Oakes Irrigation Research
Site
Carrington Research Extension Center * North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Voice: (701) 742-2189, FAX: (701)
742-2700, email: rgreenla@ndsuext.nodak.edu
WINTER SQUASH VARIETY PERFORMANCE TRIAL, 1999
Richard Greenland, Leonard Besemann, and Heidi Eslinger
Table 36. Yields and quantity of squash.
Table 37. Fruit characteristics for squash.
Winter squash grow well in North Dakota. A small, but steady, market is available
within the state. There are also markets outside the state, especially if
squash is stored, then shipped during the winter.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
| Soil: | Maddock sandy loam; pH=7.8; 2.3% organic matter; soil-P and soil-K were very high; soil-S was medium. |
| Previous crops: | 1998 - field corn; 1997 - cabbage; 1996 - carrot. |
| Seedbed preparation: | Disked on 4 November 1998. Disked on April 12 and April 30. Field cultivated on May 26 to manage stubble and to smooth seedbed. |
| Planting: | Seeds planted 1 ft apart in rows 7.5 ft apart on May 27. In late June thinned to an in-row spacing of one plant every 3 ft. |
| Fertilizer: | On April 7, broadcast 15 lbs N/acre and 75 lbs P2O5/acre as 10-50-0, 18 lbs N/acre and 20 lbs S/acre as 21-0-0-24, and 99 lbs K20/acre as 0-0-60. Sidedressed 50 lbs N/acre as urea on June 25. |
| Pest control: | Sprayed Gramoxone + a nonionic surfactant (3 pt/acre + 1 pt/100 gal on July 16 and July 21) between rows. Also controlled weeds with rototilling and hand weeding. Sprayed Thiodan (2 lbs/acre on July 29 and 1.4 lb/acre on Aug 10), Sevin (1 qt/acre on June 11 and June 23), Asana (8 oz/acre on June 7 and June 29), and Pounce (8 oz/acre on July 7) to control cucumber beetles. |
| Plots: | Plots were 17 ft long by 6 ft (one row) wide (with a border of 1.5 ft between plots). |
| Irrigation: | Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed. |
| Harvest: | Hand harvested September 30. |
We had severe problems with a very early attack of cucumber beetles when the squash were in the cotyledon to two true leaf stage. This reduced the stand and weakened the plants of most varieties. Some varieties were more affected than others. Hokkori was completely destroyed by the cucumber beetles.
Heart of Gold was the best acorn squash. RWS 4586 was a butternut with a very long neck. It was twice as big as the other butternut and may be too big to be saleable.
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Table 36. Yields and quantity of squash in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1999 winter squash performance trial.
| Variety | Seed source† | Early‡ stand | Fruit size | Number of fruit | Yield | ||
| US # 1 | total | US # 1 | total | ||||
| plants/plot | lbs/fruit | 1000s/acre | tons/acre | ||||
| Heart of Gold | RG | 10.5 ab¶ | 1.7 c | 9.7 a | 15.3 a | 8.3 | 12.9 |
| RWS 4572 | RG | 7.3 c | 4.1 b | 5.0 b | 7.6 b | 9.8 | 14.0 |
| RWS 4586 | RG | 8.3 bc | 8.7 a | 1.6 c | 3.9 c | 6.9 | 13.1 |
| RWS 5712 | RG | 11.0 a | 1.6 c | 9.2 a | 14.3 a | 7.3 | 10.9 |
| C.V. (%) | 16 | 13 | 26 | 12 | 29 | 13 | |
| Probability | 0.015 | 0.0001 | 0.0002 | 0.0001 | 0.38 | 0.13 | |
†See Appendix A for seed source codes.
‡Stand counts taken on June 9. The value is the average number of squash plants per plot. Maximum possible was 17. The squash were later thinned to six squash per plot or about one plant every three feet.
¶Values in the same column followed by the same letter are not significantly different (0.05 level). If no letters in a column, there are no significant differences between values in that column.
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Table 37. Fruit characteristics for squash in the Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1999 winter squash performance trial.
| Variety | Seed source† | Squash type | Outside color | Inside color |
| Heart of Gold | RG | acorn | green/white | light orange |
| RWS 4572 | RG | butternut | cream | light orange |
| RWS 4586 | RG | butternut | cream | orange |
| RWS 5712 | RG | acorn | green | light orange |
†See Appendix A for seed source codes.
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Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site Variety Performance Trials
Go to Oakes Irrigation Research Site 1999 annual report