Comparison of 14 Methods to Determine Heat Unit Requirements for Cucumber Harvest

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Abstract
Fourteen methods of calculating heat units from planting to harvest were applied to daily maximum and minimum air temperatures taken in a standard weather shelter for 2 growing seasons (spring and summer) over 5 years of cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) plantings in North Carolina. The coefficient of variation (cv) was used to determine which of the methods was most reliable in predicting day of first harvest. The best method was to sum over days from planting to harvest the difference between the daily maximum and a base temperature of 15.5°C; but if the maximum exceeded 32°, it was replaced by 32° minus the difference between the maximum and 32°, before subtracting the base. This method had a cv of 3%, compared with 10% for the standard method—numbers of days from planting to harvest.

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