2019 ASHS Annual Conference

Introduction: Strawberry growers in the Southeast USA face rising production costs combined with competition from foreign markets and low commodity prices. These challenges significantly impact the growers that rely solely on the strawberry crop. Relay cropping is a potential tool to face this challenge i.e. planting a vegetable crop on the same bed before strawberry crop termination. It enables continued berry harvest while the new vegetable transplants establish. The benefits of relay cropping include lower crop loss risk and high profits.

Purpose: The objective of the research was to determine the competition between Strawberry and the secondary crops (eggplant, cantaloupe, pepper) and to optimize the planting date of secondary crops.

Materials and Methods: Relay cropping of strawberry (Radiance^TM) with secondary crops was conducted in fall 2016-17 and 2017-18 at GCREC, Balm, FL. The strawberries were planted in September, and the secondary crops were transplanted on the beds with strawberry plants and as sole crops (controls) at five different dates (Jan 4, Jan 18, Feb 1, Feb 15 and Mar 1). Data on yield and height of strawberries and secondary crops was collected.

Results: Sole crops of eggplants and peppers, and early to mid-planting dates of these secondary crops with strawberries resulted in higher yields (p<0.05). However, the interaction between two factors (relay cropping with strawberry and date of planting) was not significant for both the crops. In the case of cantaloupes, no significant effect of relay-cropping or date of planting was observed on the yield of cantaloupes(p>0.05). Height of eggplants and peppers planted alone was higher than the ones planted with strawberries.

In conclusion, it is beneficial to relay crop strawberries with vegetables. The early to mid-planting dates (Jan 4 to Feb1) are optimum dates for planting secondary crops (peppers and eggplants) on the beds with strawberries.