Conference Season, cold damage update, potato yield error in my book

Conference Season

It’s busy season for conferences, so I’ll tell you about the next two I’m speaking at. You can go to my Events page to see what’s further ahead.

This weekend (January 6-8 (Fri-Sun), 2023) is the Virginia Association for Biological Farming at the Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center

VABF 2023 Conference banner

Virginia Association for Biological Farming

23rd annual Virginia Biological Farming Conference

VABF Conference INFO Home Page

The 23rd annual Virginia Biological Farming Conference is Virginia’s premier organic and sustainable agricultural conference! The Conference brings together farmers, gardeners, eaters, educators and advocates of biological and organic farming and gardening. The Conference will be held in person January 6-8, 2023 at The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center.

The three-day Conference includes:  Full and Half Day Pre-Conference intensive workshops, 50+ sessions and workshops, presentations and panel discussions, 40+ tradeshow exhibitors, locally sourced farm meals and book signings. The Conference features a Silent Auction and networking opportunities including regional networking meetings, and the Taste of Virginia Expo & Social! 

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Elaine Ingham, Soil Food Web School

Leah Penniman, Founding Co-director Soul Fire Farm

I will be presenting a half-day workshop 8am-noon on Friday Jan 6, on Year-Round Hoophouse Vegetables

90 minute workshop Sunday January 8, 8.30 am – 10 am Alliums Year Round
90 minute workshop Sunday January 8, 10.30 am – noon, Asian Greens in the Winter Hoophouse

See the 2023 Session Summaries

Taste of Virginia Expo and Market & Social

Included in the Conference Registration and free and open to the public is the Taste of Virginia Expo & Market on Saturday, January 7, 2 – 9 PM in the Crystal Ballroom at Hotel Roanoke. Featuring sampling and sales of Virginia-crafted foods, local libations, handicrafts, and herbals. Complete the evening with music, dancing, and socializing from 8-10 PM.

Locally Sourced Meals

VABF and LEAP Local Food Hub are working together to procure the majority of our Conference food from local member farms. We look forward to supporting our member farms and enjoying delicious, fresh, local food from the farms below! All Conference Registrations include lunch and dinner on Saturday, lunch on Sunday and morning coffee and tea.

VABF logo

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NOFA-Mass Annual Winter Conference, January 12-14, 2023

Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter.

The Conference will be held at Worcester State University on Saturday January 14 and online Sunday January 15. We encourage you to make the most of the range of possibilities – i.e. tastings in person, international discussions over Zoom, tool modifications, storytelling. Creativity is welcome!

An organic lunch on Saturday is sandwiched by over 40 educational workshops for a full day of learning and socializing.

This is a valuable opportunity for farmers, gardeners, homesteaders, educators, and environmentalists to share resources and ideas to grow our vibrant organic community. We are excited to come together around this winter’s theme, “Cooperative Foodways: Building Our Future Together.”

The conference hosts 40+ workshops and draws hundreds of attendees from throughout the Northeast.

I will be giving a workshop on Crop Planning for Sustainable Vegetable Production

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Cold damage update

Bright Lights chard with cold-damaged stems.
Dec 27.
Pam Dawling

I reported very little damage to our hoophouse crops last week when it was 2F (-17C) outdoors. Since then, no plants keeled over, but some leaves are showing tan patches of dead cells, either where the leaves touched the rowcover. or where they were not properly covered. So, we have lost some leaves of senposai, a few of spinach, some on the yarrow we planted for beneficial insects. But, overall, I’m extremely happy with the good condition of our crops.

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Mistake about potato yields

Sorting potatoes two weeks after harvest to remove problem potatoes before rot spreads.
Photo Wren Vile

Yes made a mistake back in 2012, when I wrote Sustainable Market Farming, which I hope has been corrected in reprints since I was first notified of this in August 2019. If you have an older edition of my book, it might still have the error. In yield numbers on page 376, it says about potatoes, “Yields are likely to be 150 lbs/ac (168 kg/ha); 200 lbs/ac (224 kg/ha) is a good yield”.

“Yes, my mistake indeed! On page 45, I have the (better!) info that potatoes can yield at least 110 pounds/100 feet, or 49.9 kg/30m. I think I probably meant to write on page 376, that a low yield could be 150 pounds/100ft, which is equivalent to 11 tons/acre. In the metric system, that’s 223 kg/100m, or 24.4 tons/ha. Other sources suggest average yields could be almost twice this. And good yields, even 4 times the low numbers.

So it should say

“Yields are likely to be 11 tons/ac (24.4 tons/ha); 22 tons/ac (48.8 tons/ha) is a good yield”

That’s US tons of 2000 pounds, metric tons of 1000 kg. Or for a smaller scale, probably closer to what most of us are growing,

“Yields are likely to be 150 lbs/100ft (223 kg/100m); 200 lbs/100 ft (300 kg/100m) is a good yield”

I hope I’ve got all the conversions right.

