Tomato and pepper transplants have been planted in all three high tunnels at DSAC. The control tunnel, no cover crop or cut flower treatments in last 4 years, was planted with tomatoes on April 9 and peppers on April 18. The treatment tunnel, cover crop and cut flower plots established the past 4 years, was planted with tomatoes on April 15 and peppers on April 22. Typically, transplants are set out during the first week of April, but planting was delayed in the treatment tunnel this year due to cover crop termination timing. Cut flowers will be planted in the next couple of weeks in the treatment tunnel.
To recap the cover crop timeline in the treatment tunnel:
- October 22, 2024 - cover crops seeded
- February 27, 2025 – half of cover crop plots covered with clear plastic to begin solarization termination process
- April 14, 2025 – removed clear plastic from solarization plots and weed-eated remaining plots for mechanical termination
- April 15, 2025 – planted tomato transplants
- April 22, 2025 – planted pepper transplants
Mechanical termination of cover crops is most effective when the plants are in the flowering stage. The annual ryegrass had still not reached flowering on April 14 but our transplants needed to be planted. Two weeks after transplanting, the annual ryegrass is growing back in the mechanical termination plots, pulling nutrients away from the tomatoes and creating a weed issue, definitely not an ideal situation. A side-by-side comparison in the photo above right of annual ryegrass plots, one terminated, or attempted to be terminated, mechanically and one terminated through solarization, illustrates the problems that can arise when the cover crop does not terminate.
The solarization plots have been very impressive overall, as all the cover crop species terminated completely in the 6 weeks they were under plastic. While those plots didn’t have time to generate as much biomass as the mechanical termination plots, there is still a fair amount of residue on the plots and is much more manageable than the mechanical termination plots.
The hydroponic tunnel was planted in mid-April with various herbs and the vertical stack system which is typically used for strawberry production has been planted with different onion varieties. Tomato, pepper, and eggplant transplants were planted April 21 and cucumber transplants should be ready for planting in the next week.
Tomato and pepper varieties for the in-ground, raised bed treatment and control tunnels this year include:
Tomatoes – ‘Red Deuce’, ‘Rubee Dawn’, ‘BHN 589’, ‘BHN 964’, ‘BHN 871’, ‘FL 7514’
Peppers – ‘Aristotle’, ‘Tequila’, ‘Abay’, ‘Frodo’, ‘Delirio’, ‘Lunchbox’, ‘Cornito’, ‘Carranza’, & ‘Jedi’
The severe storm outbreaks during the first week of April stayed north of our location, but the second week of April saw a tremendous amount of rainfall, anywhere from 9 inches to 11.5 inches over a 3-day period, depending on the location. Flash flooding as well as sustained river flooding effected many low-lying farms in the region. The last half of April has provided warmer temperatures and a few rain events, but nothing to cause any further flooding issues.