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Post by canadamike on Oct 18, 2013 23:08:36 GMT -5
In the last 3 years, I have worked with a seaweed based fertilizing company...I have both worked with conventional and organic farmers. And also worked on some quite ''far out ''recipes. We have done a lot of R&D....with the government or else.... One thing is sure, seaweed based fertilization works amazingly. And it turns out that even in conventional, it reduces the impact of fertilizers by over 70%, meaning basically ,even if I much prefer organic, which I am but I need to make a living, it does not impact as negatively the bacterial life. Foliar feeding of liquid fertilizers means very little chemicals in the ground. A nice way to reduce the impact of modern agriculture. By the way, there is a desire in the organic community here in Quebec to impact conventional agriculture to lessen its imprint on the land... The picture here is from a 45 acres field of cucumbers. Quebec biggest cucumber producer said it was the most beautiful cucumber field he ever saw in his LIFE. It rurns out it was his friend's field and he was using fermented seaweed based fertilizer and foliar application. This field was planned for a contract of 500 tons for a cannery. It produced a phenomenal 800 tons. Despite some drought and bad weather that had the other cuke fields in the area ( many guys pooled themselves together to get a big contract)produce poorly. The same happened with many other crops like beans, the picture posted here is from what was left over in the field, the harvest was so big the farmer ( same guy than the cukes) did not have enough latino workers to pick, he had to hurry them in the raspberries, a high revenu crop. The summer raspberries produced a record crop, and the harvest lasted 8 weeks, as it did elsewhere north in central Quebec, with the largest small fruit producer in the region. He had to let go 30 acres of raspberries because his blueberries were producing record yields ( 20 pounds per plant instead of the more usual 8 in the mature bushes), and finally also let go the blueberries to concentrate his staff of pickers on strawberries. He estimates he left 40% of the blueberry harvest in the fields. Just imagine the frustration of growing 113 acres of small fruits and letting almost half of it there. He sells to big grocery chains and buys from 4 other growers in the area. Their delivery of blueberries this year, given the weather, is 50% of the normal average, quite like most areas in Quebec. He his considering going himself in South America this winter to hire more people to pick and be present there to solve bugs in paperwork...HEHE!!! [img src=" i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn312/canadamike1/juillet2013etEacutericDupuis054_zpsb42b60c8.jpg" src=" " alt=" "] I cannot get this picture here, God knows why, but look it up... These beans are what was left in the field because other harvests were calling for picking. We are talking acres here... This is a 5 year blueberry plant. Around here, it usually gives 4-5 pounds per plant. This one acre field averaged 14 pounds.
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Post by canadamike on Oct 18, 2013 22:07:52 GMT -5
Coming back on frost resistance, but this time in cucumis melo, true melons, Tom ( daewinslair) informed me today that the VOATANGO X GNADENFELD F-2 cross of 2010, an F-3 now, just gave him many melons, but he just picked a huge 10 pound melon, he says it is the best of his life, and it was picked in his Minnessota garden a few days ago...we are in October for crying out loud....other melons have long long died from cold nights....this is a true cold weather warrior. And it is incredibly sweet Tom Says..
Given the fact that this is a second planting done July 10 ( first ones were eaten by bugs)and that Minnessota has cool night starting in September, were other melons usually die of the ''sudden death syndrome'' in September, usually early in the month, it is quite an achievement and a testimony of the quality of the genetics.
I would like to point out that both Gnadenfeld F-2 and Voatango produced despite being severely attacked by powdery mildew. Leaves were white, but they pumped out melons, especially Voatango.
The Voatango were tasteless, but it is normal for such a strong plant that gave 40 pounds of melons for a single vine in a super rainy end of summer and fall, where we had something like 380% of the usual amount of rain...
I want to REPEAT what I said earlier in this thread, VOATANGO gave me a flower after a frost (that even killed lots of tomato plants by the way).
I think we have a real winner here...next year seeds will be F-4
By the way, Voatango had a reputation to resist heat and drought going for him before I tried it...
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Post by canadamike on May 26, 2013 22:27:25 GMT -5
Any more info on this .... ODC is a colloidal form of chitosan ....Anybody else trying it out yet??? Cucumber Beetles dessimated me last year All I can tell you is that my client bought a bottle at 300$ for his commercial squash fields that was totally infested by the bugs when I did my inspection run, and had a great harvest. It is NOT sold as a repulsive but a crop ''immune system enhancer''. That is the purpose NASA paid for to help failing crops in the Skylab. MY friend in NC uses it to fight southern pine beetles, I tried it home against the striped cucumber beetles in my melons and cukes, and then very successfully in squash fields that are so friggin big you can't see the end of them.....it worked.... If you need more than what the people here , all experienced and knowledgeable have to say....well, what can I say....there are a lot of people here from whom I will take advice long long long before any printed or written claims...
