Progress report for FW23-420
Project Information
Water is a limited resource in the drought prone US West. Although peonies use relativity less water than most cut flower crops once they are established, they still require consistent watering to produce new eyes and good bloom size. Shade cloth has been shown to reduce water needs in crops like fruits and vegetables (1).
Our project will test the use of shade cloth as a way of reducing the amount of water needed to establish our plants (planted fall 2021) while still producing comparable blooms to the control group being watered with one-inch of water per week.
Our farm is fortunate to be part of a large community of cut flower growers in our state (over 100). We feel that this project would be very beneficial to many of the new growers with 1 to 3 years experience (which is about 60-75% of the total growers). The new growers will be able to use this project's outcomes to help them establish their own peonies on their farms in a way that will use less water resources without sacrificing production.
Our farm is located close to the old railroad line. Kaysville used to have several peony farms and the railroad would pick up the flowers and take them in to the capital city of Salt Lake about 20 miles south. This project would help our community benefit from learning about flower farming, growing their own peonies and water conservation.
The project's information will be shared to members of the Utah Cut Flower Farm Association (UCFFA) via a Zoom webinar. UCFFA hosts monthly presenters who share information with the group that is relative to growing cut flower farms. We will be hosting a farm tour in the June of 2025 to share our project with the community.
- Reduce the amount of water given to peony crops by half with the use of 50% shade cloth
- Record data of irrigation volume, soil moisture and compare bloom production and size to the control group
- Provide education to other growers in the US Mountain West by providing the data to growers though a Zoom presentation and social media
- Host a Farm tour to educate the public on the impact of water conservation through shade cloth usage.
| Date | Activities | Team Members |
| March-April 2023 | Purchase supplies and make conduit hoops | Britin |
| May- June 2023 | Place hoops and shade cloth over peonies that have finished blooming | Britin |
| May-June 2023 | Place soil monitors | Britin |
| May-October 2023 | Collect weekly soil monitor data | Britin |
| October 2023 | Remove and store hoops and shade cloth | Britin |
| April-May 2024 | Compare bloom production and size to control group | Britin and Melanie |
| May-June 2024 | Place hoops and shade cloth over peonies that have finished blooming | Britin |
| May-October 2024 | Collect weekly soil monitor data | Britin |
| October 2024 | Remove and store hoops and shade cloth | Britin |
| October -November 2024 | Compile weekly soil monitor data | Britin |
| April-May 2025 | Compare bloom production and size to control group | Britin |
| May-July 2025 | Collect and analyze bloom production data | Britin and Melanie |
| June 2025 | Farm tour showcasing the project, peonies and water conservation | Britin and Melanie |
| July 2025 | Presentation to growers on the project and how to implement it. | Britin and Melanie |
Cooperators
- - Technical Advisor
- - Producer
Research
Our project has Four main objectives.
- Reduce the amount of water given to peony crops to 50% of the normal irrigation volume with the use of 50% shade cloth.
- Record data and soil moisture and compare bloom production and size to the control group
- Educate other growers on how to implement project
- Farm tour to educate the public on the impact of water conservation with the use of shade cloth.
Testing will be conducted at Cherry Petals Flower Farm. The farm is located in the small city of Kaysville, UT. It is on approximately ⅓ of an acre for the growing portion. The lot which also contains the primary residence is .83 acres. The project will be using close to 90 peonies as the test group, about 30% of the total peonies the farm has. Our small field is divided by a main walkway with rows of peonies on either side. We will be testing 9 rows of peonies on both the north and south side of our main walkway. The other 70% of peonies will be used as the control group. These peonies include an additional rows on the north side of the path, rows on the south side and 4 rows at the west side of our garden. Of the peonies we are testing in this project there are about 30% early coral variety, 30% early white variety, 30% late pink variety and 10% mid blooming varieties. These varieties are also in our control group so we can compare the same varieties during our testing.
