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