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Post by canadamike on May 10, 2013 23:51:07 GMT -5
I kind of think like Joseph....the taste is usually not as good with purples, and I thing the chemical coumounds that are responsible for the colour might be part of it..one thing sure, in blind taste, purple carrots will rarely win. Been there done that.
There is one though, almost pure purple, but with a white core, that, to me, taste better than the others, and I have tried many accessions from GRIN of mosty asian carrots ( from the countries ending with ''stan'' and Tuekey and this region.
It is called MORADO or BLACK SPANISH and is available from THOMAS ETTY AND CO'' in England. I distributed alot of them to the folks here in 2008 or 2009. IN my soil, much much tastier tan the other purples, not as sweet as the usual orange nantes, but everybody loved it, The taste is only minimally different, but very pleasing. The core is white with purple splashes or streaks, absolutely beautiful and also small, the tip of the carrot is white, not surprisingly since it is an extension of the core. It is by very very far my favorite purple carrot and sure one I would use in breeding. So long folks, it might take time before I come back...
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Post by canadamike on Feb 9, 2013 19:03:43 GMT -5
I also love Flakkee. Despite being huge, they sweeten like crazy for us up north in the fall. Very tasty for me when I was gardening in clay in Clarence Creek. I also LOVED MORADO, a purple one with white core I ordered from Thomas Etty in England. You can write to them and order a larger amount than what tey sell ( packets) and the prices are really good. It often had purple rays in the white core, very beautiful to look at.
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Post by canadamike on Jan 28, 2013 18:09:04 GMT -5
Gosh are you right....and thanks for sharing the spirit...
Mom is soo happy to have her older son back after so many years, she is getting younger and funnier...
And I feel younger too. For 32 years I was number one, now, on her side, I am number 2, she is ''the'' parental figure still... they can't get it out of their system even if the kids are 55 or almost.
»And in my case, I just LOVE it...really really enjoy it...she is becoming my best friend...And I am becoming her best friend too, and it is pure joy.
I had no clue I could or would live that at my age, but it is happening..
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Post by canadamike on Jan 24, 2013 20:14:01 GMT -5
Joseph, I strongly recommend you get ORANGE from an european friend here, Hristo must have it, Lieven does...I grew it years ago...you want orange...they did not name it ORANGE for no reason. It is also called in french ''JAMBON DE HONGRIE'' (hungarian ham). Best ever for me, very very deep colored. Delicious RAW.
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Post by canadamike on Jan 24, 2013 20:01:15 GMT -5
Quite frankly I think I am gonna love it. Maybe not my brains, but my back for sure...
I'd rather have a perfect loam, but sand is great for a home garden cause you can find enough amendments free or cheap to transform it fast.
I would not farm on that soil, but gardening is a different thing.
Weeding is almost a joy in sand, compared to almost 30 years in pottery clay...not that I love it, we never do, but gosh is it easier and faster...
I do severely miss the space I had in the Ottawa valley. I am lucky to have clients more than happy to lend me free acreage, but it is hours away from home, in the vegetable growing area of Quebec.
In exchange for recommendations about cultivars and so, and because they love the seaweed fertilizer and some problem solving, I get all the space I ever dreamed of and could get 3 times more if I wanted, but it is too far away to work seriously. Last year I had an immense patch of my mass cross melons in the field but could not do a friggin'darn thing with them, so mass-cross it kept being instead of crossing stuff. Aot of them were eaten by Montrealers at the Jean-Talon Market. You know what...although they were going all over the place in terms of looks, the staff loved them.
This summer dad died May 30 and then mom almost died ( she is ok now and even feels great), so I spent a lot of time with her. I was away for 32 years, I missed them so much...dad is gone but mom was my garden ''number one project''...the hell with the rest, I'll have land later but it is, at her age, ''here and now'' with my mother, my greatest treasure.
If the gardens had been closer, it would have been OK. But since it was a 5 hours drive ( back and forth), I let everything go.
How did your summer go? Kind of hard to decifer for me since I do not come here often anymore.
Don't have time for it, like Alan and many others...I come home from traveling late and the last thing I want to do is garden on the web after a day of working in the field...no more energy.
It is sad, but it is life. No energy is no energy...not growing younger here...
Hugs
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Post by canadamike on Jan 17, 2013 22:06:37 GMT -5
I never went against the grain when it came to summer cabbages: I have grown many, especially europeans, but frankly most ended up in friend's cuisine, I have so much to eat in summer and cabbage is more of a winter or cold season veggie for me...
So since apart from a few trials I wanted cabbage in the fall, I grew the regular later cabbages. But for one, which I truely like: EARLY JERSEY WAKEFIELD.
As it stands, I have put it in the ground for early summer eating, mostly by friends, but for a few snacks, later in summer for end of summer and early fall eating and later for winter eating, and I also have left a 50 feet row planted early until the fall to harvest late, and darn!!! It worked in all of those combinations. And the late harvested ones were big, not giants but easily of the side a lot of consumer would be discouraged to buy because of fridge space...
Is it REALLY a summer cabbage?? It sure is one I would bring with me on a desert island...
