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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
- To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
- Subject: Re: hoop houses
- Date: Fri, 7 Dec 2001 07:53:15 -0600
I think it is something to be concerned about
long-term. Whenever you irrigate you allow free moisture in the soil, which
dissolves natural salts. As evaporation occurs ( and tunnels promote
evaporation), the evaporating water leaves these salts on the surface of the
soil. Eventually, they build up to toxic levels. This is the same process that
plagues agriculture in arid environments. The reason it isn't a problem in
non-arid environments is that rain will redissolve the salts and wash them back
down into the soil, in other words, leaching them out.
I think we will end up having to address this
problem in tunnels because irrigation is essential. This is one reason I like
Eliot Coleman's transportable tunnels. He simply slides them from one site to
another. There is no opportunity for salt build up. Another possible solution is
overhead irrigation, but it would be necessary to overirrigate in the long term
to ensure the salts are washed down. You might want to try running enough
rainbird sprinklers in there to flood it once or twice a year. This would also
ensure that you have a good soil moisture profile before the growing season
starts.
Bill Shoemaker
Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops Univ of Illinois - St Charles Hort Research Center
|
-
hoop houses,
robbins hail, 12/07/2001
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
- Re: hoop houses, Bill Shoemaker, 12/07/2001
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