The Fruit Doctor

Mid Winter, Newent, UK

For northern European growers the new year is kicking off with key staff returning to farms to prepare for the coming season. In Holland there will be glasshouse growers who have only just stopped picking Elsanta strawberries but the majority of English soft fruit growers are looking at snow covered fields or frozen bags at the time of writing. Many will be wondering how to maximise returns in a tight economic situation. Yield is still key to this and were above average for many in 2009 but earliness also has a massive impact. Growers who have succeeded in producing a substantial quantity of strawberries before mid May or raspberries before mid June have probably had the best of the last 2 – 3 years. They are less dependent on growing or market conditions in the Autumn/Fall to get their businesses into profit after months of cash-flow worries.

Well built roller doors, Poland

How to get the earliest crops without artificial heating?

FAVOURABLE SITES

EARLY SKINNING/COVERING

ATTENTION TO THE DETAIL OF SEALING UP STRUCTURES TO RETAIN HEAT

These subjects may be the subject of later postings but for now it is worth noting that all the four points are closely connected.

FAVOURABLE SITES ARE OFTEN ALSO SHELTERED SITES

SHELTERED SITES ARE EASIEST TO SKIN/COVER EARLY AND REPRESENT THE LOWEST RISK WHEN SKINNED/COVERED

YOU WISH TO EXPLOIT THE SITE FOR AS MANY YEARS AS POSSIBLE – PERHAPS ROTATING SOIL GROWN CROPS WITHIN THE STRUCTURE OR INSTALLING SOIL-LESS GROWING SYSTEMS. THIS JUSTIFIES ADDITIONAL INVESTMENT IN THE TUNNEL STRUCTURES: GOOD DOORS, GUTTERS AND OTHER MODIFICATIONS THAT IMPROVE HEAT RETENTION ….. AND…. YOU ADD STRENGTH TO EXISTING TUNNELS OR INVEST IN THE NEW, STRONGER, DESIGNS SUCH AS SOLO, TRELLIS AND TELESCOPIC SO THE TUNNELS CAN BE COVERED EARLIER STILL – OFTEN COMPENSATING FOR THE DELAYING EFFECT OF SWITCHING TO SOIL-LESS SYSTEMS.

Good Sealing

Tags: Earliness, Sealing, Solo tunnels

This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Earliness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.