Re-Introducing The Vegetable Beet
The Vegetable Beet is a live weekly interview and discussion focused on vegetable production challenges and opportunities coordinated by the Great Lakes Vegetable Producers Network. Callers participate live and others listen to session recordings when convenient. See https://www.glveg.net/listen for details and recordings (24 and counting).
On 3/17/21, Dr. Judson Reid of Cornell University shared excellent observations on and suggestions for initiating warm season production in high tunnels and open fields. Among other core principles, Jud emphasized routine soil testing, high quality seed and transplants, and tailoring fertility management to crop setting and other factors. We also discussed a range of issues related to using high tunnels for warm season crops only or warm and cool season crops (i.e., harvesting and marketing one season per year or year-round).
Drs. Mohammad Babadoost (University of Illinois) and Francesca Rotondo (The OSU) will be featured guests for the session on 3/24/21 and discuss seed selection, treatment, and starting, including for transplant production.
Please contact me or another program coordinator directly or use greatlakesvegwg@gmail.com to suggest topics and guests for future sessions of The Vegetable Beet (or VegNet Newsletter!).
Re-Thinking Transplant Production
Some recall when bare-rooted seedlings (often produced outdoors) were the norm. That era was replaced by the one we are currently in featuring, for example, soilless rooting media, foam or plastic trays varying widely in cell shape and size, and highly soluble fertilizers. We also rely heavily on greenhouses for transplant production — that has many important implications for everyone involved since those greenhouses can be ours or someone else’s. Regardless, for many, transplant production has become so familiar and routine that it can be overlooked relative to other issues and stages in crop production. The general impression may be that transplant production is “all figured out,” that today’s overall approaches need little improvement. However, as successful businesspeople, you know that taking a fresh, hard look at the familiar and routine can spark innovations and reveal changes offering real returns on investment. So, as transplant production moves forward this season, consider how your system could be fine-tuned. Seed handling and starting practices, rooting medium and tray selection, temperature, light, and humidity control, fertility and irrigation management, and more are options.