Early season cole crops have been planted in the caterpillar tunnel set up over the winter at DSAC. Instead of covering this smaller tunnel with clear plastic, a 30% shade cloth has been attached. Broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage, and swiss chard transplants were planted on March 21. Compost was added to the native soil in this location and incorporated during the first week or so of March. No permanent raised beds are planned for use in this tunnel and different irrigation options are being weighed. Once the cole crops have been harvested, the tunnel will be planted with lettuce during the summer and rotated back into fall crops following the lettuce.

The crimson clover cover crop in the high tunnel should be getting ready to flower soon based on the dates observed last year. The overall biomass of the crimson clover seems to be less this year compared to last year, but the spring oats had an additional month of growth this season. Last year, in December 2022, the extreme cold temperatures experienced the week before Christmas, winter killed the spring oats in the cover crop mix in the high tunnel. This year the spring oats did not winter kill until the cold event of mid-January, and the temperatures didn’t get cold enough in the high tunnel to provide a 100% kill. Aphids, specific to legume plants, are again present in very high numbers but so far have not caused any crimson clover plant death like last year. Drip irrigation lines were left in the rows and the cover crop has received water as needed since establishment. In the section of the tunnel that was seeded about a month later, the crimson clover seems to have almost caught up with the rest of the tunnel that was seeded the first week of October.

Tomato and pepper transplants are growing well in the greenhouse. Bare root strawberry plants received at the end of February were potted up and have been growing in the greenhouse. These plants will be set out in the high tunnel in hydroponic stacks this week. ‘Monterey’, ‘Albion’, and ‘San Andreas’ day neutral varieties will be compared again this year.  

Dry conditions have been favorable for quite a bit of field work, but upcoming forecasted rain is very much needed. Double layer of row cover on strawberries protected open blooms in the canopy with only a few black eyes on blooms that were in direct contact with the row cover.