Weed control using preemergence herbicides in cucumber and summer squash cultivars

There is limited information on the crop safety and weed control potential of commercially available PRE herbicides when applied under plastic mulch on various cucumber and summer squash cultivars grown in Florida. Two cucumber field trials were conducted at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Wimauma, FL, in fall 2021 and spring 2022 to determine the effects of halosulfuron, pendimethalin, S-metolachlor, sulfentrazone, fomesafen, napropamide, oxyfluorfen, and flumioxazin on crop growth and development, yield, and the control of various weed species in the fields. We conducted this trial using three cucumber cultivars: ‘Speedway’, ‘Dominator’, and ‘Mongoose’. Two summer squash field trials were conducted simultaneously, evaluating all the mentioned herbicides, except flumioxazin, in addition to rimsulfuron on three summer squash cultivars: ‘Spineless Beauty’, ‘Payload’, and ‘Everglade’. In the cucumber trials, crop damage varied with cultivar and ranged from 3% to 16% in fall 2021. All herbicides caused ≥10% crop injury, except oxyfluorfen and flumioxazin, at 28 d after transplanting (DATr) in spring 2022. In the summer squash trial, halosulfuron, S-metolachor, and flumioxazin were the three most injurious PRE herbicides, causing more than 10% crop injury in seed-grown summer squash, with no effect of PRE herbicides on crop injury in transplant-grown summer squash in fall 2021. In spring 2022, crop injury with PRE herbicides varied with cultivar, where pendimethalin and S-metolachlor were consistently the most injurious PRE herbicides, causing 14% to 25% injury at 28 DATr. All PRE herbicides caused some damage to cucumber and summer squash, with limited differences between cultivars and no effect on overall crop yield.