Planting
For some growers the planting season is allready way done, for others it is coming sooner or later.
One important thing i see regularly is issues with planting too deep. The big problem is, there is a lot of difference in sensitivity of varieties for crown rot. Quite sensitive varieties get it, especially if they are planted too deep. Too deep in this case means, the crown stays wet all over the day.
Practically: the top of the tray needs to stay dry, needs to be about 1 cm above the surrounding substrate. 2 cm is no issue, but if it is 0 cm or below, the risk for crown rot is way higher. In the pictures below you see the difference.
In the beginning at planting you have to get used to it, but it pays of: healthier plants and even growth even later in the season. Have someone checking the plants and correct planters.
As you can see, the plant on the left side is planted correct: about 1 cm above the surrounding substrate.
Iron – pH
Iron is such an element, that really can slow down growth if not available enough. Every year we see growers with issues with Iron.
The last year and this spring again an increasing number of crops where the iron is available in the irrigation water, in high enough concentrations. The recipe is good, but still a lack of iron, because of the pH of the tank where the iron is in (normally the A tank).
The big issue is that iron oxidises very easy which makes it not available for plant uptake. Because of this oxidation of iron we use chelates (an organic molecule) to keep iron plant available. The issue with the chelates is, that if the pH in the tank is too low, the chelates brake down and the iron is not plant available any more.
Therefore, don’t put your acid in the A tank or in the tank where you put your Ironchelates also. The optimum pH for the chelates are depending on the type of chelates you have. This information is normally available on the packaging.
Below you see some pictures of strawberries with an excellent recipe, but where the pH in the A tank dropped a bit too much as you can see on the picture above.
