Sorry, not trying to sound like a nag. Let’s call this a reminder so we may remain friends. We’ve had a bit of a January thaw and February is upon us. There are certain things you should be doing if you haven’t started already. Important things. Things that in hard economic times become even more necessary and make even more sense because we can’t afford to have anything go wrong. Starting out on the right foot is more important than it ever was.
The following is a short list of things you should have done, should be doing right now, or will need to do in the near future if you’re a greenhouse grower in the northern part of the country. If you want to avoid trouble this year that is.
- Clean your greenhouse, pots, benches, all of it. The more you clean, the more you’ll remove. And by “remove” we don’t mean just pests and debris, a good clean up will help prevent diseases as well. Cleanliness and organization are good.
- Make a scouting schedule and start as soon as you put anything organic in your greenhouse, even if it’s just media without emerging plants. You can still check for gnats. You cannot start too early, but you can definitely be too late.
- Learn about good bugs and bad, and learn what to look for now so you can spot them as early as possible. Don’t wait until you see something to start the learning process. If you wait that long it may be too late to deal with whatever it is effectively and economically.
- Establish a relationship with us or whoever you’ll buy good bugs from. Understand ordering delays, shipping schedules, the works. It’s much better to do this now than on some Friday afternoon after just learning you have pests.
- If you’ve planted already or if you’ve just started potting your media and planting seeds, you really need to apply something like Hypoaspis miles now. They can help with gnats and other soil pests, and thrips. They last a really long time and are a good thing to start with.
- Make connections. Go to your cooperative extension office or whoever you feel might be a good resource. Tell them you want to avoid dealing with pests this year and ask them point blank if they can help. Also try grower associations or anything else you may have at your disposal. If things go south you want to know ahead of time where to turn.
There are many things you can do and probably will do to help ensure 2009 is a survivable, even profitable, year. It’d be a shame to have some little bug get between you and the success you’re gearing up for. Don’t give up, just get up and do what needs to be done while it’s still wise to do so.
