Issue 23
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Table of Contents:
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1. Correction!
Sorry, but I made a mistake in the last issue in regards to rooting media. I must have lost my thinking cap that day. Any way, I wrote the following:
PERLITE comes from the individual Styrofoam beads. This medium needs pH testing. The medium has good drainage but does not retain any water. Perlite is a very loose material which is good for washing off the roots of newly rooted cuttings before transfer.
The above is mostly wrong, as was pointed out to me by one of our readers.
In truth, PERLITE is a very good medium, holds water well and has excellent drainage. It is made from a volcanic glass which when heated to a certain degree will expand like popcorn up to twenty times its initial volume. The two percent water contained in the perlite glass vaporizes upon heating and makes tiny bubbles which makes the resultant material very light and dependable.
PERLITE can hold a lot of water and retain it for some time. It contains no diseases, has a neutral pH and is safe and non-toxic.
It has many uses. It can be used to buffer other media such as peat moss. It can be used to loosen soil and humus. Most of all it doesn't cost much.
I hope that clears up the matter. Don't know what I was thinking when I wrote the wrong description last month.
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2. Urgent request
Hi Bob,
Thanks again for broadcasting my urgent request to find/meet (a) commercial hydroponics strawberry grower(s) in the USA.
Yours truly,
John C. Roe
104 Water Street, Stonington CT 06378
Tel: 860-535-1808 Fax: 860-535-2280
E-mail: JCRCT2000@aol.com
If anyone has information which can help John, please contact him at his email address given above. Please let me know too.
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3. Edible flowers - admire them, eat them
The Chinese are into edible flowers in a big way and are thinking of getting more involved. Why? They like the flavor and nutrition which flowers can add to one's diet. The Chinese are favored with a large and wide variety of flowers, many of which are edible.
You are already familiar with two flowers whose essence adds flavor to your diet. How about vanilla and roses? The demand for rose oil has driven prices sky high. And of course we all love vanilla icecream and other goodies.
And how about cloves? What would the Christmas ham be without cloves? Nasturtiums are great for salad, not only for color but also for flavor. Squash flowers are great for decoration and tasty when batter-fried. And the list goes on.
The Chinese are going even further. They are seeking out other flowers which may be edible and nutritious.
Edible flower powder is loaded with amino acids, sugar and fat. Flower powder also contains up to twenty five per cent in protein plus microelements, antibiotics and enzymes.
Naturally the Chinese consider flowers an important food source and have been growing them hydroponically in special greenhouses. They are not the only ones. A variety of hydroponic operations are flourishing in California and other places in the United States. These operations grow edible flowers and miniature vegetables.
Of course these items could be grown outside in soil, but greenhouse hydroponic operations offer more protection, production and consistency.
But the Chinese aren't the only ones who like flowers in their diet. Almost any fancy restaurant in San Francisco and on the West Coast not only use edible flowers for decoration and salad ingredients but have long been using miniature vegetables to enhance their menus. We will talk about miniature vegetables in the next article.
So flowers such as jasmine and osmanthus (sweet-scented) can be used to flavor our diet, to add a more enticing aroma, and to be eaten either braised, cooked or fried.
To learn more about growing plants hydroponically, go to
http://www.mayhillpress.com/hydroponics.html and
(http://www.mayhillpress.com/salad.html).
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4. Some like them small, baby veggies that is
Baby or miniature vegetables are becoming the rage among finer restaurants throughout the country. And small specialty hydroponic operations are finding an important income from the production of these small wonders. In other words, growing miniature vegetables can prove to be quite lucrative.
If you want to learn about how to grow some of the varieties I discuss below, you'll find a very fine article written by Dr. Lynette Morgan in the September-October, 2000 issue of "Growing Edge", a magazine which I get and highly recommend.
The mailing address for "Growing Edge" is P O Box 1027, Corvallis, OR 97339. Phone: 1-541-757-8477. The web site url is: (http://www.growingedge.com).
Many so-called miniature vegetables are not true miniatures. They have just been harvested before their time. Potatoes are a good example. These are often called baby potatoes when actually they have been sculpted from mature potatoes.
Snow peas are another example which if allowed to grow to maturity would not have the same appeal as the miniature variety.
To get your true miniature vegetable you need the proper cultivar. These come in a host of varieties. To get the right appearance and flavor, you need to use a baby vegetable cultivar. And in most cases you need to grow them hydroponically.
