Blog Post #2 What factors will I need to address in growing Commercial Scale Organic Seed crops?
Over the past four years, the farm has increased its retreat business and vegetable production.
We are growing a lot more salad mix, spinach, Arugula, carrots, beets, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas etc. etc. to meet the demand of the growing business.
Because of this, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to find the right field space to accommodate all the cultivars we have been saving.
One of the biggest factors is the diversity in the topography of the land.
Although we are growing on 2.5 acres, only some of that land is available early season for planting, as most of the fields are in low lying areas that are too wet early spring.
This becomes an issue for planting seeds crops, as many of the cultivars we grow- lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, peas, beans etc. do best if we can get them in the ground early season.
But more and more I'm feeling the need to increase the plantings of early greens for sale. This has forced me to put our seed crops in perhaps not the most desirable locations, as the prime seed beds go to growing salad mix for market.
Another issue I'm realizing after reading and listening to the webinars, is that due to the demand for space we have been planting our crops for seed- spaced more at the 'home growers' spacing than what is recommended for commercial seed production. example. 5ft between peas varieties .
Because we grow so many different mustard and Asian greens for our salad mix, another factor we face is random seed coming up everywhere from past seedings.
I have noticed this particularly in the spring when the biennial brassicas are going to seed, I find random mustard cultivars popping up in our beds and going to seed.
Another issue that we have been facing is that after so many years of planting a lot of brassicas, and beets, for food production. We are running into diseases that affect the seed.
We have been dealing with club root, which affects all our brassicas. And more recently, Cercospora leaf spot, which has affected our beets and chard.
We have recently put a pause to saving our EWTT beets for seeds as it has shown signs of Cercospora.
Another factor that affects the brassicas is wild varieties of mustards/Brassicas that grows wild in our area.
I have already noticed a cross in our French breakfast radish, as some are coming up more purplish with a hairy stem and spicy flavor.
Giant red Mustard (Brassica Juncea), about to flower. And a wild mustard beginning to flower( I haven't been able to identify it).
I spent an afternoon weed whacking the area to clear it out.
Roots of the wild Brassica/Mustard.
It almost reminds me more of a radish, although the flowers are yellow and look more like a mustard.
Hi Meghan; Darn it, I just had a lengthy response to your blog post, and then I did something on the computer and lost it! Anyways, I will try to remember what I wrote. What you write seems like a really good synopsis of some of the challenges that a farm that grows seed and grows a diverse amount of market crops may typically face. From your post I note you have identified four main challenges to growing seed crops:
ReplyDelete1. isolation distances
2. diseases
3. crossing from feral/volunteer crops that are flowering
4. crossing from wild mustards
5. having enough length of time to mature seed crops that can't be started early due to moist soil/wet conditions.
These are definately challenges that need to be addressed, but it's good that you've defined them so well. Now you have the opportunity to think about each one and find the best solution. I'll try to give feedback and advice on each one, and hopefully it can be helpful for you, or food for thought in your own seed growing endeavours.
1. I am definately a stickler for observing proper isolation distances, especially when producing commercial seed crops. It's different if they're for your own use. When I grow peas, I always observe 50 foot isolation distances, and even then I have had outcrossing twice. Both times it was in the bi-coloured pink-purple flowered varieties. They seem to outcross more readily. In any case, my advice is to move to larger isolation distances, even if it means growing less varieties out for seed or market production. You can always grow a larger amount of one or two varieties, instead of smaller amounts of five or six varieties, giving you the same economic output.
2. The disease issue is a tough one to figure out. Especially once you have something. For the Cerospora in beet, which I know nothing about, perhaps you can do some research and see if there are resistant beet cultivars that you could grow instead of EWTT. Or maybe there is a cultural change you can make to try to remedy the problem, like diligent crop rotation, etc. Do you have the book "Diseases and Pests of Vegetable Crops in Canada"? It is the bible on these topics. I have a copy and could look up Cercospora for you if you don't.
For the club root, which I know is soil-borne and hard, or impossible, to eradicate I would again suggest some research on controls if you haven't already done it. If you're too busy, this is a good task to give an intern or even a woofer or employee, as what they turn up may be of high value to you.
3. Crossing with volunteers is always a problem on a seed farm, where many crops have dropped their seed over the years and want to come up just about everywhere! You have to put your energies where it matters most and focus on cultivating out any potential plants that may cross with your seed crops that are growing in the immediate vicinity of your seed crop. But, don't spend all your time seeking out and eradicating everything in all corners of the farm, it will take too long and you have much too much other work that is important for you to do with your time. It is a case of doing the best that you can.
p.s. Radishes will only cross with other radishes, not any other brassicas. So that cross showing up in your French Breakfast line must have come from another radish. When that happens, it is time to get new seed stock that you know is true-to-type, or go back to older seedstock from the farm, before the crossing showed up. I know Navazio's book speaks of wild radish weeds, but I've never heard of them before. Perhaps that is only in other parts of North America.
4. I have not found that wild mustards cross with any of my cultivated mustards. I think this is because all the cultivated varietals are B. juncea, or B. rapa, while the wild ones are B. campestris or maybe B. hirta. In any cases, even though the wild mustards have yellow flowers identical to the cultivated mustards, they do not cross in my experience over many years of growing them on my farm.Looking at your photos of the red mustard you're growing for seed I don't think it would cross with that wild mustard you've shown. It would be interesting to see if Mary also has the same experience.
ReplyDelete5. The length of season, and the challenge of not being able to plant early because it's too wet. One approach is to create well-drained areas where you have early season wetness. It almost sounds like you are already doing that with the move to more permanent raised beds and hand cultivation or BCS work. You can also grow more of your seed crops as seedlings that you will transplant, rather than direct seeding, which means you put the plants in the ground a little later in the season, once things have had a chance to dry a bit. Another approach is movable hoophouses, or caterpillar tunnels that can be erected quickly in the spring, allowing an area to dry out that you start your seed crop in, later moving the hoophouse once the season is drier/warmer. This may only work for a high-value seed crop, but could be worth considering.
Hi Meghan - This is an excellent summary of key issues facing you in seed crop production! Patrick has given you a very detailed response, so I will just supplement it with my comments.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me there is a sixth issue, and that is the relative priority the farm is placing on its seed crops vs its market crops. If your seed crops are continually having to give way to increased planting of market crops, then perhaps it's time for the farm to re-evaluate its historical commitment to seed production and change course accordingly. That might mean growing fewer seed crops or changing the types of crops you grow for seed. I have found that growing seed crops requires an intrinsic commitment to quality seed production and if market forces are causing that commitment to waiver (as in less optimal planting spaces or inadequate isolation distances, for example) it's better to not do it than to do it sub-optimally.
Like Patrick, I am a stickler for isolation distances. Since you already have a retail seed company as a customer that ships its seeds across Canada, you can't afford to skimp on key factors like isolation distance or population size. As the course material states, the more broad your sphere of influence (as in how broadly your seed will be shared) the less tolerant you can be of potential crossing.
I have also found that my cultivated mustard crops have not crossed with any wild mustard crops.
Regards,
Mary