It may have only taken 10 minutes, but 2010 field work started today with Carol and I staking out the eggplant field trial at A. Schreiber's farm. A. Schreiber is the largest eggplant producer in Washington State. His very diversified farm supplies 400+ with CSA shares in the Tricities area. His farm also has serious problems with Verticillium wilt which requires him to fumigate with a chloropicrin fumigant prior to each field season. As this option is not available for his organic eggplant production, he has agreed to cooperate and give us space for a grafting field trial in his eggplant field.
The field trial will consist of a RCBD (randomized complete block design) with five replications of four treatments:
- Self-grafted 'Epic' eggplant
- Non-grafted 'Epic' eggplant
- 'Epic'/ Solanum aethiopicum graft
- 'Epic'/ Maxifort graft
Drip tape will be cut from main drip tape, so soil in our plots is not fumigated. We have confirmed V. dahliae infection in this field through the Oregon State University Plant Disease Clinic. The surrounding fields will be fumigated in mid-April and planted a few weeks later. We are aiming to plant our field trial the first week of May. And so it begins...
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| Carol and I immediately after successfully staking out field trial and shortly before experiencing some minor vehicle problems. |
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