Plasticulture Banana Pepper Response to Clomazone Applied Pretransplanting (PRE)

Few published studies exist documenting banana pepper tolerance to clomazone. Therefore, field trials were conducted in 2022 at two Indiana locations [Meigs Horticulture Research Farm and the Pinney Purdue Agricultural Center (PPAC)] to evaluate crop safety in plasticulture-grown banana pepper. The experimental design was a split-plot in which the main plot factor was the clomazone rate (0, 840 and 1,680 g ai ha-1), and the subplot factor was cultivar (‘Pageant’ and ‘Sweet Sunset’). Clomazone was applied over-the-top of black polyethylene mulch-covered raised beds and their respective bare ground row middles one day prior to transplanting 12 pepper plants per subplot. Data collected included crop injury on a scale from 0% (no injury) to 100% (crop death) at 2, 4, and 6 wk after treatment (WAT), and plant stand. Two harvests were performed in which mature fruits were counted and weighed. Injury presented as interveinal bleaching only at PPAC 2 and 4 WAT. At this location 1,680 g ha-1 clomazone resulted in greater injury to ‘Sweet Sunset’ at 2 and 4 WAT (53 and 15%, respectively) than to ‘Pageant’ (19 and 3%, respectively), however, plant stand and yield were not affected by either clomazone rate. These results suggest that the clomazone rate range currently used for bell pepper (280 to 1,120 g ai ha-1) can be applied prior to transplanting plasticulture-grown banana pepper with minimal crop injury and without reducing yield.