28 

 The soil was classified as Kanapaha fine sand (loamy, siliceous, hyper- 

 thermic, Grossarenic Paleauquult) with 1% organic matter and a GEG of 

 2.52 meq/lOO g (27). The climate is warm (average max Jl G; min 11 G) 

 and humid (average 229 mm rainfall/month) from April to September, where- 

 as October to March is cool (average max 24 C; min 0.55 G) and dry 

 (average 76 mm rainfall/month) . 



Soybean was planted as a cover crop prior to initiating the experi- 

 ment. Soybean was mowed to a stubble and the land disc plowed before 

 fumigating with 66 liters/ha SMDG (sodium N-methyl-dithiocarbamate) . 

 The fumigant was injected into the soil with a gravity-flow distributor 

 using two coulter applicators. Basal fertilizer was bi'oadcast and roto- 

 tilled into the soil at varying rates depending on crop requirement 

 (Table 1). Raised beds were formed using a disc-hiller and bed press. 

 Subsequent land preparation between crops consisted of mowing, disc 

 plowing, rototilling, f fertilizing, and bedding. Seven vegetable crops 

 including 'Texas Grano 5G2' bulb onion, 'Blue Laice ' pole bean, 'Morris 

 Heading' collard, 'Early Golden Summer Grookneck' squash, 'Wando' Eng- 

 lish pea, 'Zipper Gream' southern pea, and 'Florida Curled Leaf' mustard 

 were classified into lovr (LM), medium (MM) , and high (HK) management 

 groups. These management groups were based on average costs of ferti- 

 lizers, pesticides, cultural labor, and 5-yea-c average harvesting costs 

 for producing each vegetable crop in Florida (Table 2). 



Fo\ar basic cropping patterns were developed using combinations 

 of seven vegetable ci'ops (Figs. 1 and 2), Two cropping patterns were 



Climatic data. Horticultural Unit, University of Florida (mimeo) , 



