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.