Media and containers for greenhouse soilless grown cucumbers, melons, peppers, and strawberries

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to determine the effects of various types of media and containers on yield of various greenhouse vegetable crops. Type of media (medium perlite, coarse perlite, pine bark) had no significant effect on fruit yield of >Beit Alpha= cucumbers grown in 12 L pots. Drainage was not different among the three media types regardless of greenhouse environmental changes. In a similar experiment with >alia= muskmelons, three different media and two types of containers were compared. Yields and soluble solids were similar regardless of media or container type used. Peppers were grown in 12 L nursery pots containing pine bark, coarse perlite or a peat-perlitevermiculite mix (60-20-20%). The percentages of marketable pepper fruits from plants grown in peat mix were greater than the other two media when 62 irrigation events per day were given. Strawberry plug transplants were grown in three different soilless media and three different growing systems. Plants grown in a mixture of 2 peat:1 perlite produced a higher marketable fruit number and fruit weight per plant compared to pine bark or perlite regardless of growing system or plug type. For total yield, plants grown in a peat-perlite mix produced similar yields in all three growing systems. However, strawberry plants grown in perlite and pine bark produced higher yields in polyethylene bags placed on a PVC gutter as compared to Polygal troughs and polyethylene bags kept on the ground. Although perlite is the most commonly used media in Florida, various vegetable crops could be grown in pine bark, a low-cost, easily available byproduct of the state=s wood industry. The price of coarse perlite per m3 is about $40; local mills sell pine bark for $8 per m3. Peat mixes, such as that used in this experiment, cost about $55 per m 3.