Progress report for FNE24-072
Project Information
Our objectives for this project will guide us throughout our experiment and will give direction when creating our final report at the end. Our first objective is to examine the production of certified organic raspberries in a high tunnel in New Jersey through growing floricane and primocane varieties in a high tunnel. Our second objective is to evaluate weed control efficacy of landscape fabric, leaf cover, and straw mulch on certified organic high tunnel raspberry row middles. This includes weekly monitoring of the type, season, and density of the weeds growing in the tunnel. Our third objective is to evaluate the impact of weed control strategy on the growth and yield of certified organic high tunnel raspberries. We will analyze the fruit on the canes for firmness, color, and concentration. Our fourth objective is to compare the cost requirements of the three weed control strategies for certified organic weed management to see if they are more cost effective than hand weeding labor costs. Our fifth objective is to demonstrate certified organic high tunnel raspberry production and weed control methods to local farmers through various on-farm tours and meetings.
Farmers across the state of New Jersey are battling rising labor costs and rising input costs for agricultural production. This coupled with the increased presence of extreme weather events caused by climate change, has made farming in our state expensive and difficult. We are finding it more critical than ever to use climate change-resilient practices that allow us to still sustainably produce viable, affordable crops. We have found ourselves investing in more indoor growing systems such as high tunnels. High tunnels allow us to extend our season by 2-3 weeks and create an atmosphere in which we can control the climate and ensure we produce a profitable crop regardless of the weather outside. In the case of growing raspberries, high tunnels allow for a cover from the rain. For our area of the Northeast, extreme climate events have brought months of drought followed by months of unseasonable, often extreme rain. When exposed to this extreme rain, brambles breed fungal diseases that put the crop at risk. In worse cases, Botrytis can reduce the harvestable yield by almost 50%. In addition to diseases such as Botrytis fruit rot, brambles that are wet and under pressure from the rain are also more susceptible to damage from the Spotted Wing Drosophila - one of the main insect pests for raspberries. By utilizing a high tunnel with controlled irrigation throughout, we eliminate the issue of rain and ensure that we gain the fullest potential out of our crop. We are not the only farm facing the issue of climate change and its impacts on agriculture. We believe that by utilizing high tunnels we can take steps to create and educate others on a resilient way to produce raspberries that can be used by farms across the country.
Another key issue facing agriculture in New Jersey is the rising cost of labor, land, and inputs. By utilizing a certified organic production system we can reduce the amount of chemicals we would need to apply onto the raspberries which would increase the sustainability both environmentally and economically of growing brambles. Rising labor costs are holding farms back from wanting to pursue organic agricultural production, which puts New Jersey at risk of losing out on farmers that want to farm organically, but won’t because of the high costs. There is a large market for certified organic fruit in our state and we believe that this project can pave the way for an entry into more of the organic fruit market not just for our farm but for others in the state. Weed control is one of the main uses of labor on our certified organic farm, and on other organic farms. In this project we will be comparing types of mulches in the row-middles to see which control weeds better and if there is any impact on the overall production of the bramble cane and fruit. We have gone through the steps to find certified organic straw, untreated leaf cover, and landscape fabric and plan to cover the row middles with each type and see the benefits each holds. Being a smaller state, New Jersey does not have many open parcels of high acreage land and thus focuses on smaller scale agriculture. We hope that the success of this project will allow the opportunity for future small certified organic farms to come into operation with a cost-effective weed control and a climate change-resilient plan for bramble production. Certified organic agriculture should be accessible to all farmers–with a large or small workforce, and we hope to determine that mulches in row middles are a start to allowing more new farmers to use their land and labor time efficiently.
Our experience working with high tunnels and certified organic practices can help agriculture in New Jersey as we will become a resource for other farmers to go to if wanting to create a more climate-change resilient method of production. We have strived to be a leader in the agricultural community and we believe this project gives us another opportunity to do just that. We hope that the success of this project will encourage other farmers to invest in certified organic farmland and invest in high tunnels to create a sustainable, consistent certified organic food source in our state for years to come - regardless of the climate. We will ensure that efforts are made to educate others in the farming community through Rutgers Cooperative Extension, Farm Bureau groups, and working with our organic certifiers (NOFA).
Alstede Farms, a woman-owned family farm, is a pioneer in sustainable agriculture, growing over 250 varieties of fruits and vegetables on over 800 acres of preserved farmland in Morris County. Alstede Farms is focused on being the best farm in the northeast and provides high-quality, homegrown, local fruits and vegetables as well as memorable farm experiences to the local community. With 4 physical farm stores across Morris county and 18 weekly urban community farmers markets, Alstede Farms serves a wide variety of at-risk communities and provides homegrown, fresh, local produce to their members. With a 1,000 member Community Supported Agriculture program delivering across North New Jersey and offering visitors the opportunity to pick their own produce, our customers are granted the opportunity to experience first-hand how their food is grown. Alstede Farms produces a wide variety of our own local fruits, vegetables, and flowers grown using only sustainable and USDA-certified organic production methods. We are open year-round, to bring warmth, family fun, quiet solace, and friendly service to our guests throughout New Jersey.