The use of shade cloth has been studied for reducing water requirements on vegetables and has been found to reduce the need by about 50%. There is not available research that has been done on the use of shade cloth on peonies or on any cut flower perennials. We are hopeful that the success vegetable growers have had in regards to reducing water on their crops using shade will also apply to cut flowers, specifically peonies and that the establishment and bloom quality of the plant will not be affected. In a fruit and vegetable study done in 2017 they found that "shading increases relative humidity under the structure and decreases wind. An increase in relative humidity decreases evaporation which causes soil and plants to retain more moisture under shade. There are decreased water requirements for crops grown under shade. (1)" A soybean study also found that "the shade cloth wind screen decreased water stress and water use. (2)"
The first objective will begin in May/June of 2023 when the peonies finish blooming. Low hoops will be placed over the test rows. Hoops are made from electrical conduit and a hoop bender conduit bender. This relatively accessible material and method will allow for even the smallest of growers to imitate this project. 50% shade cloth will be placed over the low hoops. Drip line will be placed in early spring and the reduction of water will begin when the shade cloth is placed. Peonies usually require 1 to 2 inches of water per irrigation (about every week). Deep watering encourages deep root development. Drip irrigation works well for peonies as it keeps the foliage dry, reducing risk of disease. (3) " Water for the rows treated with shade cloth will be reduced to 1"-2" every other week. Half the amount that will be used for the control group. The shade cloth will be removed in the fall after the peony plants have been cut back.
The second objective will use soil monitors that will be placed in each row of the peonies to collect data. Data will be checked and recorded weekly during the growing season. Test peony plants will be compared to the control group in spring 2024 and spring 2025. The comparison will look at bloom quality including the bloom diameter, number of blooms per plant and stem length. We will also observe the overall plant health by comparing plant height, visual observations on greenness, leaf heath and if any disease is present.
The third objective will be done in fall 2025; we will be able to present to growers the data that was collected with the soil monitors as well as the bloom comparisons. This education will also show the costs and water savings of implementing the project.
The fourth objective will be completed during 2025 to show the impact that the shade cloth made to our farm and to showcase the drought resistance of peonies and their blooms.
Progress Report Update:
We have 4 project objectives and below shows the progress on those objectives.
- Shade Cloth placed in June 2023. Shade cloth crops were irrigated at 50% irrigation and control field peonies were irrigated at 100%, this was done by running the drip for half the duration much as the field peonies
- First bloom and plant comparison will happen in May 2024. As of February 2024 sensors working and collecting data in field
- A Zoom Meeting to present our findings from this project to the over 150 members of the Utah Cut Flower Farm Association is scheduled for July 2025.
- Farm tour is scheduled for June 7, 2025
The field study was established as equipment became available in 2023. Our project started with getting shade cloth established. This was done through purchasing a hoop bender from Johnny's Selected Seeds to bend the electrical conduit into 3’ wide hoops. This was relatively easy but much easier if you have two people. Ros had the hoops placed at about 5-8 feet apart and placed with woven 50% shade cloth. We also applied a method of using t-posts to attach a section of 50% shade cloth over 5 rows. Both were relatively easy to install but we learned that the t-post method ended up being less costly than the hoops because we were able to cover 5 rows at one time with this method.
We encountered significant, unanticipated challenges with soil moisture sensors, and learned that getting sensors in a timely manner was very difficult. The newness of this technology, paired with the newness of supply companies working with the public/farmers resulted in delays in product availability and lack of package bundling and information on components. For example our sensors were ordered June 5th and there was an 8- week delay for the sensor to arrive, Moreover, the sensors did not work upon arrival. In fact, the sensor required another component that was not advertised. After this additional component, and hidden cost, was purchased, the gateway, turned out to be defective. It was not until February 2024 that all the components were received and working properly. It took a significant amount of time, even though there was extensive communication with the company throughout the process. This experience illustrates the newness of soil moisture technology for the public and the challenges to implement it for farmers.
Because of the struggle of the soil monitors in 2023, we purchased a simple soil moisture meter gauge in September to start to collect some preliminary data on soil moistness. The gauge measured the soil moistness on a scale of 1-10 from dry to wet. See table #1 for back up data.
