What's happening in the field?

At the Missouri State Fruit Experiment Station

Mushroom bags are packed and ready to grow!

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Yesterday (July 18) took the pasteurized straw out of the soil sterilizer (note to self - the mesh bags tended to melt so use loose straw next time). We wet it to about 65% moisture content by using the squeeze test (squeeze hard and one drop if any will come out). Then we weighed a bag with straw and calculated that 45 grams of grain spawn would be used for the approximately … [Read more...] about Mushroom bags are packed and ready to grow!

Raspberry shade cloth pulled out

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We devised a retractable shade cloth for our raspberries and pulled it over the plants today after yesterday we saw temperatures in the low 90s in the tunnel. We are harvesting Prelude raspberry (floricane fruiting) and noticed some blonde drupes so we wanted to shade them. Of course, it is overcast today and there are tornado warnings out. If you don't like the weather in … [Read more...] about Raspberry shade cloth pulled out

Stake and weave tomatoes

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Deb French, the "tomato whisperer", stopped by to teach us how to use the stake and weave technique for our tomatoes in the high tunnel demonstration planting. Simpsons' Family Farm has used this technique for several years to produce quality tomatoes for sale. We are working on high tunnel and greenhouse vegetable crop demonstrations for our 2017 Greenhouse and High Tunnel … [Read more...] about Stake and weave tomatoes

Veggies harvested and raspberries rotated in

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Last Friday, May 8, was a nice rainy day - perfect to get things done in the high tunnel! Protected from the rain, we harvested the rest of the lettuce and had to harvest some potatoes a bit early for new potatoes. After the veggies were harvested, the raspberry trellis posts were pounded in, the raspberries in bags were rotated into the space, and the irrigation was … [Read more...] about Veggies harvested and raspberries rotated in