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market-farming - Re: direct seeding fall brassicas

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  • From: Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>
  • To: market farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: direct seeding fall brassicas
  • Date: Tue, 20 Jun 2000 14:13:28 -0400


Julie,

We have the same problem in zone 7 (really closer to 6 with the altitude).
Our Fall snow
and sugar snap peas were getting killed by early freezes before we harvested
because we
had to wait for the soil temperatures to go down to plant. (We transplant
brassicas and
most other things and direct seed beans and peas.)

I came up with a way to get them to germinate in hot weather so they would
produce
earlier. Now we plant these a month earlier. I plant in beds and then
irrigate- using
the water to cool the soil. Then I immediately cover the beds with a
temporary shade
house made out of 1/2" PVC electrical conduit and 80% shade cloth. I use
pieces of 1/2"
rebar in the edges of the beds to anchor the hoops and spring clamps to hold
the shade
cloth on the hoops.

The shade tent keeps the soil cool by blocking the sun from heating the soil.
I irrigate
to keep it cool until I see the first sprouts coming up. By then all the
seeds that are
going to germinate are doing it and I remove the shade to keep the first
sprouters from
getting "leggy."

I would suggest you get a soil or compost thermometer to monitor the soil
temperature at
the planting depth while the seeds are germinating. Keeping the soil near
the optimal
germination temp. for the crop will mean more seeds will germinate. I have a
long stem
compost thermometer I use for compost and soil. Adding more water will cool
the soil and
removing the shade will warm it, obviously.

With broccoli, you may need to keep the soil temperature down while it's
growing to keep
the stress on the plants down. Stress will stimulate the plants to start
going to seed
before they have grown large, resulting in small heads. You can do this by
keeping the
soil moist, but not soggy- it takes more energy to heat water than dry soil.
Also, using
a mulch to shade the soil will help keep the temps down and will have the
added benefit
of conserving soil moisture.

Good luck!

Alex McGregor
Walden Farm





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