Field Update: Snowy Weather

Last week we took the plastic off the field tunnel. It had been a warm sunny spring and I thought the hardy tunnel crops would like to feel the wind and see some direct sunlight.

Tuesday, we got a bit of this …

These brassicas aren’t quite as perky as last week.

Things probably look worse than they are (I hope). Temperature didn’t go under zero so I doubt the flowers have been damaged. Though plant structure does seem to be compromised. I am curious to see whether these guys stand back up. I might have to stake these plants to keep them off the ground.

With the weather on the miserable side, I spent the day in the grenhouse …

All the seedlings in this tray come from one lettuce plant. That plant was an F1 cross between two lettuces: Emerald oak (a green oak leaf lettuce) and Lollo Rossa (a small frilly red lettuce).  These resulting offspring (the F2 generations) are a jumble of the parents’s characteristics.

I organized all the lettuces in the tray by colour to better compare between similar individuals. I will plant these in the ground in the next few days. In a couple of weeks, the different leaf shapes will be easier to distinguish.

I also did this with my Brassica Juncea crosses.

One more picture for the road …

A couple field updates ago I mentioned seeding multiple seeds per cell and selecting the most vigorous. In this tray, I did that. A week or two later, more lettuce germinated. These new seedling will be pulled – I only want the quickest germinating and the most vigourous plants.

Next post, I will return to seed economics and seed pricing.


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