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market-farming - Re: Hello responses/yard long

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Subject: Market Farming

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  • From: "Rob Johnston Jr." <rob AT johnnyseeds.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Hello responses/yard long
  • Date: Thu, 17 Jan 2002 10:41:58 -0500


Allan Balliett wrote:

> >Extended harvest promoters: 1) fertile soil; 2) regularly picking the
> >beans when young.
>
> Rob - I know you are a seed seller and not a grower, but I know you
> guys do do a lot of grow outs, etc, AND you've been working with more
> growers over the years in organics than most anyone (huh?) so, I will
> continue:
>
> From your experience, does a grower need to be applying foliars
> regularly to the pole beans to maximize blossoms and fruit?

No.

> AND - What do you think is 'enough' fertility for a row of pole
> beans? (You know, like 3 bushels of compost per 100 row feet, or
> something)

You need to answer that based on your experience with your soils. If you
are new to your soils, enroll somebody with local wisdom to help you.
Ideally you are feeding your soils annually to keep your organic matter up
(difficult to do in regions with long, hot periods, e.g. Florida, where OM
just burns up) and simply adjusting compost applications in consideration of
the next crop in your rotation. Beans take less than cauliflower, but if
your market garden is a one acre wonder all mixed with small plots, it's
normally best to treat it all like heavy feeders. At Johnny's on our more
fertile soils we might not even compost the tomatoes, but YMMV.

--
Robert L. Johnston, Jr.
Chairman
Johnny's Selected Seeds -- thanks for being patient with us as we work the
slowness and bugs from our new website.





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