My only concern is its keeping qualities...the cold storage I had built under the balcony of my new house was a dream come true thing, it kept around fridge temperature all the winter, so it was more than ideal for keeping stuff, and I will probably never end up so lucky again in my life....I had built it the best I could, but the mixture of cement exposure to cold and sun and the type of soil there made it better than any other I ever had or probably will ever have...
Anybody here had experience in keeping them for the winter in more normal, less ideal settings??
I also would like to note that to me, pointed cabbage are superior to round ones to fight the dreaded cabbage worms...
I saw much more worms on the more horizontal exterior leaves than usual, and less on the cabbage itself...Am I having an illusion???
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Post by canadamike on Jan 17, 2013 21:47:12 GMT -5
I second Joseph's list. Pepos are the ones I like the least ( forget growing mixta here) but they are the best producers. Thelma Sanders is by far the queen of production, and I can keep it untill the next harvest, a rare thing in pepos, it is also better tasting than most in my opinion.
I keep them for almost a year with only very minimal loss. And it is not only a one year thing, it's been like that for many years.
I have no problems with moschatas and maximas, both do very well, but I sure can eat the first moschata first and I am left with less immature ones.
Mixtas make it too, but lots of babies that are too young and a few that are ready...
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Post by canadamike on Jan 17, 2013 21:39:05 GMT -5
Hristo will tell us what they are, they have a name like ''false...'' a nut of some sort. I simply do not remember the name, it is an uncommon european fruit/nut tree, absolutely magnificent in flower, and the nuts are edible...I looked them up on the net, I lived way too far north for them, but Mike can make it in a protected area I think...
I remember thinking: trimmed to be short(it is already bushy) it would make it in winter at Mike's covered in snow...
Hristo..come in please please please...
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Post by canadamike on Jan 9, 2013 21:35:16 GMT -5
I recommend to all growers to use molasses in their fertilizing mix, organic or not. They help the bacterial fauna/flora like crazy, and diluted in a foliar spray, provide sugras right where they are needed, Most of the good pot growers use molasses in foliar feeding arounf here.
I really do not care for pot, I do not grow it nor do I want anything to do with it, but as Michael Pollan sais in the ''botany of desire'' they are the best gardeners in the world. They use the best techniques and go for quality over volume...id only we could spend as much money for our crops...
But there is a bright side...the pot plant does not know it is drugs...but they know they want it to flower a lot.....we are back to simple business, with different economics...most of them use molasses, »I do, and God knows I do not grow pot or else illegal....
My theory, which has to be confirmed ( but meanwhile, waiting for a scientifuc explanation to come it works,,,so the explanation has to follow the success) is that plants need to produce nectar, which is sugar, and if you give it some it will make the job easier...
Anyway, the bacterias in the soil judst love molasses.
I have a cleint, an organic grower, who one year bought up the leftover molasses from his AG COOP, HE PAID ALMOST NOTHING FOR IT, THEY WANTED TO GET RID OF IT...5 TONS IN HIS 50 ACRES....he had the harvest of his life...
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Post by canadamike on Jan 1, 2013 0:16:07 GMT -5
I want to take a few minutes to wish you all a wonderful holiday season and I wish you the best 2013 possible.
I can't aford the time to be here as much as I would want anymore, but you are all in my heart...
God bless you all
MIchel
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Post by canadamike on Dec 24, 2012 19:35:52 GMT -5
I used to contribute a lot here, and Alan and I would even spend a lot of time on the phone talking about the forum, I have worked hard to make it more international, but alas, I do not have the luxury of time to contribute much anymore, such is life. Alan has the same problem...Even I was here more often than him this summer.
We all have different lives. Mine is now all around agriculture, but I travel sooo much for my job that when I come back home, usually late at night, or the next week, I do not have enough energy to contribute.
Agriculture is my job now, it was my dream then...now it has to pay for the food...and it is a lot of work, not all rewarding financially...but it is a great way of life.
It takes away any kind of freedom though, apart from the freedom to live from it...I have to add that my job asks me to travel extensively, if I was a producer it would be different, I could be here more often, but not as much as I used to be, more like in the range of the organic farmers who are part of this community...
But this place is still the most important one there is for me...in a way I feel pain for not being able to see my child grow...
Hugs to all, and thanks Joseph to keep the faith..
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Post by canadamike on Dec 22, 2012 21:53:01 GMT -5
King of the North always made it for me and my friends, though I am staying away of bells as much as I can and have been doing so for years.
Doe Hill is perfect, so is Alma Paprika, I have a triumvirate, and TOPEPO ROSSO is the number 3. Absolutely exquisite taste, productive, the best red roaster I have seen, beats the crap off the supposedly roasting peppers, a name for ''too thinned fleshed''...
Alma Paprika is the best pizza pepper I have tasted...The teenagers in my neck of the woods would love my pizza and its ''special'' taste...read Alma...with only a small pinch of heat...
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