Michelle L. Infante-Casella and Stephen A. Garrison
Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Gloucester County
Gloucester County Office of Government Services
1200 North Delsea Drive
Clayton, New Jersey 08312
E-mail:  minfante@aesop.rutgers.edu

Abstract:  Transplanted bell peppers (Capsicum annuum var. ‘Wizzard’) were planted on May 18, 1999 at the Rutgers Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Bridgeton, New Jersey.  All plots contained Kennco high raised beds and drip irrigation.  The treatments consisted of six different plastic mulches and a bare ground control.  The treatments were as follows: 36” silver strip on white (SW); a rippled reflective silver from Parker Foils, Inc. (S1); a flat reflective silver from Clarke Ag. Plastics (S2); black from Reddick Fumigants (BP); dull silver on brown from DeWitt Company (SB); white on white (WW); and bare ground (BG).  Early yields from the first harvest , taken on July 28, 1999, were evaluated along with total yields at the conclusion of the growing season.  The early yields after the first harvest from highest to lowest were: S1= 440 boxes per acre (b/a), S2= 403 b/a, SB= 370 b/a, SW= 337 b/a, WW= 314 b/a, BP= 264 b/a, and BG= 248 b/a.  Total yields at the conclusion of the study from highest to lowest were: S2= 707 b/a, WW= 682 b/a, S1= 662 b/a, SB= 655 b/a, BP= 564 b/a, SW= 543 b/a, BG= 523 b/a.  High temperatures after the first harvest caused a great deal of flower bud abortion and reduced late season yields.  The reader should not consider the endorsement or recommendation of one brand of plastic mulch over another or one company over another,  based on these study results.

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