Issue 7
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Table of Contents:
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1. Tomatoes are Big in Nevada and Arizona
And I mean BIG! Just when I thought tomatoes were the last things to grow hydroponically, some big firms are getting bigger growing, of all things, beefsteak tomatoes. Well, excuse me for hiding my head in the sand. Beefsteak tomatoes! Can you believe it?
Sunco in Nevada grows the "Trust" variety - to the tune of 4 million dollars a year! The company charges anywhere from 3 to 7 times the price of the average market tomato and has reaped a very loyal audience. Why? Because the tomatoes taste better and have longer shelf life.
Sunco's goal is to achieve the same quality product all year round. Customer's have come to depend upon the same consistent high quality and flavor. And so they come back for more, week in and week out. Sunco states it can't keep up with the demand. though they are surely trying very hard to do so.
Sunco presently has a production facility which covers twelve acres. Its parent company is United which operates a power plant which provides Nevada Power with electricity. A by-product of the power plant is the hot water which has been generated. The hot water when converted into steam helps heat the greenhouses.
In addition to quality tomatoes produced, customers also learn that Sunco uses no pesticides. What the company does use to control pests like thrips and white fly are a miniature wasp, known as Eretmocerus. More than 200,00 of these tiny wasps are in the green- houses at any one time. They are no problem for the workers. They're small, like the Indians used to call "No-see-ums".
Pollination of the tomato plants is achieved by hives of bumble bees. This is a great labor saver - otherwise pollination would have to be done by hand.
Arizona has also seen the light. Growing tomatoes in this state has become quite the thing and promises to grow even bigger as time goes by. The state itself has set up a million dollar fund to train workers in this field. Because there are over 200 acres in tomatoes now, and the state expects that number to be 1000 in ten years.
Eurofresh is one of the main companies involved - and, yes, they also grow beefsteak tomatoes. They sell their tomatoes throughout the country. In fact Sunco's largest customer is Randall foods of Houston, Texas (where my wife and I used to shop when we lived there). So you see your market for your produce can be at some distance - IF you produce a product which is firm enough to last the trip.
Eurofresh also uses beneficial insects to control pests on their plants. Their tomato vines, as well as Sunco's, reach as high as ten feet. So your greenhouse must be taller than most.
Many other companies are going to Arizona, even one from Canada. There are outfits now building greenhouses in Snowflake, Prescott and Willcox.
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2. Is There Something Wrong With Your Water?
If you want to get high production this is one of the items you must keep an eye on. Got soft water - you're very fortunate. However, most of us have water of varying degrees of impurity. Plants won't do their best in water not up to par. So let's find out what's in your water.
If you have your own wells, you must get the water tested - the state agricultural extension office can tell you where a lab is. If you're on a municipal supply, just tell them you want a copy of their current analysis. When you receive these reports, bear in mind that things change - both at your well head and the municipal water supply. In other words you have to check and re-check from time to time.
Another thing - soft water has no salts in solution. Too much salt slows down the plant root's absorption of nutrients. You need an electronic conductivity meter which will tell you in parts per million the amount of dissolved solids in your water.
If your analysis shows calcium at less than 200 parts per million (ppm) and magnesium at less than 75 ppm, then you're okay for those two. These two chemicals are necessary plant nutrients. More than these recommended levels will stop other chemicals from staying in solution.
The above figures must also be taken into account when you make up your nutrient mix.
What about the temperature of the water. Naturally it can't be too hot nor too cold. Roots for most plants like a temperature 65-80 degrees F (18-27C). If you have lettuce or other cool weather crops, then the water temperature must also be cooler. The opposite applies for warm weather crops.
The liquid in your nutrient tank must be the same temperature of any newly added water or liquid.
Which brings us to pH. Iron can only become available if the pH is in the correct range which usually is around 6.0. But plants CAN be grown at higher pH levels with the use of chelated fertilizers.
Bear in mind most city water has a pH of 8.0 - much, much too high, even for chelates. Also don't be in a big hurry to change pH when it wanders, which it will. If you find the pH has gone down or up and is staying there, then swing into action.
