Planting Tomatoes in the High Tunnel
Author: Gracie Morrison | Major: Environmental, Soil and Water Science
Over the course of the summer semester of 2021, I have begun data collection for my Honors project, an assessment of the economic viability of several weed management strategies on high-tunnel tomatoes. My mentor is Dr. Matthew Bertucci with the Horticulture department.
In this project, the following weed management strategies were applied to plots of tomatoes grown in a high tunnel: weekly hand weeding, bi-weekly hand weeding, straw mulch, landscape fabric, and preemergent herbicide. The labor and material costs of implementing the management strategies will ultimately be compared against market value of the tomato harvest to determine which weed management strategies are the most economically viable. This research is beneficial to Arkansas growers who can use the results to decide how to optimize their own weed management practices based on their available resources.
Over the course of developing and executing the research, I have learned a great deal about how to craft a successful experiment. It was a challenge to think of ways to take potential confounding variables into account and ensure that results would be reliable and valid. For example, I had to take potential site variations into account by using a randomized complete block design. This project is also challenging because it is my first foray into horticultural research, so I have had to extensively research high-tunnel tomato horticulture and weed management to gain insight into standard operating procedures in the field.
Dr. Bertucci’s guidance has been crucial to the research process. Dr. Bertucci is an excellent faculty mentor for such a project, as he has experience managing similar projects. He has provided insight and suggestions to bolster the project design. The members of my Honors Committee have also provided necessary perspective, posing considerations I had not thought of in the research. For example, they proposed that I have two control groups to give a baseline for what plots look like with maximum weed control, meaning the weekly hand weeded plots, and minimum weed control, meaning totally unmanaged plots. Dr. Bertucci and his team of hourly workers at the Milo J Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center have allowed the project to run functionally, as they maintain the facilities where the data collection is taking place and ensure that the weed management strategies are implemented effectively and uniformly. Learning about operations at the Milo J Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center and learning how to use agricultural tools has been my favorite part of the project.
The summer 2021 semester was largely focused on preparation and data collection. The high tunnel was built, and tomatoes were grown in a greenhouse until they were ready to live in the high tunnel. The tomatoes were then planted, and the initial weed management strategies were applied. Data collection has commenced, and I plan to spend the fall 2021 semester continuing to collect data, then analyzing and interpreting the data.
I chose a topic related to consumer horticulture because it is always timely and relevant research. I am interested in a career in research after graduating, and this project allows me to gain hands-on experience at the Milo J Shult Agricultural Research and Extension Center. I am getting an understanding of the day to day requirements of research, and how to design an experiment. These skills will transfer into future endeavors, as I plan to pursue further education after graduating with a Bachelor’s degree, and involve myself in similar projects in the future.