Why? Because miniature vegetables need extra care and handling to get the necessary high quality the market demands. The resultant crop must be absolutely clean, free from any dirt or grit. That's why hydroponics is necessary for their culture. And NFT is one of the media which insures a clean product.
Other media are also used for root vegetables. Perlite, sawdust, coconut fiber (coir) and composted bark and sometimes sand are best. Some baby vegetables suited to these media are carrots, beets, onions, globe artichokes and Asian corn (the only corn I know of which can profitably be grown in a greenhouse).
Crops suited to the NFT method are tomatoes, snow peas, hot peppers,zucchini (scaloppini), potatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, pumpkin and squash. These too can be grown in the media listed above.
One might favor aeroponics over NFT in order to prevent stagnation and water logging. Potatoes might be best grown aeroponically because then there wouldn't be a chance for water-logging and they can easily be harvested from the hanging roots.
All of these vegetable cultivars are fascinating. Take beets as an example. These can come in colors other than red - such as yellow and white and some with striping or rings around them. Plant them today harvest them forty five days later. Just think of all the crops you can get from just that one cultivar alone.
And the other vegetable varieties grow just as well and as fast!
As with all tender things, baby or miniature vegetables need extra care when harvesting and shipping. They need to be packed so that they do not lose flavor, color or moisture during transit to that distant table in that special restaurant which you and I would like to visit.
As you can see, I'm really fascinated with miniature vegetables.
To learn more about growing vegetables hydroponically, go to (http://www.mayhillpress.com/hydroponmics.html).
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5. Turning Your Hobby System Into A Business
The following has been taken in part from an article listed in
the Library section of the Hydroponic Society of America's web
site at
(http://hsa.hydroponics.org/lounge/library/hobby2bus.htm).
I know of a company in this industry that started out with just a few tomato plants in their basement several years ago. Now they operate about 25,000 square feet of greenhouse space, and their annual sales exceed $200,000. I know of another company...that started with six thousand square feet of greenhouse space. Their tomato plants never seemed to produce what they were supposed to, and their average price per pound was less than a dollar. During their third year in business an unusual snow storm caved in their structure. Shortly thereafter they went out of business.
What is it that made the one company fail, while the other thrives? There are a number of factors, such as environmental conditions, and dedication to marketing, but I believe the most important factor was that the first company started out with a successful hobby system, and the other company had absolutely no experience with hydroponics.
Winston Churchill once said, "It is not enough to do your best, sometimes it is necessary to do what is required." What is required in this business is knowledge gained through years of experience. If you haven't had a hobby system, don't become a commercial grower! The one exception might be if you have a mentor with the experience you lack.
We are constantly receiving phone calls or visits from people interested in becoming commercial hydroponic growers. Our time is very valuable to us. Therefore, we have to weed out those who are just interested, from those who are truly serious. We always ask anyone interested in becoming a commercial grower how long they have been growing on a hobby basis. I am amazed at the amount of people ready to invest their life savings in a business they know nothing about. Would you open a car dealership if you had never sold a car? Would you open a clothing manufacturing business if you didn't know how to sew? ...you need to have experience on a hobby level before you consider going commercial.
Please keep in mind, however, that it is not enough just to have experience. There are many companies in this industry that have gone out of business even though they were started by people with extensive experience in hydroponics. So why did they fail? I believe it's due to the lack of the spirit of entrepreneurship. Just because you understand the technical aspects of a business doesn't mean you can successfully fulfill all the other duties required to manage it efficiently. The spirit of entrepreneurship is nothing more than a vision of what you want and the insight and dedication to do what it takes to make that vision a reality.
Before I go any further, I feel it necessary to give you a realistic look into life as a commercial hydroponic grower. First of all, you can expect to be married to your greenhouse. Someone must always be available to maintain the plants, pollinate, turn on the generator in case of power failure, or take action in case of a sudden disease. Secondly, you most likely will never have a perfect crop. Something is always going wrong. With our first crop we had tremendous difficulties with Botrytis. Since then we've had problems with white flies; we've lost plants because of power failures during freezing weather, and we've had plants fail to set fruit for weeks at a time. We have even had people break into our greenhouse and steal our lights. It has been a constant learning experience. This is a risky business, just like soil farming. Do not expect to get rich quick!
