Vegetable Working Group

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Adapted from Effect of Transplant Age on Yield by Elsa Sánchez¹

Planting of transplants may be delayed because fields are too wet. This article summarizes research that describes how transplant age affects yield of bell peppers, tomatoes and summer squash.

Bell Peppers

Study 1: (Weston, 1988) Transplants were 30, 40, 50 or 60 days old (about 4.3 to 8.5 weeks old) when field planted. At the end of the growing season yield was not different, regardless of the age of the transplant; however, the 60-day-old transplants (about 8.5 weeks old) produced larger early yields that the other transplants.

Study 2: (McCraw and Greig, 1986) 11- and 8- week-old transplants of 4 cultivars were field planted. The 11-week-old transplants were 12 inches tall with open flowers and small fruit while the 8-week-old transplants were 6 inches tall without flowers or fruit. Flowers and fruit on the 11-week-old transplants were either left on the plant or pinched off. The 8-week-old plants were left alone or the growing tip was pinched off to stimulate growth. In the first year of the 2 year study, yield was not affected by any of the treatments. In the second year, the 11- week-old transplants on which flowers and fruit had been pinched off, produced the highest early yield, but yields from the 8-week-old transplants with the growing tip pinched produced the greatest number of large fruit. The conclusion was that while cultivar played a role, 11-week-old transplants generally produce more, but smaller fruit than 8-week-old transplants, regardless of whether pinching was used.

Tomatoes

Vavrina and Orzolet (1993) reviewed over 60 years of research on tomato transplant age. They determined that overall yield really depends on cultivar, environment and the management techniques used. Because of that, transplants of 2 to 13 weeks old can produce similar yields. As far early yields, they were larger with older transplants.

Even though a 2-week-old transplant generally ends up producing comparable season long yields to a 13-week- old transplant, removing a young transplant from its cell can be difficult because the root system is not extensive enough to hold the container soil which is a problem. On the other hand, it costs more to produce an older transplant and older transplants have a higher possibility of exposure to disease and/or insect problems in the greenhouse.

Conclusions were to use a transplant in the 4- to 7-week-old range so that removing the transplant from its cell is not difficult and transplant production costs are not too high. Also, hold onto any extra transplants. They can be used to replace any in the field that have died and their age should not greatly affect yield.

Summer Squash

In a study on summer squash (NeSmith, 1993) 2 cultivars of 10- to 30-day-old transplants (about 1.4 to 4.3 weeks old) were field planted. Some differences between cultivar were observed. In general the age of the transplants affected growth and establishment; however, total yields were not different based on transplant age. Early yield was also not affected by transplant age.

The researcher also mentioned the difficulty of removing young transplants from cells. A 21-day-old transplant was recommended because in the event that it could not be planted right away, it could keep for at least about 10 more days without compromising yields.

Summary

Some themes are evident from these studies:

• Different cultivars respond differently to transplant age.
• Environmental conditions and management practices play a large role in how the plant performs.
• Yields can be comparable over a wide range of transplant ages.
• Young transplants can be difficult to remove from cell packs.
• Older transplants cost more to produce than younger transplants.
• For bell peppers and tomatoes, older transplants result in earlier yields than young ones.

Suggestions for transplant age reflect what is found in the literature. They are generally midranges accounting for the difficulty of removing young transplants from cells and minimizing production costs for producing older transplants. One suggestion is to aim for the lower end of the range. That way, in the event that it is not possible to transplant when planned, plants can still be field planted for several days without yield being affected. The suggested age ranges of transplants for ideal growth are 8-10 weeks for bell pepper, 6-8 weeks for tomato and 2-3 weeks for squash.

Literature Cited

McCraw, B.D. and J.K. Greig. 1986. Effect of transplant age and pruning procedure on yield and fruit-set of bell pepper. HortScience 21:430-431.
NeSmith, D.S. 1993. Transplant age influences summer squash growth and yield. HortScience 28:618-620.
Vavrina, C.S. and M.D. Orzolek. 1993. Tomato transplant age: A review. HortTechnology 3:313-316.
Weston, L.A. 1988. Effect of flat cell size, transplant age, and production site on growth and yield of pepper transplants. HortScience 23:709-711.

