Nov 18, 2019

New organic cucumber varieties show promise in disease resistance

In 2018, the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF) provided a grant to Edmund Frost of Common Wealth Seed Growers to assess resistance to both Bacterial Wilt and Cucurbit Downy Mildew among selected cucumber and muskmelon seedstocks. The project is aimed at helping organic farmers throughout the Eastern U.S., where those diseases pose a particular challenge.

In hisrecently submitted final project report, Frost says the four trials he completed yielded useful and actionable results. The trials were done on certified organic land at Twin Oaks Farm in Virginia. Read all about the methods, data, and conclusions for each element of the project here.

OFRF provided a second grant to Frost in 2019 to continue the project. This year, Frost is focused on evaluating and advancing cucumber seedstock lines that performed well in his 2018 trials, working with farms and research sites throughout the Southeast and beyond to more broadly assess the selected lines. If the 2019 trial results show these lines have good resistance, they plan on releasing varieties from the project in late 2020.

Outreach is an important component of Frost’s research. He uses field days and speaking engagements to share project results with vegetable farmers. You can learn more about his research and varieties on the Common Wealth Seed Growers website.

– Organic Farming Research Foundation