Table #1: Soil Moistness
|
Sensor No. |
Soil Meter |
Description |
|
Average Soil Moistness Readings in September |
||
|
Sensor #1 |
5.25 |
Shade Structure North Field |
|
Sensor #2 |
6.5 |
Shade Hoop North Field |
|
Sensor #3 |
2.5 |
Control North Field |
|
Sensor #4 |
4 |
Shade Hoop South Field |
|
Sensor #5 |
3.75 |
Control South Field |
|
Average Soil Moistness Readings in October |
||
|
Sensor #1 |
6.5 |
Shade structure North Field |
|
Sensor #2 |
7 |
Shade Hoop North Field |
|
Sensor #3 |
6 |
Control North Field |
|
Sensor #4 |
6 |
Shade Hoop South Field |
|
Sensor #5 |
5.5 |
Control South Field |
|
Average Soil Moistness Readings in November |
||
|
Sensor #1 |
6 |
Shade structure North Field |
|
Sensor #2 |
7 |
Shade Hoop North Field |
|
Sensor #3 |
6 |
Control North Field |
|
Sensor #4 |
6.5 |
Shade Hoop South Field |
|
Sensor #5 |
6.5 |
Control South Field |
*Table data was collected using a simple Sonkir soil moister gauge. The meter scales from 1-10, 1 being Dry and 10 being saturated.
Despite the challenges with the sensors, we implemented an irrigation schedule from June-October. Drip irrigation under the shade cloth was manually turned off every other watering session with an adapter valve off the main hose line. This made it so that I didn’t have to redo the drip setup but would recommend if you choose to shade a portion in the beginning, to have a different drip station for that shaded section.
Water Schedule: 3 times per week applying approximately 0.5 inches of water each time
Low flow emitters at 5-6 hours at a time with sandy clay loam soil.
Shade cloth received half the amount: an average of 0.75 inches a week vs 1.5 inches per week for the control.
Shade cloth was removed in November and peonies were cut back to the ground. Irrigation was shut off the first week of October, so from that time all peonies received the same moisture levels, and the test peonies will start the 50% irrigation schedule again when the shade cloth is placed in June, after the peonies have finished blooming.
Our first bloom and plant comparison will be done in May/June 2024. We will be comparing bloom quality including the bloom diameter, number of blooms per plant and stem length. We will also observe the overall plant health by comparing plant height, visual observations on greenness, leaf health and if any disease is present.
Research Outcomes
Progress report update:
Although I didn’t go into this grant with the intention of giving advice on soil monitors, my experience has made me feel that getting simple soil moisture monitors is difficult for a small farmer. I started my research on which ones to purchase, ensuring that they were affordable and simple. I initially was going to try an onset data collector but they were back ordered for months and I wanted to get going on collecting data. I ended up finding a cool sensor called “sensoterra” that would collect the soil moisture data and would make that data very accessible through an app. As stated above, I ordered the monitors on June 5th, received them at the end of July and installed the sensors in the field. After the sensors were installed they failed to connect to the network and I emailed multiple times until finally getting a response that we needed to order a gateway in September. The gateway was ordered and not received until November. After multiple unsuccessful attempts, the gateway would not connect to the sensors, and in January via a phone call with the vendor we determined that the company needed to send a new gateway. The new replacement gateway arrived in February and we are now getting data on the app. The app is very convenient, now that we finally have it all working.
I am hoping I can recommend the monitors at the end of this grant and with all the correct items that are needed. I have included some tips on shopping for soil monitor sensors in the infographic below.
Other observations that I have had since the project has started are:
Soil under the shade cloth felt and looked more moist than soil in the field.
Die-back timing in the fall for the peony plants didn’t seem to differ between the shaded plants and the plants in the field.
I’m also seeing growth starting to push out of the ground from our peonies and am really looking forward to comparing the blooms and plants when they bloom this spring.
Education and Outreach
Participation Summary:
Our Zoom Education presentation for the project is scheduled for July 2025.
Our public farm tour outreach is scheduled for June 7, 2025
We have not received results yet.
Education and Outreach Outcomes
Zoom Meeting to present our findings from this project to the over 150 members of the Utah Cut Flower Farm Association is scheduled for July 2025.
Farm tour outreach is scheduled for June 7 2025