Short Report: Temperature Effects on Plant Development Rate and Quality of Compact Container-grown Cucumber and Hot Pepper

Mean daily temperature (MDT) effects on plant development rates and quality were evaluated for compact container-grown cucumber (‘Patio Snacker’) and pepper (‘Taquito’) grown at greenhouse set-points of 20.0, 22.5, 25.0, 27.5, and 30.0 °C. The number of days to first open flower and ripe fruit were measured and development rates calculated by taking the reciprocal (e.g., 1/d). Temperature effects were predicted by fitting a nonlinear exponential function, which included base temperature ( T min ) and maximum developmental rate ( R max ) parameters. Increasing the greenhouse MDT increased plant development rates and shortened crop timing for both crops. Estimated T min was 18.2 °C for cucumber and 17.8 °C for pepper. Estimated R max was 0.040 and 0.064 at flower and 0.035 and 0.016 at fruit for cucumber and pepper, respectively. Overall, these crops grown at ≈25 °C resulted in a relatively short crop time, large fruit size, and high fruit load per plant at finish. The information from this study can be used to help growers schedule compact cucumber and pepper alongside other containerized ornamental crops and determine the impacts of changing growing temperature on crop timing and quality.