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Subject: Market Farming
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- From: "Beth Spaugh" <lists AT rhomestead.com>
- To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Greenhouse ammonia toxicity?
- Date: Tue, 21 Feb 2006 16:05:48 -0500
I put lettuce seedlings out in the unheated
hoophouse last week. Two days above freezing with nights in the twenties, then
dipped to zero degree nights. They are under row cover so probably didn’t
get lower than 15 degrees. The lettuce had not been properly hardened off –
I put them out in the garage the night before transplanting to give them
another 12 hours to get used to colder temps since I knew the cold spell was
coming, but the day I transplanted them was sunny and so hot inside the
hoophouse that I opened the vents. They look great. In fact they look better
than they did inside under grow lights, so I don’t think the cold was a
problem for the lettuce, and shouldn’t be for onions. Memory is fuzzy, but last year I brought
composted cow manure into the hoophouse for the floor. pH came back at 7.2,
which I put to excess ammonia. I vaguely remember ammonia smell, which is why I
connected it to the pH. I don’t remember the timing though – how long
before I planted salad mix. Anyway, no problems. Also, you said you had problems last year and the onions
weren’t looking great before you moved them out. I wouldn’t totally
discount the ammonia, but those observations counter the ammonia as the cause. Sorry, I don’t have other suggestions of the cause. Rehoboth Homestead From:
market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Christine & Marlin Last year’s luck with seed
starting? I didn’t think it could get any worse! I was
wrong! This year I have totally lost 80 to 90 percent of all the material
and work I have put into seed starting in January and February up to this
point. I currently have 8 flats of broccoli and cauliflower just coming
up which is too soon to evaluate. It’s the same old story!
Stuff either comes up and stalls for a week or two and then dies or it
doesn’t come up at all! Last year I blamed it on the Winstrip
trays. This year I planted in Winstrips, standard inserts, and open flats
with no inserts. Most of it was lettuce and onions and it all failed. One
evening over a week ago I had them setting in the still unheated greenhouse
during the day and was delayed getting home soon enough to get them back inside
before nightfall. They were exposed to several hours of freezing
temperatures but I don’t think this should have been enough to do them
in. They didn’t show significant freeze damage the next day but
they all steadily deteriorated over the next week. I tried sowing new
lettuce seed over the dying plants and as far as I can tell most of it never
germinated. Now comes a possible explanation for the
mystery. I raised a flock of pullets inside the greenhouse during the
winter and took them out around the first of February. The following week
I moved in the benches and to save time I decided not to remove the litter on
the floor. I noticed some ammonia odor several days later during the warm
part of the day as I set my plants out to take advantage of the nice weather we
were having. If I thought anything it was that a little ammonia nitrogen
in the air might stimulate plant growth. At most the plants were exposed
to the ammonia air for a few days and other wise spent their nights inside the
house on the starting racks. I never thought the ammonia inside the green
house, though noticeable, was very intense. Also many of the onions were
not looking good even before they saw the greenhouse. Anyway I spent much
of yesterday taking all of the benches out of the greenhouse, thoroughly
cleaning out all of the chicken poop, putting down a tarp on the floor, and
setting it all back up. Now begs the question. Has anyone
else had experience with ammonia doing bad things in a greenhouse
environment? Would I be safe to go ahead and reuse the plant starting
medium or should I pitch it all? I’m thinking of keeping some of it
for potting up bigger plants later on if I am successful at getting anything
started. I’m still fearful that something pathological is
involved. I know for certain that I planted fresh seed and I started out
with clean potting soil, and reasonably clean containers. To say that I
am thoroughly POed is an understatement. The worst of it all is that this
kind of s--- is still happening to someone who has 15 years of plant starting
experience. Marlin |
-
[Market-farming] flower buckets,
Andrew R. King, 02/20/2006
-
Re: [Market-farming] flower buckets,
Beth Spaugh, 02/20/2006
-
Re: [Market-farming] flower buckets,
Shawnee Flowerfarmer, 02/20/2006
-
[Market-farming] Greenhouse ammonia toxicity?,
Christine & Marlin, 02/21/2006
-
Re: [Market-farming] Greenhouse ammonia toxicity?,
Beth Spaugh, 02/21/2006
- [Market-farming] One step forward, steve, 02/21/2006
- Re: [Market-farming] Greenhouse ammonia toxicity?, David Tannen, 02/21/2006
- Re: [Market-farming] Greenhouse ammonia toxicity?, Shelly Elliott, 02/22/2006
-
Re: [Market-farming] Greenhouse ammonia toxicity?,
Beth Spaugh, 02/21/2006
-
[Market-farming] Greenhouse ammonia toxicity?,
Christine & Marlin, 02/21/2006
-
Re: [Market-farming] flower buckets,
Shawnee Flowerfarmer, 02/20/2006
-
Re: [Market-farming] flower buckets,
Beth Spaugh, 02/20/2006
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