James Cornies of Cornies Farms:
“Addison RZ is quick to start producing and is strong against a lot of diseases”

James Cornies of Cornies Farms (6 ha) is growing cucumber variety Addison RZ for the third consecutive year. “Addison RZ gives a high yield and there are no problems with diseases like fungal disease olpidium. Cucumber Green Mottle Mosaic Virus is a problem in our area, but the symptoms do not appear until the end of the crop and there does not seem to be any yield reductions.”

James Cornies is the third generation of growers who have grown cucumbers on Cornies Farms since 1950. He grows his quality cucumbers for the North-American market. He packs them on his own nursery, in the packaging required by the supermarket chains, which he supplies via three distribution
companies. “I always have a few trial rows with other varieties on the go. This is the third consecutive year we have chosen the variety Addison, because of its high yield.”

Easy variety
“The crop starts vegetatively and ends very generatively. In the area where we are, light levels are high and vegetative growth is a distinct advantage.” In the aytime the grower maintains a temperature of 21°C and during the night, 18-20°C. “We maintain a day/night differential of 1-3°C. My experiences with drastic reductions in the pre-midnight temperature are not at all good.” James Cornies starts watering two hours after sunrise and continues until two hours before sunset, 100-125 ml per watering round, based on light levels of 85-100 joules. He also waters during the night, if necessary. “Whether we water extra during the night depends on the amount of run-off and whether the EC is rising too much. We water during the night not only in the summer, but in winter as well. The rockwool also dries out when we have the heating on.” The EC of the feed solution depends on the stage the crop is in. “The EC in the growing medium varies from 2.0 to 3.5. The EC in the feed solution is somewhere between 2.0 and 3.0.”

Well-paid medium cucumbers
Production is good: 57 cucumbers per square metre, all Class I. “The medium cucumbers fetch the most money. We also have a market for small cucumbers.”
Transferring from cutting stem fruits to lateral fruits creates a harvesting peak. “ The fruit load is highest in May, June and July. When the fruit load
is too high, we do some thinning out.” This season the fruit colour turned a little lighter around week 8 and there was a short period when the cucumbers
were not quite so good. “The cause is unknown. In spite of that temporary problem we are still getting a large number of good cucumbers.”

Area: Sowing date: Planting date: Growing medium: Plant density: Yield after 13 weeks’ cutting:

6 ha 4 – 25 March 26 March – 15 April rockwool 1.8 plants/m2 57 cucumbers/m2

Seeds & Services Canada, september 2008