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market-farming - Re: more greenhouse questions!

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  • From: robert schuler <sunnfarm AT bellatlantic.net>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: more greenhouse questions!
  • Date: Thu, 01 Feb 2001 02:49:01 -0500


The research has been done quite extensively in floriculture crops especially
Pot Mums
and poinsettias you might want to look here first to find a good method to
use for your
own research also similar work has been done with grain corn and wheat,
generally you
can tell if a crop of greens are over nitrated and if in doubt get leaf
tissue samples
tested, Scotts fertilizer still does the bulk of this testing at the former
Robert B
Peters fertilizer lab in Allentown PA.
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.

wiediger wrote:

> We are. there has literally been no long term research in the US on this
> subject. Any time light levels are low, there is a significant chance that
> the growing plant will accumulate nitrates - especially known nitrate
> accumulators such as spinach. There have been some 'snapshot' studies done,
> but nothing showing actual seasonal changes. We submitted a grant request
> to OFRF this past year to study exactly that - recording light levels each
> day, min and max temps, and bi-weekly nitrate levels in 4 different types of
> crops. It was fairly extensive, very detailed in data. We wanted to record
> how the nitrate levels changed as the light levels changed. We had planned
> to post data on the website in real time for those interesssted in the
> progress. Then, we wanted to run it for an additional year if there was a
> nitrate problem, changing our fertility program to try and help slow down
> the accumulation. We were not granted the funds for research, and from the
> comments, feel that they thought 'farmers' weren't capable of this type of
> research - that it takes 'university people' to do this. 'Course, the
> universities aren't doing this type of growing, farmers are.
>
> There has been quite a bit of research in Europe, where this type of growing
> is more common, but it is difficult to extrapolate to this country -
> climates are different. Hopefully we'll still get a chance to check this out
> someday - but the tests, light meters, and time to record and analyze data
> are too costly for us in our operation. We just tell people not to eat
> spinach salads every day - and they don't.
>
> Alison Wiediger
> Au Naturel Farm
> http://aunaturelfarm.homestead.com
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "cathy mcgregor-smith" <mcsmiths AT elgin.net>
> To: "market farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
> Sent: Tuesday, January 30, 2001 8:44 PM
> Subject: Re: more greenhouse questions!
>
> > is anyone concerned about nitrate accumulation when growing greens etc in
> low light
> > conditions???
> >
> > robert schuler wrote:
> >
> > > A few more tidbits
> > > Double layer inflated plastic will eliminate wind damage but not help
> keeping plants
> > > warm in unheated house, in my county we have thousands of single layer
> houses for
> > > holding perennials that stay put by eliminating the ridge pipe, the
> plastic squeezes
> > > down tighter without the ridge, you can also make poly tie downs with 4"
> wide strips of
> > > plastic placed over the house at 10 ft intervals...
> > > Ventilation, if you use one year poly then just cut holes about 16"
> diameter in the
> > > sheet every 20 feet and leave a small amount uncut to act as a hinge
> then you can tape
> > > the hole partly shut on coldest nights this is only done in late spring
> before you
> > > remove the sheet all together, if you cut holes be prepared for water
> damage to any
> > > plants below.
> > > I use a double layer house with supplemental 100000 btu propane heat set
> at 35 deg. this
> > > really improves the quality of the crop but is costly even at the low
> temps,burning
> > > about 20 gallons a week but worthwhile because you must have quality if
> you are selling
> > > to a supermarket for example, greens or lettuce with tip burn from
> constant freezes just
> > > won't holdup in the market
> > >
> > > Infrared sheeting really makes a difference and at 25% more in cost, its
> very cost
> > > effective but it seems to be sensitive to damage more so than regular 4
> years poly, you
> > > will gain about two extra hours of stored warmth after sundown compared
> to regular
> > > poly.
> > > Use fans to keep constant air movement this will keep plants dry and
> prevent disease
> > > like botrytis, I have been using Patton brand 18" fans that are quite
> inexpensive and
> > > very powerful and have been running them nonstop in some cases for three
> years.
> > > Good luck to all
> > > Sunny Meadow Farm
> > > Bridgeton,NJ.
> > >
> > > ---
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> >
> >
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