This article by George Hochmuth appeared in the Grower Guidelines section of “American Vegetable Grower,” June 1995

egetable quality has always been of paramount concern to growers for their profitability. Quality is a major characteristic that can define individual growers -- or at least lots of us think that way.

What factors in the field production phase affect vegetable quality? For growers noted for quality, it is often their attention to detail that makes the difference. Experience and research has described many production factors associated with vegetable quality, some of which I wanted to highlight in this column.

Run your own variety trials
Selection of high-quality varieties is of major concern to most growers. There are many new varieties out each year. It is interesting, however, to note that variety trials have a difficult time determining one or two winners. This is an indication that there is a wide selection of varieties. Growers really need to conduct the final variety trial on the farm, taking data on specific variables important to the specific growers.

Use the highest quality seed available
Run your own germination tests on remnant seed. Uniform, complete germination and seedling emergence should be the goal so that high yields and uniform maturity will result. Starter fertilizer solutions at planting might help achieve some of these goals in early spring plantings.

Excessive fertilization reduces quality
We continue to learn more about the effects of fertilizer management on vegetable quality. Most data show that fertilizer programs that lead to high yields also usually result in high quality. Extra fertilization that does not lead to increased yields also does not improve quality. In fact, excessive fertilization, especially with nitrogen or potassium, can reduce quality.

Fertilizer management can be a big contributing factor to our management of quality in the field. Most well-managed fertilizer programs do not need added special chemicals. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Irrigation mismanagement reduces yield
It might seem obvious that proper irrigation would be related to high vegetable quality, but mismanaged irrigation is a problem and robs many growers of highest yields and quality.

The most dramatic manifestations of lack of irrigation are disorders such as blossom end-rot of tomato and pepper, and tipburn of leafy vegetables. Excessive irrigation can flood root systems, reducing water and nutrient uptake, in addition to leaching nutrients from the root zone.

The most effective way to manage irrigation is to have a knowledge of crop water requirements and how those requirements change during the season. This needs to be expressed in specific terms, such as gallons per acre per day. This infers that we need to have access to estimates of crop evapotranspiration, and we need moisture indication devices such as tensiometers.

The above aspects relating to quality are a few factors that we can control in the field. They in part reflect my biases, and I am sure other individuals can use their own interests and expertise to come up with other important production practices that affect quality. The point is that there are lots of production details we have control over. With attention to these details, we not only will produce high yields, but high yields with high quality.