New Plot

I have finally cleared our next growing area for our organic vegetables. It was pretty difficult pushing up trees with my Massey Ferguson frontloader tractor. It is a great work tractor and is only two years old. There were two models that I was considering at the time of purchase. One had an automatic type of transmission and the other was a standard. The standard is the one I went with mainly because the loader was able to lift a ton. The other one could only lift ¾ tons. I probably should have bought the shuttle drive, which has a pedal on the floor that works as an accelerator and gear changer in one. It would have been much easier ramming trees without constantly changing gears. If tractor abuse was a crime, I would be extremely guilty. No Trial necessary. I wouldn’t even try to plead my way out. My tractor is not made for doing this kind of work but my options are limited. I am hoping next year to be able to borrow real machinery to push up the trees. I spent the last few evenings picking up roots and branches in the new plot before I bring in the disc to even out the field and plow in the weeds that have been growing there. I think that I will disc it again after about a week to allow the weed seeds to germinate. Then I hope to plant a legume covercrop to add some organic matter to the soil and raise the nitrogen levels.
The trial plot has about run its course. Only eggplant, basil, tropical pumpkins, and red onions are left. I cut the basil back hard last week and it is growing back. Some of the older plants have died, but the majority is growing back nicely. I wasn't sure if it would survive. The corn was not so great due to over crowding, and the beans were sub par due to insect damage. The tropical pumpkins are ripening nicely and are looking great. I believe that we will harvest about 50 to 70 lbs of pumpkins from only 3 plants.
The pumpkins are teaching me something about growing in Florida. We get the majority of our rain in the summer months from June until August. We grow most of our crops in the spring and fall. These crops don’t seem adapted to the heat, humidity, insect, disease pressures we face in the months with the highest rainfall. Logically, the summer should be the time when I could water the least and it would be the best time to grow an environmentally friendly crop. I will start looking for some crops that grow extremely well in the tropics; crops that tolerate insects, diseases, heavy rains, and high humidity. If you could suggest some I would be very interested to know.

Produce, Pests, and Pumkins

This week we harvested more of the Genovese basil, which has been an excellent crop for us so far. I then cut them back pretty severely due to the poor quality of the majority of the plant. I then fertilized them with some Sustane fertilizer to perk the plants up some more. I am hoping that I can get a few more harvests before they run their course. The eggplants are still producing and I hope that I can get two more harvests on them as well. The peppers are still doing fine and still have some insect pest issues. We harvested all the white onions and they turned out wonderfully. They took a little long to grow. They are very common in terms of organic vegetables goes and the market in terms of dollars per crop are low. So I don’t think that I will grow them in terms of a crop but for pure enjoyment. The tropical pumpkins are growing nuts, climbing everywhere and starting to lighten in color to an orange tan from a dark green color. I have to look up when to harvest this plant as I have never grown it before. I have also planted our sweet potatoes for this year. I think the biggest pests we will be facing in the future are weeds. It is pretty amazing how well the weeds like to grow in a heavily nutritious ground. They really take advantage of bare, fertile soil. Next week I hope to prepare our new ground for the cover crop and till in the fall trial area for next years preparation. I need to do a better job of cover cropping when a crop is finished in order to stave off the weed pressure.

Growing a Little Bit More

We have started expanding the organic section of the farm this last week. Unfortunately I have had to push up dying citrus trees with my tractor that really isn’t made to do this kind of heavy work. I have pushed about 50’ x 50’ section, which I hope to work with a tractor if I can find the implements to do it. I should have about 15, 50 foot rows of crops to plant out. I have a few stubborn trees giving me some trouble. I will let them sit for a little while before trying to get them out again. I then hope to prepare the ground with a cover crop for the fall planting. I also hope to start the fall trial garden again and will fine tune what to plant. I am not sure how I want to deliver the water for the new section. I would like to eventually like to use drip tape on the farm but I haven’t figured out the logistics of this method yet.
We are harvesting basil, peppers, eggplant, and some parsley. Our tomatoes are barely edible from all the bug damage. I have sprayed Entrust but it does not knock down stinkbugs which are our biggest pest. I have been thinking about what could possibly prey on them and will revisit this topic later. Our peppers are just starting to senesce while still young. Which means that they are falling off the plant. The peduncle or stem end is turning yellow and the pepper drops off too early. I am not sure what is causing this but could use some help if anyone knows of an answer. I have topped dressed everything with a little more fertilizer.
In the next few weeks I will be planning out our fall growing as well as the transplant numbers to try and sell to local stores. Our one store did well and we only got back a few trays due to hot weather. I would rate it as a very big, small success. I am looking forward to expanding this value added segment. I will have some pictures soon to show.