Our ownership team consists of the founder, Kurt Alstede, his wife Mary Thompson-Alstede, and the second generation - Rebekah Alstede Modery and Sarah Alstede. In addition to being both majority female-owned and majority beginning-farmer owned, Alstede Farms boasts a diverse management team spanning across generations, thought processes, and ethnicities
Cooperators
- - Technical Advisor
Research
We began our project in March with the approval of our grant. We spent the month ordering plants, trellis supplies, soil amendments, and irrigation supplies. We also spent a lot of time consulting with our organic certifier to ensure all the supplies we were ordering were going to be approved for use in our organic farm. Supplies started being delivered at the end of the month which set us up well to begin preparing the tunnel for planting in April.
Throughout the month of April, we were busy preparing the tunnel. This started with mowing down the previous crop, then rototilling multiple times. This made sure that the soil was loose and ready for planting. We performed a soil test which showed excellent organic matter numbers, but the pH was very high for where raspberries like to be grown. Because of that, we added 1 50lb bag of Rocket 90- Galaxy Sulfur to the tunnel, scattered throughout by hand. We then rototilled the sulfur into the soil. We then flagged out 18” spacing in 5 rows for our raspberry plants on April 16th. We planted our raspberries, two rows of Prelude, and 3 rows of Mapema. After one week of the raspberries growing in the tunnel, we installed the weed control methods for our research. We applied leaves 3 inches thick, straw 3 inches thick, and landscape fabric, in 67’ strips around each of the three Mapema rows. These were applied according to the map we applied with, so that there was variation in the tunnel to adapt to environmental conditions at different areas of the tunnel - and to create more accurate research results. Colin and Rebekah watered the tunnel through sprinklers for April as we were waiting for trellis and irrigation supplies to arrive and to be installed.
In May, we started to see our first round of weed seedlings in the tunnel. Additionally, we started measuring weed pressure at this point. Our team installed the trellis. We wanted to try a V trellis with 2 wires. This method allows for high density and high production in the tunnel with room to walk in the rows. We ran two wires on each T post, one at 20” and one at 40” off the ground. We then installed the drip irrigation line and clipped this to the lower wire. We watered the tunnel 1x per week with 4 gallons of water, and included 4 pounds of 3-0-3 fertilizer in every watering through the drip tape. Due to degrading leaves and straw/weed pressure increase, we added more leaves and straw to the tunnel to increase weed control.
In June we continued to measure the canopy density of the weeds. We found that every three to four weeks, the weeds would get so thick that we would have to weed. We recorded this data along with the hours it took to complete the weeding in the tunnel. We observed many different weed species and kept a record of the names in our data. At this point we were able to start seeing which weed control methods were proving to be most effective. Additionally, we added more leaves and straw to create a larger layer between the soil and the air to help discourage weed growth. When our Rutgers Extension Agent/Technical advisor came to visit our tunnel, he suggested adding landscape fabric around the outside of the tunnel to prevent weeds from jumping into the tunnel from the surrounding areas. We added 6 feet of fabric around the entire perimeter of the tunnel.
In the beginning of July, we applied the plastic layer to the high tunnel to increase the plant production. We opened the sides of the tunnel to ensure there was ample airflow and low humidity to prevent fungal diseases. This plastic layer increased the temperature in the tunnel and aided in berry development. At this point, we took one soil test from each weed control method (leaves, straw, fabric) to see if there were any soil amendments that needed to be added or fixed and to see if there were any biological differences between them. Additional time was dedicated to pruning back canes and tucking existing canes into the trellis to increase light and air in the plant rows. Berry harvest began in the Mapema plants. Pete Nitzsche - our advisor - came out to visit the tunnel on the 29th. He gave us suggestions for how we could improve our monitoring and recording of data to make our project more successful and efficient for measuring. We flagged off 22’ sections in each of the weed control methods (landscape fabric, straw, leaves). We harvested those sections, weighed them, and multiplied it out into the whole rows. We determined this would be a representative sample for the tunnel. This also makes it easier for monitoring and tracking as yields go up and we utilize more workers for harvesting.
September was a busy month on the farm, we thinned the canes and rows a bit further to allow for more light and airflow, and we let the tunnel produce. We harvested the Mapema berries on a 2-3 day schedule depending on yields. We measured 1-2 times a week to record yield data. Prelude berries were also harvested but not recorded as they were not a part of this project.
