Research
Row Cover results for 2004
Results
There was a clear benefit to covering the plots with Reemay, as it increased both the number and weight of melons harvested. Some of the yield benefits of these covers may have been due to a warming effect in the spring, but they also decreased or delayed the incidence of bacterial wilt, indicating that they protected the plants from cucumber beetles.
For the second year in a row, more striped
beetles were counted in rows with no row cover and more spotted beetles were
counted in rows with a row cover.
This may be associated with the timing of beetles to the melon fields,
although this has not been looked at in depth.
Yield, beetle populations,
and disease incidence in a single row of melon plants in covered and uncovered
fields at Ames, Lewis, and Muscatine, Iowa in 2004.
|
Treatment |
Melon |
Melon
Wt. |
|
Striped cucumber
beetle |
Spotted |
Wilt |
Wilt |
|
Covered
|
31.5
|
163.6
|
77.6
|
0.48
|
0.76
|
8.2
|
10.4
|
|
Uncovered
|
24.7
|
140.1
|
71.6
|
0.68
|
0.51
|
13.8
|
15.1
|
|
LSD (P<0.05)
|
2.0
|
11.7
|
4.3
|
0.14
|
0.13
|
5.5
|
n.s.
|
a Percent wilted plants on 27 Jul
b Percent wilted plants in early August, just before harvest
Of the insecticide treatments evaluated, all resulted in yields greater than the non-treated control. This resulted mostly from the increase in number of marketable fruit. Most insecticide treatments lowered the number of wilted plants compared to the non-treated control.
There was no correlation between yield and
population of either cucumber beetle species. There was a significant negative
correlation between bacterial wilt incidence (at the later dates), and
marketable melon number and weight (P<0.01)
Yield, beetle populations, and disease incidence in a single row of melon plants treated with insecticides at Ames, Lewis, and Muscatine, Iowa in 2004.
|
Treatment
|
Melon Number |
Melon Wt. (lb) |
%
Melons |
Striped |
Spotted |
Wilt |
Wilt |
|
Admire
|
29.8
|
160.5
|
79.1
|
0.76
|
0.78
|
8.0
|
13.0
|
|
Admire + Insecticide
c
|
28.5
|
153.2
|
73.9
|
0.59
|
0.71
|
8.4
|
9.7
|
|
Invite + 10% Insecticide c
|
29.4
|
160.1
|
79.0
|
0.54
|
0.65
|
4.0
|
5.3
|
|
Insecticide c
|
29.6
|
162.9
|
75.7
|
0.49
|
0.56
|
16.0
|
16.0
|
|
Entrust
|
28.8
|
154.8
|
78.4
|
0.57
|
0.54
|
6.7
|
8.0
|
|
Non-treated
|
22.6
|
119.8
|
61.4
|
0.55
|
0.58
|
22.2
|
25.1
|
|
LSD (P<0.05)
|
3.5
|
20.3
|
7.4
|
0.24
|
0.23
|
9.5
|
9.7
|
a Percent
wilted plants on 27 Jul
b
Percent wilted plants in early
August, just before harvest
c Insecticide spray was Capture
alternated with Sevin; 10% Insecticide was Capture alternated with Sevin, only
at 1/10 the label rate.