Assesment of Various Mulches for Organic Production of Cucumber

Currently organic production demand is rapidly expanding at approximately 23% annually and organically produced vegetables fetch premium prices compared to conventionally produced vegetables.  Organic production continues to be a small-scale niche-market enterprise, but weeds are a major problem limiting its expansion. Different types of mulches have been used to increase yields through weed control, better soil moisture conservation, and soil temperature regulation in organic production systems.  A field trial was conducted at Alcorn State University during the 2008 growing season, with the objective of assessing mulching effects on cucumber in organic production system. The plots were arranged in a randomized complete block design with two mulching treatments: wood mulch, pine mulch, and control (no mulch) as the main plots and three cucumber varieties obtained from Cornell University, as the sub-plots.  Each treatment was replicated three times on rows 24”x36”.  All varieties were evaluated for insect and disease resistance, yield and fruit characteristics.  Organic fertilizers (cotton seed meal, bone meal and blood meal) were applied, whereas insects and diseases were controlled with organic (Neem extraction) triple action. Mulching cucumber with wood chips or pine straw resulted in a total fruit yield of 33.5 and 29.0 kg/plant, respectively, compared to 24.5 kg/plant from control treatment.  Among varieties both Marketmore and Poinsett with an average of 3.7 kg/harvest produced a seasonal total yield of 12 kg/plant, whereas, Control plants produced about 8.5% lesser yield. In this study results shown, mulching increased the yield of cucumber by 27% over no mulch.