8/9/2019 Caterpillar Tunnel - An Inexpensive Variation on the
Hoophouse Theme; Gardening Guidebook for Kansas
2/2
Previous | Next Back to top
For pollination, they removed the floating row cover when the
plants flowered in the field; inside the caterpillar, they
placed
bumblebee hives.
Yields were 78 percent higher in the caterpillar than the field.
The field cucumbers had a 28 percent cull rate, all because of
damage
by cucumber beetles, compared to 20 percent culls in the
caterpillar, all caused by misshapen fruit. Some cucumber beetles
did
manage to sneak into the caterpillar, but in general it did a
good job of excluding them. The caterpillar also accelerated the
first
harvest of cucumbers by nine days compared to those under
floating row cover.
The caterpillar also saved the Nordell’s tomato crop last year.
In the field, the first tomato harvest is normally the third week
of August.
But late blight, which was rampant all over the East in 2009,
killed their field tomatoes in mid-July, before they started
producing. But
the tomatoes in caterpillars started bearing in early July and
kept on going until late August, when they finally succumbed to
lateblight. In other words, the caterpillar provided six weeks of
earliness and six weeks of late blight protection.
The insect screening, while obviously essential for pest
control, also seemed to improve the stability of the caterpillar
tunnel, Eric
said. Whereas spunbonded row cover such as Agribon is
susceptible to being torn off by wind, the insect screening lets
air move
through the tunnel, resulting in less damage to the structure
and better air circulation for the crops.
Enviromesh, also known as Proteknet, insect screen is available
from Purple Mountain Organics in the U.S. and from Dubois
Agrinovation in Canada (they will ship to the U.S. See
www.duboisag.com). Other brands of greenhouse insect screening
are
available from G&M Agricultural Supply .
Flowers
Growing cut flowers in caterpillars has resulted in longer stems
and higher quality blooms for Jan and Ted Blomgren of
Windflower
Farm in Easton, NY. They started using the tunnels with row
cover to exclude leafhoopers, which carry aster yellows, a disease
thatdamages many flowers in the Aster family. Not only were they
able to grow China asters without leafhopper damage, they also got
3-
foot stems. Since then, they have grown many kinds of flowers in
caterpillars, including bells of Ireland, godetia, lisianthus,
snapdragons, and stock. Now they cover the flower caterpillars
with 3-4 mil greenhouse film, not row cover, and grow asters
under
row cover in low tunnels. The Blomgrens have about 12,000 square
feet of the tunnels on their farm for production of vegetables
as
well as flowers. Many more details are included in the manual
High Tunnels: Using Low Cost Technology to Increase Yields,
Improve
Quality, and Extend the Growing Season. Ted Blomgren is
co-author with Tracy Frisch and Steve Moore of this excellent
resource,
which was published by the University of Vermont Center for
Sustainable Agriculture. It covers many kinds of season
extension
structures, from low tunnels to Haygrove multi-bay
tunnels.
The High Tunnels manual is available free as a PDF at
http://www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture/hightunnels.html. There
is an
accompanying DVD, for $15, that features six farmers explaining
how and why they constructed their high tunnel system, what
they
grow in it, and how it helps sustain their farming operation. To
order the video, see
http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/Videos/hightunnelvideo.html, or
call (802) 656-5459.
With a Full Access membership to Growing for Market Online, you
can read more than 1,200 helpful articles about
market farming -- everything published from 2001 to the present.
Type any term into the search box at top left to see if
GFM can help you with your research and planning. Click
here for more information about the Full Access
membership.
The Hoophouse Handbook is a great introduction to
building and growing in unheated hoophouses/high tunnels.
Copyright Fairplain Publications Inc. All rights reserved. No
portion of this article may be copied in any manner for use other
than by
the subscriber without permission from the publisher.
1,264 people like this. Sign Up to see what your friends
like.LikeLike
http://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/articles/Choose-Peppers-to-Support-Local-Ethnic-and-Regional-Marketshttp://localhost/var/www/apps/conversion/tmp/scratch_1/articles/Better-Tomatoeshttp://www.growingformarket.com/store/products/8http://www.growingformarket.com/categories/OnlineSubscriptionshttp://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/Videos/hightunnelvideo.htmlhttp://www.uvm.edu/sustainableagriculture/hightunnels.htmlhttp://www.haygrove.co.uk/http://gmagsupply.com/http://www.duboisag.com/http://www.purplemountainorganics.com/