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¹Elsa Sanchez, Associate Professor of Horticultural Systems Management
Effect of Transplant Age on Yield
The Vegetable & Small Fruit Gazette, V15:6, June 2011
Penn State Cooperative Extension

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From NJ Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations

Table R-3. Frequently Used Weights and Measures and Approximate Metric Equivalents

Liquid				Dry
Pint	Liters	Gallons	Liters	Ounces	Grams	Pounds	Kilograms
0.5	0.24	1	3.8	0.25	7.1	1	0.5
1.0	0.47	2	7.6	0.50	14.2	2	0.9
1.5	0.71	3	11.4	0.75	21.3	3	1.4
2.0	0.95	4	15.1	1.0	28.4	4	1.8
2.5	1.18	5	18.9	2.0	56.7	5	2.3
3.0	1.42	6	22.7	3.0	85.0	6	2.7
3.5	1.65	7	26.5	4.0	113.4	7	3.2
4.0	1.90	8	30.3	5.0	141.7	8	3.6
4.5	2.13	9	34.1	10.0	283.5	9	4.1
5.0	2.37	10	37.9	16.0	453.6	10	4.5

Area and Length

Main Content

From NJ Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations

Method 1: Inspect Hives

This method is the most time-consuming, but also the most accurate. Colonies used for springtime pollination should have at least:

• a laying queen
• one and one-half or two stories (hive bodies or boxes)
• four to six frames of brood
• enough adult bees to cover six to eight frames

These are minimum requirements; stronger colonies with larger populations make superior pollination units and may command a higher price. As these stronger colonies are opened, bees will “boil out” or cover the tops of the frames. When smoked, however, the bees move down onto the frames and may not cover the frame tops. In this case, the frames themselves should be covered with bees. Note that there will be some variability in the quality of the colonies you rent. As a general rule, a group of colonies where 10 percent fall below the minimum standard is acceptable if 10 percent are also above the minimum standard. Also, for a variety of reasons, some colonies may become queenless for a time; however, if these colonies meet all the other minimum requirements they still will be effective pollination units.

You can request hives to be inspected. In Pennsylvania, The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture Apiary Inspection Service runs a hive evaluation program for colonies used for pollination. Requests may be made by either the grower or the beekeeper and should be arranged through the state apiarist at the PDA Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, PA 17110; telephone 717-772-5225. Requests should be made as early as possible to facilitate scheduling. If an evaluation is requested by the grower, the beekeeper will be informed that a request has been made. Colonies are inspected to determine the colony size (number of supers), the presence of a laying queen, the number of frames of brood and adult bees, and the presence of disease and parasites. At least 10 percent of the colonies in an apiary, or a minimum of five colonies, are selected at random for inspection. Inspected colonies are identified by sticker. If selected colonies are banded or stapled, these are not refastened by the inspector. A copy of the evaluation report is given to both the grower and the beekeeper.

Method 2: Assess Traffic at Hive Entrance

This method is less time- consuming but also less accurate. On a warm (70 to 80˚F), calm day between 11 AM and 3 PM, bee traffic at hive entrances should be heavy. During a one-minute observation period, strong colonies should have 50 to 100 or more bees arriving and leaving the hive. Bees also should be seen arriving with pollen pellets on their back legs. In weak colonies, less than 40 bees will be seen arriving and leaving per minute. Colonies that are being used for summer pollination should have heavier traffic at the hive entrance.

Another crude way to assess colony strength is to observe entrances when temperatures are cool (between 55 and 60˚F). In strong colonies, flights will be observed when temperatures are between 55 and 60°F, but in weaker colonies bees rarely fly when temperatures are below 60°F. Honeybees very rarely fly when the temperature is below 55°F.

Method 3: Assess Bee Density on the Crop

This method allows you to assess the contribution of feral or other honeybee colonies in the area in addition to rented bees. If you are using rented colonies, however, this method tells you little about the quality of the bees. We suggest that if you use this technique and find that the number of bees on the crop is low, you then use options (1) or (2) to assess colony strength before renting additional bees.

Additional information

The publications listed below are available on the MAAREC Website.

• Beekeeping Basics
• Beekeeping Topics: Sources of Bees for Pollination in Pennsylvania, Bees and Insecticides, Pollination Contracts, Basic, Biology and Management of the Japanese Hornfaced Bee

US distributors of “Fruit Boost” that was recommended in the Pollination for attracting bees section are located in the Pacific Northwest. For more information, contact Phero Tech, Inc., 7572 Progress Way, RR 5, Delta, British Columbia, Canada V4G 1E9; phone: 604-940-9944; fax: 604-940-9433.

Other sources of information for bee guides in your area see the websites listed below:

• https://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/
• https://extension.wvu.edu/agriculture/beekeeping
• www.virginiafruit.ento.vt.edu/VAFS-bees.html
• https://attra.ncat.org/tag/bees/
• dda.delaware.gov/plantind/forms/publications/FarmManagementforNativeBees-AGuideforDelaware.pdf
• maarec.psu.edu/pdfs/WilliamsWinfree_NativeBees2009%201.pdf
• ohioline.osu.edu/cv-fact/pdf/1003.pdf