Being a commercial hydroponic grower also requires an enormous amount of work, as does any new business. My husband and I work well over sixty hours a week each. I have heard basic guesstimates in the industry that suggest hours of work involved per square foot, etc. I believe it's different for everyone. It depends on the amount of experience you've had, your crop, environmental conditions, and so on. In general, all new business owners work longer hours than expected, and this industry is no exception.
...So perhaps you're wondering why anyone would choose to become a commercial grower. The benefits can be wonderful, and hopefully will out weigh the difficulties involved in such a business. The opportunity to gain control over your own destiny is very satisfying. You will have the freedom to make your own decisions, and the opportunity to reach your full potential. You can also expect to be constantly challenged. I enjoy a good challenge, but some people may see challenge as a drawback.
You will also have the opportunity to make unlimited profits. However, let me suggest some caution here. Many growers make the devastating mistake of thinking that expansion is the way to greater profits. That assumption is not always true. Many growers have expanded only to find the market diminish and quality suffer. There are other ways to increase your income, such as increasing the demand for your product which leads to a higher price, cutting unnecessary costs, consulting, growing or manufacturing complements for your product. An example would be making dried tomatoes out of seconds, or manufacturing your own line of salad dressings to be sold along with your lettuce. It's true that only the sky is the limit.
There are many reasons for people starting their own business... Whatever your reason, if you want to succeed, you must understand and achieve the four basic concepts of running a business. They are to plan, act, evaluate and revise. Running a business is a continual process of these four verbs, and it starts with thorough planning.
To read the rest of this article and get the real low-down on how to set up your commercial hydroponic business, please refer to the web site address above and also my web site at (http://www.mayhillpress.com).
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6. Ladybug - Beneficial Insect of the month - Part Two
IS IT POSSIBLE TO REAR THEM?
Perhaps. Here is a suggested way of going about it. If you try this method do so on a limited scale. Make sure it works before going whole hog at it.
One producer has been rearing ladybugs on Angoumois grain moth eggs for well over a year. That's what's been reported. Nothing else has since been heard from him.
To do this you would have to construct an open type of setup. You would first make an enclosure which would keep the ladybugs and their larvae inside. This enclosure could be some kind of netting with holes too small for either the adult or the larva to get through. The enclosure should be large enough to allow the adults to fly around inside.
You would have to have a means of feeding them. Sheets of waterproofed paper with smears of wheast could be hanging about. Also cotton balls which have been wetted down with water should be hanging here and there. There should also be selected areas where the larvae might get a drink. Overall even this strategy would be difficult to maintain. How to collect them or their eggs. Difficult under this plan.
You can't keep them cooped up like you do the lacewing or the Trichogramma. Ladybugs must have room to fly. Perhaps you can come up with a practical scheme. I don't see any problems with the feeding part of it; you could supplement with meal worms.
THE MAIN PROBLEMS WOULD BE SETUP AND SANITATION:
It would be difficult to sterilize a setup as outlined above. If you get your ladybugs from a supplier, be sure to get those which have been pre-conditioned and which don't have parasites. Be on guard for the parasites anyway and get rid of them immediately. Remember, a satisfactory and sterile setup is mandatory. As an aside, a parasitized ladybug beetle is immobile. It's alive but cannot move. The parasite is inside.
Since ladybugs are sold to the customer as adults, you would have to have a way to collect them. Perhaps by temporarily lowering the temperature to that listed above you could immobilize them to where they could be collected and sold.
But let's face it. This is all conjecture. The results of that one producer who says he's rearing ladybugs are not known. Ladybugs at present are still taken from the wild. Sometimes they're pre-conditioned and de-parasitized.
In the final analysis, this is something a producer would do when curiosity would get the better of him.
If you're really interested in raising beneficial insects, get
lots of free information at
(http://www.mayhillpress.com/insects.html).
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7. Think about it...
The best way to garden is to put on a wide-brimmed straw hat and
some old clothes. And with a hoe in one hand and a cold drink in
the other, tell somebody else where to dig.
- Texas Bix Bender, Don't Throw in the Trowel
My wife's a water sign. I'm an earth sign.
Together we make mud.
- Rodney Dangerfield
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bsaffell@mayhillpress.com...Last Update: 52008 copyright 1996 - 2008 by Hilmur Saffell/P>
WE HAVE THREE BOOKS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST TO YOU.
They are as follows:
"How to Start on a Shoestring and Make a Profit with Hydroponics"
"Big Dollars Growing Gourmet Salad Greens"
"Beneficial Insects - How to Mass Rear and Make a Profit"
If you would like a copy or copies of your own,
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