Year-Round Hoophouse Vegetables slide show, and the decision between transplanting and direct sowing

I’ve feeding in a flurry of slideshows I’ve been presenting at conferences this winter. You’ll notice a lot of them have a hoophouse theme, although not all. Here’s one from the four hour course I gave at the Virginia Association for Biological Farming conference.

To view the slideshow full screen, click the diagonal arrow icon. You can then hop, skip and jump through it, choosing the bits you are interested in.

My other main topic this week is choosing when to transplant and when to direct sow. I am a big fan of transplanting, so I’ll start with that.

Watermelon transplants in a Winstrip plug flat. Watermelons give earlier harvests from transplants, and plants in plug flats transplant easier than from open flats.
Photo Pam Dawling

Advantages of transplanting:

  • You can start earlier in the year than you can outside, and so get earlier harvests
  • By starting seed in more ideal conditions in a greenhouse, (or on a kitchen windowsill), you’ll get better growth, more satisfaction!
  • It is easier to care for new seedlings indoors – major weather events stay outdoors!
  • You can fit more crops into each bed throughout the season, because each crop is occupying the bed for less time than if direct-sown.
  • Transplanting. can help you grow more successions of summer crops, as each one needs less time in the garden or field. This helps you always have good quality fresh produce for harvest.
  • If you don’t want or need to plant more food crops, you can use those time windows for quick cover crops, such as buckwheat in warm weather, mustards in cold weather.
  • You will save on seed costs, because you’ll be sowing and spotting or potting up, then transplanting, not sowing long rows and thinning most of the plants out.
  • Using transplants fits (better than direct sowing does) with using plastic (or paper) mulches, which can help with weed control and soil warming (or cooling).
  • Using transplants fits well with no-till cover crops. Mow or roll-and-crimp the cover crops, transplant into it, and the dead mulch keeps the weeds away for 6-8 weeks in our climate, longer in cooler and drier climates.
  • Transplanting works well for crops where you want several varieties, such as tomatoes and peppers.

    Amy’s Apricot tomato from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Transplanting works well for crops where you want a few plants each of several varieties.
    Photo Pam Dawling
  • You have more flexibility if the weather turns bad, for example if spring is cold and/or wet. You can delay transplanting. Your plants still grow, provided the roots have enough space. If you know they won’t, you can pot them up to provide more root space.
  • At transplanting time, you can select the sturdiest plants, and compost the rest, meaning you have the best chance of good yields.

Disadvantages of transplanting:

  • If you extend the season and start earlier, you will have more work. . .
  • You’ll need to spend extra time caring for the starts indoors, as they won’t get water if you don’t provide it.
  • Transplant shock can delay harvest, so be sure to learn and practice good techniques
  • More attention is needed to watering new plants after transplanting, (compared to direct seedling) as some root damage is almost inevitable. (Plug flats and soil blocks minimize root damage)
  • If you don’t have a good irrigation system or water supply, growing many transplants will be a challenge.
  • Likewise you do need a good greenhouse set-up to grow many transplants.

Advantages of direct seeding:

  • See the disadvantages of transplanting.
  • Direct seeding is less work than transplanting. Put the seed in the ground, water as needed and stand back!
  • You do not need a greenhouse or special transplanting equipment
  • Compared to buying starts, direct sowing has lower costs
  • Direct sown crops have better drought tolerance – the roots grow without damage
  • Some crops just don’t transplant easily: melons which have fragile stems and roots for instance, or carrots which get distorted roots if transplanted.
  • Some crops have millions of plants and you couldn’t possibly transplant enough:  (Carrots)

    Carrot rows thinned to 1 inch. Carrots are too numerous to transplant and transplanting stunts and distorts the roots, so they are best direct sown.
    Photo Kathryn Simmons

Disadvantages of direct sowing:

  • See the advantages of transplanting.
  • Direct sowing uses more seed than transplanting.
  • Direct sowing requires more time thinning
  • Direct sown crops occupy the land longer than the same crop transplanted.
  • Some direct-sown crops may be harder to get started in cold (or hot) conditions.

There are probably others, do let me know!

For those wanting to sow large-seeded crops through plastic mulch, see below for how we planted beans.

To sow beans through biodegradable plastic mulch, we made this dibble from bamboo, dowels, a culled hammock stretcher bar and plumbing strapping. Photo Nina Gentle
Using the bean dibble to punch holes through the plastic mulch (the soil is holding down the edges of the mulch).
Photo Brittany Lewis
Sowing beans through holes we made in the biodegradable plastic mulch.
Photo Nina Gentle
Beans growing on biodegradable plastic mulch.
Photo Nina Gentle