Fresh Market Vegetable Production

Research report from OSU's North Willamette Research and Extension Center

Delbert Hemphill, T. Jackson, and D.W. McAndrew
Oregon State University

Rhubarb growers would benefit from an inexpensive, reliable method for forcing crowns into early production and increasing yields. Early harvests of high quality spears allow growers to take advantage of the usually higher early season prices. Currently, two methods are commonly used to bring rhubarb into early production. In the first, crowns are dug, removed to a hot house, and forced under etiolated conditions. In the second, rows of crowns are covered in the field with clear plastic mulch which increases air and soil temperatures and results in early spear growth.

The Willamette Valley of western Oregon is well known for production of a wide range of quality vegetables. Commercial, large-scale production of warm-weather vegetables such as tomatoes and melons is possible but is limited by competition from more favorable growing areas. However, for the home gardener or small market gardener, production of almost any vegetable crop except tropicals is possible in the long, mild growing season of the Willamette Valley. Major limiting factors are late spring frosts, insufficient heat for some warm-weather crops, and low night temperatures.

Shallots may be grown as an overwinter or spring-planted crop in the Willamette Valley. Major cultural problems in this crop include weed and disease control, effect of planting dates on yield, maturity, and degree of bolting, and the effects of size of, planting stock and planting density on yield and bulb size at harvest. This study was designed to investigate the effects of three planting densities and two bulb sizes on the total yield and mean bulb weight at harvest and on the number of bulbs produced per bulb planted.

Methods

Local growers and processors could benefit by introduction of new crops into the Willamette Valley. Currently, processors of pickling peppers import their needs from more southerly growing areas. Local production has been thought to be limited by lack of adapted cultivars, poor yields, or quality problems. The following trial was undertaken to evaluate the yield potential of four pepper cultivars collected by the Steinfeld's Co., and to investigate the use of ethephon as a ripening agent for cherry type peppers.

Methods

In northern states, spinach is normally planted in early spring for late spring harvest or in summer for autumn harvest. Spring plantings are often limited by the difficulty of working cold, wet soils and many cultivars bolt in the long daylengths of late spring. Summer crops must be established during periods of very high soil temperature and low soil moisture and require frequent irrigation. Some Willamette Valley growers have successfully planted spinach in late summer for autumn harvest or in autumn for early spring harvest.

The purpose of these trials was to obtain and evaluate cultivars of cauliflower for summer harvest. The major desired quality is heat tolerance: the ability to withstand high temperatures without ricing and to maintain the high curd quality typical of autumn-harvested cauliflower. A second desired quality is long wrapper leaves for self-blanching. Tying leaves must be minimized.

This report deals with the continuation of a series of tests of overwinter cauliflower (Brassica oleracea L. var. botrytis) production which began in 1977. Previous research established the feasibility of overwinter cauliflower production in the Willamette Valley and centered on cultivar and planting date trials, and the effect of spring-applied N on yields. The 1980-81 experiments reported here included a cultivar trial and a planting date trial.

The purpose of these experiments was to evaluate the performance of several onion (Allium cepa L.) cultivars in overwinter trials. The Willamette Valley appears to have a suitable climate for production of overwintered onions if bolting, disease, and weed control problems can be overcome. Previous experiments at the North Willamette Station have indicated that late August or early September planting dates are superior to later planting dates for maximum yields. With a June or July harvest, this might allow another crop on the onion ground both before planting and after harvest.

Report to the Oregon Processed Vegetable Commission

Jim Meyers
OSU Dept of Horticulture

Brian Yorgey
OSU Dept of Food Science and Technology

Objectives: