Congratulations to Katie Senn!!

She is the winner of a new iPod shuffle for placing first in our photo contest!! Thanks to everyone who participated!!

Check out the winning picture, 'Colors of fall'

Greenhouse week of Jan 26th.

Hi all,

There are some good news and bad news.

Good news:

Bugs were a big concern 4 weeks ago; there were lots of plant damage, especially in the peppers and herbs. There were lots of yield loss and the plants' growth was greatly affected. However, after 4 weeks of commitment and work with the bio-control agents, the aphids, thrips, and white flies are under control. If you take a close look on the pepper leaves you will likely see the dead aphids due to our bio-control agents. So the peppers are back and recovering.

The tomatoes are doing well; the bugs and diseases on the tomatoes are not a concern. The yield is pretty good and there is not a lot of "blossom end rot".

What is "blossom end rot"?
Blossom-end rot, a physiological disorder of tomatoes, and peppers is caused by a calcium imbalance within the plant. Fluctuations in soil moisture, excessively wet or dry soil, excessive nitrogen fertilizer, very high or low pH, or soils high in salts can all prevent the roots from taking up enough calcium to satisfy the plant's rapid cell development. The result is a water-soaked spot at the blossom end of the plant that enlarges, turning dark brown and leathery.

Bad news:

What is wrong with the cucumbers?

Some of you may have noticed that the cucumbers are not doing well; the leaves are yellow and curling, and the yield is not doing any better. Lots of fruits have been aborted, therefore we won't get as much cucumbers as expected. So what is the problem? At first, there was definitely bug-induced damage on the leaves. If you take a closer look on the leaves you may recognize lots of dark brown dots. However, there is a bigger concern regarding plant nutrients, since one of the Calcium nitrate tank got mixed up. This could have been a result of someone forgetting to turn/close one of the valves before opening the other valve from the "Macro-micro nutrients". As a result, the calcium tank now contains a mixture of Calcium nitrate and Potassium Sulfate --> Calcium Sulfate is insoluble in water (precipitate).

Ca(NO3)2 + K2SO4 --> 2KNO3 + CaSO4

How is the precipitate affecting our plants? Simply put it plugs the injector and the plants are not getting enough fertilizer. This is just one simple example that we need to be aware of later on.


How has everyone been lately? I don't see lots of us around recently. I know all of us are busy. Midterms are coming up and there are more assignments and paper work, but the plants are getting bigger and bigger as well, which means they do need care and some maintenance regularly. I have been the only one working on the peppers so far. Where are all the pepper members? Like what I have said before, peppers don't need a lot of care since they grow really slow, but they do need someone to look after them and to prune them regularly. The point here is to keep one main shoot in order to keep the plant growing straight. This work only takes 15-30 mins per week, but it really helps the plant. While you're pruning the side shoot off, you're already helping to pollinate the flowers as well. Two birds with one stone.

This also applies to the tomato group. So far the tomato group is doing great. However, be careful when you put the clips on, since I have seen several clips placed right over top the flowers. Please do not do this; if the flowers get damaged, then we won't get any tomatoes, but only tons of biomass (does anyone want tomatoes leaves?) instead.

Research project:


There is one student in PLSC 433 (Greenhouse production) course who is doing some research on our tomatoes. Be aware of the sign in the tomato pots. Check on 'greenhouse set up' for more information.

Dr. Doug (pepper trial):

There are 8 pepper plants on the trial line. Check the greenhouse setup for more information. These pepper plants are flowering and fruiting, but please do not harvest these peppers. This is a grad research project and they're saving all the seed as well as counting every single pepper seed. Once again, do not take these peppers. These plants are not HortClub peppers. If you have any concern on this please contact me for more information.


Last but not least, I hope everyone can set up a time suitable to your schedule to come and enjoy your horticulture experience. This is one in a life time experience in your university education. Remember, everyone else using greenhouse space has to pay big bucks, but we get the benefits for free. So please make good use of this. It may not seem important now, but it's really important later when the university re-evaluates our eligibility to continue using this space.

Things to do this week:

If your group hasn't established a schedule, then this is time to do it.
If your group has done this, then this is a good time to give it a start.
If you don't know what to do, please feel free to send me an e-mail @ ttl541@mail.usask.ca.
Decide when is a good time for the plant sale: some time during the week of Feb 9th before spring break. Tell me what do you think.
Strategies for the plants sale, like advertisement, deciding who will be the leader, pricing and signing up volunteers.

Things that have been done:

Big thanks to May Guan and the herb group on spending time transplanting all the herbs and flower plants for the plant sale later. We really appreciate this.

That is all for now, thanks everyone for giving your time,

Greenhouse setup.p...

Hosted by eSnips

Peter Le.

Week in photos (Week of Jan 19)

New Year's Potluck

We are having a New Year's Potluck, this coming Monday, January 26, 2009, at the Sutherland Hall. (1112 Central Ave, Southerland Area) With doors opening at 5:30, and supper starting at 6:00pm.

Please RSVP your dish & number of people by:

A) Commenting on this post below
B) Calling 664-8581 and leaving a message
C) Emailing: hort.club@usask.ca


I know this is short notice, this date also coincides with the Chinese (Lunar) New Year, with this year being the year of the Ox. We will also be going over our events for this semester and approving our new constitution. I hope to see you there!!


Map to the hall:

http://www.canpages.ca/page/SK/saskatoon/sutherland-hall/1715142.html

Greenhouse (Update Jan 11)

Hi everyone,

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends. Here is some updated information on our greenhouse. After two weeks running low maintenance, we currently have some problems with bugs, such as thrips, aphids and white flies. The most susceptible crops to bugs are the peppers and some of our cucumber varieties. What caused the disease on the cucumbers is not clear but it caused aggresive damage on the leaves, as well as the cucumbers. Therefore, all of the trial cucumber varieties have been removed and planted again with our "standard" variety, which is "Corona". I have harvested quite a few english long "Corona" variety cucumbers; all of them have been wraped for storage, and placed in the cooler #111.3

Having bugs in the greenhouse is the last thing wanted in the greenhouse; unfortunately, what will we do with this unwanted gift? Will we quit, spray, start over or will we fight? I don't know what to do, but I know this is a great opportunity for us to test out how the bio-control works. I think I have mentioned this before. For now, if you come to the greenhouse you'll probably see those hanging white bags on the plants. Those are our friendly bugs, so don't remove those bags.
I hope this will work out and we'll still get good yield and a great learning experience.

For all plant groups (herbs, peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers) please set up a schedule for your group members, arranging the times for when you can come and look after your plants.

• For the herb group, you need to thin some of the pots.
• For the pepper group, you need to carefully look for insects, remove the auxiliary stems, and put on the clips.
• For the tomato group, you need to remove the auxiliary stems, put on the clips, and tap the plants lightly to pollinate them.
• For the cucumber group, you need to remove the auxiliary stems, put on the clips, and harvest the ready cucumbers (they're ready when they're ~25cm and both tips are firm).

Note: be extra careful when you put on the clips, be sure to place them under one of the main/thicker branches (this helps to support the plants), and keep the strings tight to ensure that the plants will grow straight. I have seen so many clips placed above the branches or right on the tomato flowers. This provides no support and may even damage the flowers. So please be careful.

Thanks everyone and hope to see you guys soon.

Peter Le