January 7, 2019
compiled by Vern Grubinger, University of Vermont Extension
(802) 257-7967 ext. 303, vernon.grubinger@uvm.edu
www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry
REPORTS FROM THE FIELD
(Burlington) This fall was a good reminder that no two seasons are the same. The prior two winters our unheated tunnel greens were way too early, overlapping with the end of our field greens, so we pushed our autumn seeding dates later into the fall. Bummer for us this year, as almost nothing is ready on our target schedule. I’m left realizing we are unlikely to ever be able to hit the timing perfectly where the outdoor greens quit just as the tunnel crops are ramping up. That said, we are seeing much lower rates of lettuce crown rot in the multi-cut leaf lettuces this year, likely due to the cooler temperatures during planting and establishment that aren’t conducive to Rhizoctonia development. We’re hosting a tunnel research trial in conjunction with UVM researchers testing ASD (Aerobic Soil Disinfestation - yikes!) as a Rhizoc control, which also may help this winter.
We are happily moving into our new winter storage and washing facility, and now are able to process produce all through the winter without waiting for the ‘warm’ day in the mid-20s and setting up all manner of plastic sheeting and construction heaters. Since we have additional storage capacity, we harvested many bulk bins of Brussels sprout stalks in mid-November prior to the deep freeze, and were pretty happy with the sprout quality through the third week of December, something we’ve not had the space to do in prior years.
(Westminster West) Well, December was a lost month as I came down with pneumonia at Thanksgiving. I do not recommend it! I hired a local carpenter to repair the damaged greenhouse wall and frame that was destroyed in summers wind storms, worth the cost to get it done well and timely.
Dug soil samples from 3 greenhouses and ready to send those out soon. No storage crops left, donated the remainders of squash and onions to local food bank. Still have black garlic on hand and steady sales should clean them out in a few weeks. Very happy we covered the acre of fall planted garlic with 3 layers of heavy weight remay, snow cover was all gone and warm weather would have messed with the sleeping cloves, hopefully more snow is on the way soon.
Already dealing with re-staffing issues as some experienced folks have found more financial rewarding jobs this winter. Having raised our average wages to $15/hour, I am hard pressed to go up again before the season even starts, but may be forced to do so in response to employment conditions here.
Our hemp trials were very successful and I’m planning on a much larger planting for CBD production as well as seedlings that many of you have already ordered. It’s been emotionally and financially rewarding as so many customers have thanked us for helping them with their health problems, I never had this kind of feedback from people before, so it feels really nice and encouraging as we grow forward.
(Plainfield NH) We are in full winter mode with folks trying to cram in vacations and holidays. Greenhouse upgrades have been completed in not so favorable weather conditions. Mulch was distributed in the strawberry fields on top of the snow and on the rows- for the most part. There will definitely be some handwork in the spring. Still packing and shipping out roots crops. Seed orders are coming in and being broken down. Hard goods being marked for the up-coming greenhouse season. Some shop repairs being made, but it still looks pretty backed up in there. In the prop greenhouses we are seeding long-season ornamentals and perennials and taking vegetative cuttings of stock plants. There are order changes and tax work to be done. I thought this was supposed to be a slow time of year...
(Little Compton RI) Mild winter down in Southern NE. The deeper into the winter we go, the more we open up our greens house and cover the plants less every cold night. Especially the spinach. It hasn’t seen a cover yet and seems fine. But we’ve see edema in one house for the last four years in a row! Believe it is exacerbated by crazy fertility after 25 years of tomatoes and greens. This fall planning on renting a bobcat and replacing the top 11” of soil. We did this with our first tomato house two years ago and seems to have paid off. Enjoyed the High Tunnel conference. Best nugget of an idea from the Canadian grower was his confirmation of putting misters above his cucumber crop to keep the mite population down. Apparently, they don’t like a moist environment and their populations always seem to explode during mid-June and July. He sprays twice in the morning on sunny days so all the plants are dry before sundown.
(Argyle NY) The lack of sunshine has affected the growth of spinach and Swiss chard but not salad mix, kale or Asian Greens. We cut our first salad mix out of the tunnels earlier than ever (Thanksgiving) and we will be able to start cutting regrowth next week. We are trialing several new varieties and feel Cavendish is too small and slow growing, Clearwater is a pretty good replacement for Bolsachica, and Deronda is very good. Markets have been very strong for us, and we cannot meet the demand because we have no-one else growing ANY winter greens for our markets. Quite disappointing when it is so lucrative. We grew 8 varieties of sweet potatoes as a trial and they are being evaluated this month by us and extension, but so far our favorites for flavor are Covington, Burgundy and Bonita (white one).
We just saw some cabbage loopers and aphids in the tunnels this past week so sprayed BT and we will monitor the aphids but don’t usually get ladybugs until mid-February (and actually have some live ones in the tunnels now!); we have some white mold on a few areas of lettuce (salad mix varieties), we are about to trial Contans to see effectiveness, and we’ve been fighting to keep row covers dry with the cloudy weather. We use this link for a lot of great info from extension: http://vegetablemdonline.ppath.cornell.edu/NewsArticles/NewsList.htm.
For the most part, all greens and herbs are doing well in the three tunnels, just need more sun. We are working on our year-end books, seed orders (anxious to try new Downy resistant basils), new construction projects with shed bays and a maintenance shop, and are heading to conferences soon. We look forward to seeing lots of folks at the VVBGA meeting Jan. 21-22 at Lake Morey.
VEGETABLE NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT WORKSHOPS
This winter is the time to work on your farm's nutrient management plan (NMP)! Save the date for a day-long nutrient management workshop, where you can: Develop or complete a RAPs-compliant NMP; Learn to use VVBGA's on-line farmOS record keeping system; Hear from other farmers about their soil health strategies; Learn from a featured soil health speaker about how on-farm practices affect nutrient availability.
Jan 30 -- Poultney*
Feb 11 -- Burlington*
Feb 13 -- Springfield*
Feb 21-- Randolph
Feb 26 -- Amherst, MA (part 1 of soil health series)
Feb 28 -- Brattleboro -- (part 2 of soil health series)
Mar 2 -- Craftsbury
*These workshops are "cafe style" and can be attended for any portion of the day--perfect for anyone who has a partially completed plan or would like enhanced one-on-one TA, especially if you attended a workshop last year. For more information on these workshops or assistance with vegetable nutrient management, please contact Becky Maden or look for her at the VVBGA Annual Meeting trade show. Rebecca.Maden@uvm.edu
2019 NOFA-VT WINTER CONFERENCE
February 16-18, UVM Davis Center, Burlington, VT
This year's conference features workshops and panel discussions on tomato grafting, irrigation systems, cover cropping, business planning and marketing, hemp production, farm bill updates and much more. Monday’s intensive options include no-till vegetables and branding and marketing. VVBGA members can register today at the NOFA member rate using access code NOFA-VVBGA at www.nofavt.org/conference. Questions? winterconference@nofavt.org or call 802-434-4122.