Various things can cause this variation, among which are water temperature, plant root's absorption of nutrients, and using a low-grade medium. Gravel and rockwool are sometimes very high in pH. Media such as these can and do cause a lot of problems, one of which would be high pH.
You can check your media by letting a piece of it soak for a day or so then test it with your pH meter. Be sure you use distilled water for this test.
If you keep up with your record-keeping, you'll know when to change the fluid in your nutrient tank. Each time you add water to your tank, keep a record of the amount and the different readings, like pH and EC (electrical conductivity). Don't forget to add the necessary nutrients to bring the solution up to par.
Remember, keep track of the clear water you've added. When, over a period of time, you have added enough water to equal the capacity of your nutrient tank, you will then need to clean out the tank and start afresh.
Flush with clear water periodically to clean out salts and any other undesirable accumulations. If necessary, the nutrient in your tank must be warmed in winter and cooled in summer. There is inexpensive equipment for these needs available at most supply stores.
pH devices vary from the very cheap to some over a hundred dollars. By the way if you run into water or a chemical which have a pH of less than 3.0 or more than 10.0, be sure to handle carefully as they can harm you.
A liquid pH test kit is one of the cheaper ways to measure pH. Litmus paper is another. It is advisable, however, to spend an extra dollar or two and get a good pH metering device where you can easily get more accurate readings.
All in all, things are not that complicated. It just takes proper planning and good record keeping to make sure your plants are produc- ing their best.
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3. Odds and Ends
A. They're on to something in Armenia. Hydroponics, that is. And they are particularly interested in medical, dye plants and oil-bearing crops. A country with lots of volcanic ash base, the growers here use the ash as a medium base.
And they've found that they use 50 per cent less water along with an increase in crops of 4 times what they formerly grew in soil. The consensus of opinion is that hydroponics has a good future in Armenia.
B. Want to make things better? One famous grower suggests you try
doing the following:
C. How about some fresh air for your plants?
Get yourself a negative ion generator - good for you and for your plants. Without ions (positive or negative) you and your plants would die. Plants can get along with either positive or negative. But humans do better with negative ion generators.
What do ions do? They clean the air we breathe by precipitating pollution particles from the air around us.
Ion generators are more important when you have artificial lighting which produce positive ions in the air around us. A negative ion generator helps maintain the balance.
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4. Aquaponics: Bass and Chives
At a farm in south-central Oklahoma, they are doing what many had considered impossible: raising large mouth bass on pellets instead of live feed. And then, as a side venture, capitalizing on the waste water from the fish and growing chives, gaining in the process two crops for market instead of only one.
The farm owners' setup is not fancy. Rather they stick to down to earth basics and do quite well. The bass are taught when small fry to eat pellets. Most of the fry learn to eat the pellets; those that don't die. After that the feeding process is all downhill. No problems and lots of hungry fish.
In setting up the chive operation, the fish are housed in a metal building which is about 30 by 70 feet. The fish are housed in a concrete pool which can hold 30,000 gallons of water.
The plants are in a tubular constructed greenhouse 30 ft wide by 100 ft long. Home-made trays 12x4x6 (32 of them) hold the plant stock.
Because of the patented construction of the air lines and air lifts which carry the waste water from the fish to the plants, there is no need to purge the fish afterward before marketing. The re-circulating system does not affect the flavor of the fish. The water is transported (without pumps) from the fish section to the plant section by means of the air lifts.
This process keeps the fish waste solids in suspension until they reach the plant area. The plant roots pick up the solids and feed on them and the now cleaned water is returned to the fish tank to start all over again.
Since the toxicity of rotenone and pyrethrum is too high for the fish, getting rid of the few insect pests is done with sticky tape hung here and there as well as the use of ladybugs, praying mantis, parasitic nematodes and wasps.
Among all the crops this grower has tried, chives do the best for them. Chives are perennial and don't need to be re-planted. So it's just a matter of snipping and shipping.
As stated before, this is not a fancy setup. It is, however, an example of what good management can do under non-technical circum- stances. The folks in Oklahoma have shown how it can be done.
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