Day length decreasing

Officially summer is nearly at an end.   You would not know it if you live in the wider Auckland area.  Looking outside my office window today it is stunning weather and it is hard to believe that Autumn is upon us.  It has been extremely dry, there was brief respite with some rain on the weekend, but we are back to the hot, dry weather this week.  It has been fantastic growing conditions for greenhouse growers.  It has been sunny and warm without being oppressively humid. However, autumn is rapidly approaching, day length is decreasing, which means adjusting your start and stop times for irrigation should be considered.

As I have written about in the past there are many factors in deciding irrigation start and stop times.  Factors such as plant stage, location, substrate type, EC and WC target figures are all major considerations.  Continued dry weather may require irrigating further into the afternoon than I prefer at this time.  Some substrates are better to finish early and correct with a night shot.   I am an advocate of 24/7 monitoring of WC and EC that transmits real time information so you can make more informed decisions. 

Clcik on the link to last year’s article regarding this subject matter.  

news/post/time-to-reduce-your-water-content-/

Boilers:

Are they ready to go?  Early morning heating specially to reduce the risk of fruit sweat or guttation to ensure you maintain fruit quality is advised. 

Plant Balance:

Consider your plant balance in particular fruit numbers per m2 and loading your plant correctly at a time of a year it is easy to forget in two months’ time we will be approaching May.

The cover photo showing the extent of how dry it has been.  The rain on the weekend as done little to change the dry look of the landscape.  Location: South Auckland.

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Article Written and compiled by Stefan Vogrincic, Consultant, Grower2Grower

Article Edited by Marie Vogrincic, Editor, Grower2Grower