It’s costly to throw away completely wholesome seedlings. Rather preserve them in limbo till you’ll be able to plant them, says Bill Kerr.
The seedlings on the precise had been held in limbo with no nitrogen. LAN was utilized to the seedlings on the left. This is the consequence 9 days later.
Old seedlings are sometimes discarded due to the assumption that a lot of the yield potential is misplaced. There is a few validity to this, however in my expertise the injury is often lower than anticipated.
I had this expertise in the direction of the tip of final yr whereas rising natural greens. This is a brand new enterprise for me; I not too long ago bought my breeding programme and entered a contract to provide a wholesaler regularly.
Our space is topic to fairly heavy frosts in winter. One day in late winter final yr, I noticed that the temperature had dropped to -10°C in a tunnel, however injury to the crops was solely average, and I assumed we had been over the worst.
The subsequent frost introduced a temperature of solely -7°C, however as a result of there was a wind, we ended up with a penetrating black frost. This burnt my winter cowl crop of grazing vetch in order that it turned white, and it did the identical to my broccoli and cauliflower seedlings underneath plastic cowl.
I waited to see if there would be any restoration. Slowly, a lot of the seedlings began to develop out. I had already planted new batches, however out of curiosity saved these burnt seedlings going.
I then determined to plant a few of them subsequent to the brand new seedlings to see the distinction, though they had been two months older.
The outcomes had been exceptional: about 1% of the broccoli produced smaller heads, however the remainder had been high-quality, and the cauliflower crops produced a very good crop.
Kept in limbo
Seedling nurseries typically discover that, due to poor climate or another circumstance, a shopper can not take supply of an order on the designated time. These crops are sometimes then discarded. However, if they’re disadvantaged of nitrogen, they will be saved in limbo, as they don’t develop out too massive within the seedling trays.
As quickly as they’re prepared to be planted, they will be given a dose of LAN (one closed handful in a watering can utilized to about 2 000 seedlings). To illustrate this, I took a tray of hardened cauliflower crops and utilized the nitrogen to half the crops. The outcomes had been clear after 9 days, as can be seen within the {photograph} above.
If there’s to be any setback with old seedlings, it often happens in very early-maturing varieties.
That’s all there’s to it. In tough occasions, merely withhold nitrogen to preserve the crops in limbo. Then stimulate them with LAN earlier than they depart the nursery. If they’re already in an lively rising state and want to be stopped, flush the nitrate out of the trays with a drenching irrigation.
” Seedlings are costly. Why waste good cash by discarding them when it’s pointless?”
Bill Kerr is vegetables specialist
Source : Farmer’s weekly
