Articles
SOME TOUGH PROPAGATION CHALLENGES©
Article number
1014_82
Pages
367 – 368
Language
English
Abstract
In 2011, we were in a record drought and heat wave.
We had 147 days that exceeded 32°C (90°F), which broke the previous record of 127 days.
In August 2011, all but one day was at or over 38°C (100°F). We noted that many of our crops suffered from the unrelenting heat.
So we asked ourselves what we can do to give the crops some relief.
We started experimenting with white or milky poly to cover our rooting areas.
Our normal procedure is to have poly baffles on each side of the quonset to keep the wind from disrupting our mist.
Then we cover the quonset with black shade cloth, either 30% or 60% shade.
With the white poly we maintained the normal wind baffle heights on both sides of the quonset.
Instead of using shade cloth over the top, we used white poly, leaving a gap on both sides (above the wind baffles) of 20 to 31 cm (8 to 12 in.).
We noticed big improvements very quickly for multiple crops.
One of which was Loropetalum selections which is a big crop for us.
We did not make any other changes, so hormone concentration, cutting length; the number of leaves left on, etc. were standard operational procedures.
Other crops that improved were Plumbago, Brunfelsia, Trachelospermum asiaticum Hosns, Snow-N-SummerTM Asiatic jasmine, Citrus reticulate (Satsuma Group), and Bougainvillea. We continue to look at other plants that might do well in this system.
We had 147 days that exceeded 32°C (90°F), which broke the previous record of 127 days.
In August 2011, all but one day was at or over 38°C (100°F). We noted that many of our crops suffered from the unrelenting heat.
So we asked ourselves what we can do to give the crops some relief.
We started experimenting with white or milky poly to cover our rooting areas.
Our normal procedure is to have poly baffles on each side of the quonset to keep the wind from disrupting our mist.
Then we cover the quonset with black shade cloth, either 30% or 60% shade.
With the white poly we maintained the normal wind baffle heights on both sides of the quonset.
Instead of using shade cloth over the top, we used white poly, leaving a gap on both sides (above the wind baffles) of 20 to 31 cm (8 to 12 in.).
We noticed big improvements very quickly for multiple crops.
One of which was Loropetalum selections which is a big crop for us.
We did not make any other changes, so hormone concentration, cutting length; the number of leaves left on, etc. were standard operational procedures.
Other crops that improved were Plumbago, Brunfelsia, Trachelospermum asiaticum Hosns, Snow-N-SummerTM Asiatic jasmine, Citrus reticulate (Satsuma Group), and Bougainvillea. We continue to look at other plants that might do well in this system.
Authors
B. Barr
Keywords
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