Yields so far in the year-round cucumber trial at Stockbridge Technology Centre, North Yorkshire, are on course to beat the project’s initial target of 300 cucumbers a square metre.
Project leader Dr Rob Jacobson of STC said that by the time the replant crop had been pulled this month, the yield had totalled 200 cues a m2 - higher than the season-long average expected from a conventional commercial crop. “The third crop has been planted and will continue until mid-October, so the original target should be exceeded,” he said.
The project, set up by the Cucumber Growers’ Association and supported by the Horticultural Development Council and a range of commercial organisations, is looking to see whether ayr production of cucumbers is technically feasible and economically worthwhile in the UK. “We want to satisfy the demand from retailers for uninterrupted supplies of good-quality, traceable, home-grown produce,” Jacobson said.
The crop is being grown under glass equipped with supplementary lighting, retractable thermal screens and advanced computer control and is being trained using a system more usually practised for tomatoes.
The first planting went in at the beginning of November, the first fruit was cut three weeks later, and the plants pulled at the end of February when the earliest conventional crops are just coming into pick.
Jacobson said quality had been notable with less than one per cent recorded as unmarketable. Production has also been particularly consistent compared to standard crops, which tend to flush. The fruit is being marketed by Melrow Salads for sale through M&S.
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