October was more harvesting, recording, and thinning canes and suckers. There were many nights where the temperature outside reached frost temperatures, for those nights, we closed the tunnel sides to try to maintain production. We made sure to not leave sides closed for more than 2 days as it gives Botrytis Fruit Rot time to develop and infect the tunnel.
Berry production maintained steam going into November. We continued to harvest on a 1-2 day schedule measuring yields 1-2 times a week. Tunnel sides continued to be opened and closed depending on night temperatures where there was a frost potential. At the end of November, we left the sides open to acclimate the plants to the colder temperatures, then we took the plastic off the tunnel for the winter since it is not snow bearing. The plastic will stay off until next March. We plan to weedwhack the Mapema plants down and prune the Preludes before the end of December to set up fruit and canes for next year's production.
Our observations and data records began in April with our tunnel set up. Because one of our objectives for this project was to analyze a labor efficient weed control method, we measured the time and labor it took to install our fabric, leaves, and straw into the tunnel for weed control. We noticed that the landscape fabric took the largest amount of labor to install. This was due to having to roll out the fabric, staple every 3 feet, and cut to fit the row spacing. We estimate that the fabric took double the amount of time as compared to the leaves and straw. Leaves were the second most labor intensive as it required a tractor, wheelbarrow, and workers to spread the leaves in a thick enough layer. Straw was easy to move the bales and spread it in a thick layer in the tunnel. One week after planting raspberries, we noticed some weed seedlings starting to come up in the rows next to the raspberry canes (before any control methods were applied) but none came up in the row middles.
After a month of growing in the tunnel, the raspberries started producing new canes and growth in May. Weed seedlings became much more apparent where there was no ground cover applied. We noticed raspberries in the straw were a bit farther behind in growth - we believe this is because the straw was completely covering the growth area as opposed to just the row middles. The straw made a great mat that eliminated light and water from getting through, which inhibited weed growth, but also impacted cane development. Because of this, we moved the straw away from the raspberry plants to help push growth. Toward the middle to end of the month, the leaf layer became overwhelmed by weeds as the leaves were degrading into the soil as a compost instead of a weed management layer. This resulted in us adding more leaves to the layer to attempt more weed control.
After installing the plastic on the tunnel in June we noticed exceptional growth in the canes and fruit, but also noticed a large amount of animal damage. We noticed a disease on some of the ends of the tunnel. We believe it to be some kind of root disease or a concentration of water at the front and back end of the tunnel due to the sloping nature. Additionally, we have an infestation of leafhoppers that are resulting in curled raspberry leaves and holes in the leaves as well. We sprayed two applications of 1oz of Pyganic to hopefully get rid of the populations. We also started to see deer damage on the tips - we believe one got in from a hole in the deer fence. The straw section of the tunnel had intense weed pressure in between plants but not in row middles. The leaf sections still had many weeds in the middle of rows. With two months in a row, and a new application of leaves to prevent this, we are considering that for the next half of our project to switch to only straw and fabric as control methods as leaves are not one of the best ways to manage weeds and are very labor intensive to apply to the tunnel.
In July, the plants started to really fill out the rows, there was less weed growth, most stayed smaller. Weeds grew most toward the outer edges of the tunnel (where the light was most), and also where the earliest fruit buds were being produced. The middle row was slower to start producing. The row furthest to the west started producing fruit more than any of the other rows so far during the middle of the month. Landscape fabric seemed to be the leader in berry production across the rows. Straw had the least. The plants on the rear of the tunnel near the origin of irrigation water seemed to have suffered some water damage and were stunted. There were frequent deer visits that resulted in some of our fruit clusters being eaten off. Landscape fabric produced the most berries at the start of the season - maybe due to the sunlight reflecting off. As compared to the same variety in our fields - the Mapema plants in the high tunnel were less dense (cane density) and not as productive. Many worms were found under mulch and straw… There were many weeds growing in the straw cover. The roots of those weeds would bury below the straw and come up in between the raspberry plants.
In August, there were significantly fewer weeds after a few weeks of the plastic being installed on the tunnel. This could be a mixture of lack of free falling rain that would help to germinate weed seeds, and the lower presence of late season weeds. We went from having to hand weed monthly to weeding bi-monthly in the rows that required it. Plants were not necessarily producing more fruit as the season went on but continued to provide a steady yield. There was a lot of growth on the top of the plants where you could see clusters of green berries but not a large amount of red yet. Toward the end of the month, the Mapemas were producing large yields finally enough to start measuring in pints.
