2011 Annual Report for ONE10-115
How to Use Season Extension Effectively for Winter Market Sales: Investigating Planting Date, Types of Cover, and Fertility
Summary
The project has been plagued by weather problems and time commitments from participating farmers. The 2010 fall/winter season was cold and snowy. The 2011 summer and fall has been hot and very dry. Germination was poor at best until later into the fall. This has had an effect on the scheduling of seeding. Plants started too late to gain much growth.
There is a learning curve for using tunnels of any size. Mastering the use of the quick tunnels offers farmers a chance to get some experience in season extension before they decide whether or not to jump into the expense and demands of putting up high tunnels. The information gathered from this project may not be as complete as we would have hoped for as far as the original goals. However, the experience of the farmers in setting up and operating tunnels has already proved invaluable.
Objectives/Performance Targets
The project has had some set-backs. Timing of planting by three of the four farmers was late in the fall of 2010 and a heavy snowfall during that following winter reduced growth. Heavier row covers and greenhouse film wasn’t put on as early as needed. A third problem was that the row covers froze to the ground early on so it was impossible to take data on temperature, and nutrient readings using a Brix test for over three months.
Incomplete data was collected on the variety trial for the greens. Only early and late samplings of greens for nutrient levels were able to be collected. Preliminary analysis shows that little difference was found between fertility rates used and the levels were not very high. This might have to do with the late seeding and cool and cloudy conditions limiting growth and uptake of nutrients.
Going into the 2011 fall, high temperatures and drought caused poor germination for the trials. Some greens failed to germinate until well into the late fall. Two farmers dropped out of the project due to time commitment. I added another grower to do a variety trial.
Accomplishments/Milestones
There still remains a great interest in using quick tunnels as a tool for season extension. Learning how to build the tunnels has lead to some improvements and efficiencies.
The tunnels offer flexibility for moving them from season to season for rotation purposes as well as setting them up on land that is ready to go at that particular time. Since wet or dry conditions often dictate where certain crops are planted and field conditions regularly change the well laid plans of growers, the tunnels are easily set up where needed.
The costs per square foot is reasonable as compared to a high tunnel for instance. A good crop of late season greens can more than pay for the materials with a profit to boot. The materials are reusable for
The variety trial portion of the project has some preliminary data but not as complete as we had hoped. Hopefully we will still have some more to report on through this winter.
The fertility trial portion of the trial was lacking as well. So far, there have not been significant differences among the treatments and levels of N have not been high.
Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes
More to come on this section