Evaluate pollination strategies and insect pest/disease prevalence under mesotunnels in commercial-scale organic Athena muskmelon plots

• Treatments for the pollination trial included: (1) full-season: mesotunnels remained closed for the entire growing season (from transplant to harvest), with a bumblebee hive introduced when the first female flowers appeared (approximately 3 weeks after transplanting); (2) open-ends: mesotunnel netting was opened at both ends for 2 weeks during bloom, then resealed; (3) on-off-on: the entire length of the mesotunnel netting on a 150-ft subplot was removed for 2 weeks during bloom, then resealed.
• Bumble bee activity was monitored regularly for each treatment, and at the end of the growing season, data was collected on Athena muskmelon yield (total, marketable, and unmarketable).
• Data was collected regularly on insect pest prevalence and disease symptoms. If/when standard thresholds for pest/disease prevalence were surpassed, appropriate NOP-compliant control methods were deployed, including the application of copper hydroxide for fungal diseases and neem oil/pyrethrins/kaolin clay for cucumber beetles.

Evaluate the effectiveness of living mulches as an alternative weed control strategy in mesotunnels

• Treatments for the weed control trial included: (1) landscape fabric covering the furrows between plastic-mulched rows; (2) teff sown in the furrows and mowed 3 weeks after seeding; (3) teff sown in the furrows and not mowed; (4) bare ground with mowing 3 weeks after transplanting; and (5) bare ground with no mowing.
• Two days before the first muskmelon harvest, weeds were sampled, oven-dried, and weighed.

Compare the economic efficiency of each pollination and living mulch strategy

• A partial budget analysis incorporating revenue and costs of materials and labor was performed to compare the relative cost-efficiency of each pollination and weed control treatment.