses and shaded areas of nursery production, thickhead grows aggressively in containers and can outcompete nursery crops for water, nutrients, and light. This erect, sparingly branched, herbaceous annual, grows up to 4 feet tall and germinates over a wide range of pH, salt, and temperature conditions. This four-page fact sheet describes thickhead (Crassocephalum crepidioides) and various methods for its control in ornamental crop production. Written by Allison Bechtloff, Shawn Steed, Chris Marble, and Nathan Boyd and published by the Environmental Horticulture Department.­http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ep534

This revised 3-page fact sheet describes the biology and management of American black nightshade, explaining how to control for it in tomato and pepper, cucurbits, and strawberry. Written by Nathan S. Boyd, Shawn Steed, Chris Marble, and Andrew MacRae, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, October 2016. HS1176/HS1176: Biology and Management of American Black Nightshade (Solanum americanum P. Mill.) in Tomato, Pepper, Cucurbit, and Strawberry (ufl.edu)

This 6-page fact sheet provides an overview of Ragweed Parthenium, Parthenium hysterophorous L, including a species description and information on how to manage ragweed parthenium culturally, physically, and chemically. Written by Debalina Saha, Chris Marble, Robert H. Stamps, Shawn Steed, and Nathan S. Boyd, and published by the Environmental Horticulture Department, July 2016. ENH1270/EP531: Biology and Management of Ragweed Parthenium (Parthenium hysterophorous L.) in Ornamental Crop Production (ufl.edu)

This revised 4-page fact sheet gives a brief description of the biology and management of goosegrass, a common annual turf and horticultural weed found throughout Florida that grows well in compact, wet soils and superficially resembles crabgrasses. Written by Nathan S. Boyd, Kiran Fnu, Chris Marble, Shawn Steed, and Andrew W. MacRae, and published by the Horticultural Sciences Department, August 2016. HS1178/HS1178: Biology and Management of Goosegrass (Eleusine indica (L.) Gaertn.) in Tomato, Pepper, Cucurbits, and Strawberry (ufl.edu)

Eclipta grows aggressively in containers and can outcompete nursery crops for water, nutrients, and light. Plants flower in as little as five weeks after germination and produce thousands of seeds over the course of a growing season, and stem fragments left on the soil or media surface following hand-weeding or cultivation can root and reproduce vegetatively. This 4-page fact sheet describes the plant, its biology, and recommendations for physical, cultural, and chemical control. Written by Chris Marble, Shawn Steed, and Nathan S. Boyd, and published by the UF Department of Environmental Horticulture, January 2015. (Photo: Annette Chandler, UF/IFAS) ENH1251/EP512: Biology and Management of Eclipta (Eclipta prostrata) in Ornamental Crop Production (ufl.edu)

Bittercress commonly grows in the potting media of container-grown ornamentals and often through drainage holes in nursery containers. It also can be a problem in propagation houses, greenhouses, and in the field. This 6-page fact sheet provides species description, plant biology, and management recommendations. Written by Chris Marble, Shawn Steed, and Nathan S. Boyd, and published by the UF Department of Environmental Horticulture, December 2014. ENH1250/EP511: Biology and Management of Hairy Bittercress (Cardamine hirsuta) in Ornamental Crop Production (ufl.edu)

Purslane occurs throughout the year in Florida. It produces thousands of seeds per plant, which germinate readily, but can also persist in the soil for up to 15 years. Vegetative shoot fragments can survive on the soil surface for extended periods of time, then re-root when exposed to moisture and can even flower and produce seeds after they have been pulled from the soil. This characteristic enables purslane to persist and spread following cultivation. This 4-page fact sheet was written by Nathan S. Boyd, Andrew W. MacRae, Rick Kelly, and Ixchel M. Hernandez, and published by the UF Department of Horticultural Sciences, July 2014. HS1238/HS1238: Biology and Management of Common Purslane in Fruiting Vegetables, Cucurbits, and Strawberries (ufl.edu)