Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: plug flats and washing

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: "Dori Green" <dorigreen00 AT hotmail.com>
  • To: market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: plug flats and washing
  • Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2000 08:08:22 EST


I hold a (New York) state commercial nursery license as well as working my six acres of diversified organic gardens and twelve acres of wildcrafting areas.

I start about 10,000 seedlings every year on my back porch and under lights in the basement, also buy in another 20,000 in 512 plug flats from a local greenhouse, which I pot up into six-packs and grow on in unheated cold frames.

On hot sunny days in August/September we hold a community farm washing party in the driveway. All containers are washed in soapy water and we disinfect them with a rinsing dip in a tub containing 1 tablespoon Clorox per five gallons of water. They are laid out to dry on clean old sheets on the driveway, taken out of the sun as soon as they're completely dry (usually less than half an hour), stacked and stored for the next season. All done, and everybody has a good time. Kids love it.

I treat bleach as a hazardous substance and would never use it in a stronger solution. One teaspoon per gallon was the ratio recommended for rinsing dishes on campouts when I was a Girl Scout leader; that was determined to be enough to kill almost all bacteria but not enough to harm people.

The water comes from my household system, treated with a super charcoal filter and UV light instead of salt or chemicals. Water from the well has tested clean on both sides of this system but I have a delicate digestive system and there's lots of new construction going on nearby and I have animals. I guess I'm paranoid about safe water, maybe it comes from the realization that I could live for only about 4 days without it. <G>

I use bleach sparingly, and dilute in accordance with the published guidelines for organic farm certification. A practical note - always add bleach to the water, never pour water into a bucket containing bleach. This ensures that undiluted bleach is not splashed onto your skin or into your eyes.

Before I added the nursery business I did not wash flats and did not have a problem -- probably because I use lots of compost in my mix. At this more commercial level bleach does the job for me; one instance of passing a serious disease along to customers might or might not be enough enough to put me out of business forever but it sure wouldn't help the rep of my budding business!

Dori Green
Ash Grove Community Farm
Corning, NY

http://www.ic.org/agrove

Intentional Community with local and long-distance members
Chemical-free fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers
Dairy and pack and draft goats
Free-range chickens, ducks, and geese
Affordable housing cooperative
Regional farmer's marketing cooperative
Partnerships
Dried herbs and American-grown Black Tea by mail-order

______________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com





Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page