Soil temperatures lower than 63 ☏ greatly suppress water and nutrients absorption ( Welbaum, 2015), while soil temperatures below 55 ☏ may cause cucumber establishment failure ( Guan et al., 2018). A major obstacle deterring early cucumber production is low temperatures in the midwestern United States. Although domestic production has tried to keep up with this growing demand, 73% of cucumber demand is met by imports ( USDA, 2020b).Ĭertain segments of American consumers prefer locally produced fresh vegetables ( Torres et al., 2017), yet the supply of local cucumbers mainly occurs in the summer. On the consumer side, consumption of cucumber per capita was 8 lb in 2019, a 25% increase since 2000 ( USDA, 2020b). On the supply side, the country produced 19,944,700 cwt in 2019 under 100,800 acres. Keywords: early production partial budget analysis rootstock scion sensitivity analysisĬucumber ( Cucumis sativus) is a widely produced and consumed crop in the United States. While actual production costs for individual farmers may vary, our findings suggested that grafting can be an economically feasible tool for high tunnel seedless cucumber production. Results from the sensitivity analysis illustrated how the increased yield of grafted cucumbers offsets the extra cost incurred in the technique while providing a higher revenue. Results indicated that grafting can help farmers increase net returns through the increasing yield of grafted plants. Although costs of grafted transplants were higher, their yield and potential revenue helped to offset the higher costs. This study provided a baseline reference for growers interested in grafting seedless cucumber and for high tunnel production. Data included production costs, marketable yield, and price of cucumber through different market channels.
Data were used to develop a partial budget analysis and sensitivity tests. A comparison of partial costs and returns between growing grafted and nongrafted cucumbers in a high tunnel in Vincennes, IN, was conducted. The objective of this study was to analyze the economic feasibility of growing grafted cucumber in high tunnels. Recent studies found that using grafted cucumber plants with cold-tolerant rootstocks greatly benefited early-season seedless cucumber production in high tunnels.
Grafting is a cultural practice known to help control soilborne diseases and improve plants’ tolerance to abiotic stresses. Low soil temperature is a challenge for cucumber production even inside high tunnels. High tunnel is a popular tool for season extension of vegetable production. In the midwestern United States, a major obstacle to spring cucumber production is low soil temperatures during plant establishment. Cucumber ( Cucumis sativus) is one of the most important vegetables produced and consumed in the United States.
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