Harvest Indices for Pickling Cucumbers in Once-Over Harvested Systems1

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Abstract
Experiments were conducted in the spring and fall of 1967 and the spring of 1968 to determine harvest indices and to evaluate the rate of fruit development and changing grade sizes for both white- and black-spined cucumbers. White-spined ‘Southern Cross’ and black-spined ‘Piccadilly’ were used. Per-acre plant populations in the order of 100,000 in the spring and 70,000 in the fall were established using gynoecious cultivars. The first plots were harvested when only a few marketable fruits were present; subsequent plots were harvested at 2- or 3-day intervals for a total of 8 per experiment. The single deviation from this was the 7-day interval between the seventh and eighth harvests of the fall experiment. Maximum returns per acre occurred when the proportion of fruit greater than 2 inches in diameter ranged from 14 to 31% of the total weight. It is suggested that plantings should be harvested as soon as fruits larger in diameter than 2 inches are found in the field. In spring plantings the percentage of plants bearing fruit reached 91 whereas those in the fall trial reached 98. The average number of fruit per plant did not exceed 1.27 in any trial.

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