Experiential Learning #3

Experiential Learning #3 1. If you have family that wants to see your accomplishments, (i.e. what you have achieved in the field plots), you are welcome to give them a tour in our plot. Please respect the rules of the field plots (i.e. don’t wonder in other sections of the horticulture plots). 2. I noticed that some of the potato plants were harvested randomly within the row with the red flags. (i.e. people were taking potatoes from random areas of the row). That is absolutely OK. However, I am guessing that hort club members are taking particular potato plants because they think that some plants are more mature than others (i.e. some plants are larger or finished flowering earlier than others). There is little scientific evidence that larger potato plants or plants that “look” more mature have larger or more potatoes under them if they were planted at the same time. In fact, potato plants with smaller tops tend to be more stressed, thus, produce tubers faster than healthier looking plants. However, there is little scientific evidence supporting this conclusion as well. So in sum, there is probably little or no difference between picking plants randomly in the row or starting at one side of the row and working your way down the rest of the row. That said, you may harvest potatoes in the red flag row in a manner that best suits you. I just wanted to clear up any misconception. 3. The beets are tasting very good right now. They are tender and juicy. Pick the largest beets first to let the smaller one grow. This practice is particularly important because larger beets will become tougher (woodier) in texture sooner than the smaller beets that have yet to grow. 4. I will soon put up red flags on the kohlrabi. When harvesting kohlrabi take only plants that have bases that are about the size of a tennis ball or larger. Avoid taking smaller plant bases as these plants can grow bigger. Kohlrabi tends to grow very quickly at this stage, thus, if you are in the field and notice that there are no large bases, just wait a few days and come back to pick larger plant bases. 5. Have a look at our garlic plants. They are suffering from heat stress (their tops are turning yellow). Garlic does not like a lot of heat. Thus, in the next few days we may lose some of our garlic plants. To make this situation even worse, there is a virus affecting our garlic plants. Thus, we may lose even more plants before fall has come. We may want to consider whether garlic is the right plant to be growing in subsequent years. Or maybe even better, lets see if we can find a garlic variety that is heat and virus resistant. However, garlic purchased from a seed supplier is about 10-20 times more expensive than garlic purchased at the grocery store. Due to this fact, we may want to question the feasibility of purchasing heat/virus resistant garlic. 6. Our Watermelon are just starting to set their fruit. Unfortunately, Watermelon require about 50 days to mature from pollination. Thus, unless we don’t get a frost until the end of September, we can probably anticipate that we will not be harvesting watermelon this year. I was told that watermelon is Saskatoon are expected to mature only 2 years out of 5, so this might be one of the 3 years out of five that we don’t get watermelon. However, fresh watermelon tastes really good, so maybe it’s worth losing our watermelon plots 3 years out of 5 in order to enjoy

delicious watermelon the other 2 years. Maybe someone wants to breed good tasting watermelon that matures super early??? 7. Our cauliflower is ready for harvest. Help yourselves to the cauliflower that are posted with red flags. We have planted different varieties of cauliflower with differential maturity. Thus, once we have finished harvesting the cauliflower between the red flags, there will be more cauliflower just coming into harvest. Same goes with the broccoli, There will be more broccoli in a few days time (Actually it’s a cauliflower/broccoli hybrid – but it looks like a broccoli). This concept is important, as we can prolong harvest by planting different varieties rather than planting the same variety at different dates. However, a combination of the two practices (varieties/time of planting) is beneficial. 8. Our tomatoes are starting to set their fruit. However, many of the tomatoes are just starting to flower. Those plants that are just starting to flower probably will not produce red/yellow tomatoes before the first frost. Even those tomatoes that are just setting their fruit have the risk of being killed by frost (that is if the frost comes by late August or early September). Lets all put our energies together and hope that we don’t get a frost until the end of September (however, I will tell you that a frost by the end of September only occurs about 1 year out of 10 – so we are pushing our luck). This is a situation where there is nothing we can do but hope. Actually I lied. There is something we can do (or rather not do). The tomato plants were fertilized two weeks ago with 46-0-0 ( a nitrogen fertilizer). They were fertilized because all of the mulched rows were fertilized. N fertilizer promotes green growth and may reduce the onset of flower production and fruit production and maturity. Thus, in subsequent years the tomato rows should be unplugged from the drip irrigation system while all of the other mulched rows are being fertilized. This practice may help ensure a more reliable tomato harvest. 9. Some of our “bulb” onions (rather than bunching onions) need to be thinned shortly. I have been briefed as to how to thin onions. Thinning onions is not the same as thinning other crops, thus, when Steffen or myself call the next meeting we will brief you on how to properly thin bulb onions. So leave the thinning of bulb onions until the next meeting. 10. I have been observing the three different kinds of potatoes we are growing (Norland, Shepody and Russet). It is very evident that the Norland are far more advanced than the Shepody and Russet, which still have very, very small tubers under them (i.e. 50-75% of the tubers are the size of 1 or 2 marbles. This phenomenon is not a surprise, as Norland is amongst the earliest maturing of potato cultivars. That said, wait a few more weeks and I will put up flags on the Shepody and Russet lines so we can harvest baby potatoes. 11. If you noticed, some of the broccoli varieities that we grew gave rise to smaller branches of broccoli heads after the main head was harvested. This fact allows us to prolong broccoli harvest. We might want to consider turning our whole broccoli plots, in subsequent years, into those varieties that will produce side branches. 12. I made a mistake in my last experiential learning activity. I stated that we had two snow pea varieties. However, more than one hort member demonstrated that the variety (bolero) had a very tough pod. In fact, Bolero is actually a non-edible podded pea, not a snow pea. Sorry for the confusion.

13. Some hort members wanted to harvest baby carrots. However, our carrot plot had poor emergence. Thus, if we all harvest baby carrots there will not be enough carrots to support us until February (as carrots can be stored for a long time). That said, there may be hope. Dr. Doug Waterer is getting back to me as to whether he has some extra rows of carrots we can harvest in the fall. If he does, I will open the carrot plot up for harvest in the next week or so. Keep watching out for red flags on the carrots. However, if you don’t see red flags, please leave the carrots alone for now. 14. One hort member asked me if removing soil from the tops of onion bulbs would encourage the onions to grow larger. I forgot to inquire on whether that statement is fact or myth. I will let you know on next weeks experiential learning activity #4. 15. Enjoy your harvest and thanks to all of those who have helped make the field project as successful as it has been.