Stand differences in no-till and plasticulture direct seeded and transplanted cucumbers (Cucumis sativus L.)

Stand establishments of direct seeded and transplanted cucumbers were compa red under no-till and plasticulture where a rye/vetch mixture was used as c over crop. Grain rye, Secale cereale L. (Poceae), and hairy vetch, Vicia vi llosa Roth (Fabaceae) were seeded with grain rye as the winter nurse crop f or hairy vetch. There were no differences among treatment plots in the dry weight of cover crop samples taken prior to cucumber seeding. Under no-till conditions transplants had a higher dry weight at three weeks after planti ng (3 WAP) than direct seeded seedlings. Direct seeded treatments had highe r cucumber plant dry weight when rye/vetch was incorporated under black pla stic mulch than when seeded into black plastic mulch without incorporated v etch. In the second sampling at six WAP, cucumber plant dry weights were hi gher in direct seeded than in transplanted plots, indicating that greater g rowth in no-till plots compensated for the earlier slow establishment. Tran splants flowered and developed fruits earlier than direct seeded cucumbers, resulting in higher early yields, but there were no significant difference s among treatments in cumulative marketable and total yields over all harve sts.