Determination of The Critical Period of Greenhouse-Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus L.) Weeds in Soil Greenhouse

In order to determine the critical period for weed control of greenhouse cucumber, an experiment was conducted in 2012 in a soil greenhouse located 25 km from Mashhad, as a randomized complete blocks design with three replications. The experiment consisted of two treatment series of weed interference. The first series consisted of weed-interference periods (including 14, 28, 42, 56, 70 and 84 days after emergence and the entire growth period of greenhouse cucumber) and the second series consisted of weed-free periods (including 14, 28, 42, 56, 70 and 84 days after emergence and the whole period of greenhouse cucumber growth). Results of this study showed that red root pigweed, common purslane, black nightshade, dwarf mallowand and common lambsquarters were the weeds with the highest density and biomass. Increasing or decreasing the weed-interference and weed-free periods led to changes in density, biomass, relative density and relative biomass of these plants. If 10, 5, and 1% of greenhouse cucumber yield loss are acceptable, then weed control must be carried out from 23 to 77 days (54 days), 18 to 94 days (76 days), and 16 to 107 days (91 days) after the greenhouse cucumber emerges, respectively. In general, the results of this experiment demonstrated that weed control in greenhouse cucumber production is necessary to achieve optimal yield.