October was a busy month - one with high berry yields and low frost level temperatures. We noticed more weed growth in October than we did in previous summer months. The landscape fabric yet again managed the weeds best and also managed raspberry runner growth in the middle of the rows. In the leaves and straw we saw a lot of runner plants flood the row middles making it harder to walk through the rows. The large amount of canes in the center did reduce the weed pressure though. We went in and trimmed runners, opened up the rows which greatly increased the airflow, sunlight distribution and increased our yields. With frost temperatures, we had periods of time where we closed the tunnel sides. We quickly realized we would have to stay on top of opening and closing the sides as we quickly got powdery mildew and botrytis showing up on the fruit and leaves of the plants - especially those on the outside edges of the tunnel where we believe condensation was highest. October yields were excellent and were a hit for sale in our farm stores. These definitely were growing later than the raspberries in our fields and resulted in increased cash flow in the October season
Production in November was fantastic. For the first year berries this was incredibly impressive as we harvested over 100 half pints every other day. At this point, our field raspberries were not yielding at all. Just as they ripened first, the raspberry beds on the right and middle sides of the tunnel slowed their production in the first week of November. The last row kept producing into the middle of November before we opened the tunnel sides after continuous frost temperatures. We anticipate yields next year will be greatly increased - supporting the market we have developed for the raspberries this year. Now that the tunnel is open, we plan to have the canes dry out so we can weedwhack the canes down to push for next year's production.
Our objectives for this raspberry project were to: examine the production of certified organic raspberries in a high tunnel while growing floricans and primocane varieties in a high tunnel, evaluate weed control efficacy of landscape fabric, leaf cover, and straw mulch on certified organic high tunnel raspberry row middles, evaluate impact of weed control strategy on the growth and yield of the raspberries, compare the cost requirements of the three weed control strategies for organic weed management, and finally, to demonstrate the results of this project to other local farmers through various on-farm tours and meetings.
In year one of our project we were able to touch on many of these objectives. Though no complete conclusions have been drawn as this was the first year, we believe we have been able to truly evaluate the success of the three weed control methods in the tunnel. Weeds were controlled best by the landscape fabric as it was truly a blanket over the soil blocking any germination of the weeds. Leaves this year were the worst. Weeds grew within the leaf cover regardless of how thick we laid the leaves. That being said, we are going to work year two with solely landscape fabric and straw to continue evaluating the efficacy. We have proven that leaves are not a sustainable weed control method in organic production and want to focus on studying the other two methods more intently.
We were able to look at the soil health and raspberry yields in each weed control type as well. We performed one soil test prior to planting and one in the middle of the season. There were not any distinct differences between the ground covers though. Yield on the plants was increased in landscape fabric for most of the season - across all 3 studied rows in the tunnel. More research has to be done as to why that was, and to see if this continues into year two.
The last two objectives will be studied more intently in the second season of production - we plan to host meetings and tours of the tunnel to share our preliminary research as well as really comparing costs of the different weed control methods.
|
Harvest Records |
JULY (berry count) |
AUGUST (pint count) |
SEPTEMBER (ounces) |
OCTOBER (ounces) |
November (ounces) |
||||||||||
|
ROW |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
|
Straw |
19b |
0 |
17b |
1/2p |
1/3p |
1/3p |
41.13 |
54.92 |
46.38 |
60.60 |
69.54 |
68.71 |
21.26 |
24.40 |
24.11 |
|
Leaves |
5b |
2b |
16b |
1/2p |
1/2p |
1/3p |
64.13 |
42.72 |
55.8 |
54.22 |
100.79 |
62.04 |
19.03 |
35.37 |
21.77 |
|
Landscape Fabric |
20b |
17b |
13b |
1p |
1p |
1/3p |
72.03 |
52.66 |
80.94 |
49.38 |
85.17 |
76.55 |
17.33 |
29.88 |
26.86 |
|
Total Pint Containers |
2 1/2 pints |
5 1/2 pints |
289 1/2 pints |
627 1/2 pints |
225 1/2 pints |
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Education & Outreach Activities and Participation Summary
Participation Summary:
So far in 2024, we have hosted our technical advisor on the farm twice to advise us on further steps in our high tunnel. We plan to do multiple outreach activities in 2025 along with speaking about our results in 2026 at the Vegetable Growers Convention. We have also shown the tunnel to a few interested farmers and organic producers that were informal but informative.
Learning Outcomes
As growers, we have gained a lot of knowledge this season through this project. We became better high tunnel producers by learning the impacts that timely covering, weeding, planting, watering, and ventilation has on the production of the crop. We learned that covering the tunnel in April would greatly increase the yields of our raspberries earlier in the season. Additionally, when closing the sides to protect from cooler weather, we have to pay extra attention to ventilation as botrytis and other fungal diseases started to appear quickly. Watering is incredibly important once the high tunnel is covered and plants are growing. There is no other water source other than the one we provide so this must be kept on a schedule to reduce loss of yield. This knowledge will benefit us far past this project with any production in our high tunnels. We are excited to begin our second year with this knowledge and to more efficiently and accurately manage our raspberries. We are also looking forward to sharing more information with other farmers in 2025 to be able to see where they are able to gain knowledge from us.