How To Set Up Fertigation System

Residue income from season to season with fertigation

Seasonal demand, changing inputs, and availability of infinite are merely a few factors that can change the growing and selling opportunities for farmers. Farmers ready to accept advantage of those opportunities with dissimilar crops and grow methods are more successful overall.

Fertigation is i method that can be used aslope other techniques.

Compared to field crops, fertigation offers:

• less evaporation from irrigation
• less water loss from runoff
• higher yield
• better nutrient management

Haydn Christensen at Colorado Fresh Farms (previously known as Bayberry Fresh) ran a two-hoophouse fertigation system for Sugariness 100 cherry tomatoes this summertime. As nosotros caput into autumn here on the east side of the Rockies, we got to take a closer await at how the fertigation organisation is fix up, how it works, and what Haydn will approach differently in the coming yr.

See the Colorado Fresh Farm system:

What is fertigation?

Fertigation is the precise application of nutrient solutions (fertilizers) through irrigation.

In a contained system, fertigation is similar to run-to-waste hydroponics, where a solution is run once through the media. Instead of recirculating and being adjusted to the right EC and pH range, however, the leftover solution is drained.

Farmers tin can redistribute the runoff water to other crops (Haydn uses information technology for his exterior crops), simply oftentimes there isn't much runoff at all.

In well-sized systems with adept media, fertigation tin can be a perfect match to plant needs. Haydn runs his single pump on a timer to irrigate every two or three hours, depending on the time of the season. Occasionally he gets a modest puddle at the end of his irrigation system, simply never more than a few gallons.

How does a farmer run fertigation?

Fertigation systems run in a system with media instead of soil and are essentially run-to-waste matter hydroponic systems; a solution concentrate is kept in a mixing tank (Haydn uses l-gallon barrels for this) and injected into a sump tank with an injector, which mixes the solution to a sure EC.

The maintenance for fertigation systems can be quite simple: Haydn mixes concentrate every 3–4 days, tops off the water when it starts to go low and does walk-throughs a couple times a day.

Every at present and then, a dripper is knocked from the pot or gets clogged. If he's unlucky, a pump might fire out. Otherwise, arrangement maintenance is largely preventative.

Crop timeline for crimson tomatoes in fertigation

The arrangement set up is fairly simple. In Jan, Hadyn starts the tomatoes from seed. He leaves the seeds in a clammy paper towel in the dark for four days, until they are only outset to fissure. Then he chooses the germinating seeds and plants them in rock wool cubes using tweezers.

The process takes precision, but ensures almost 100% germination rate in the stone wool and reduces his textile costs. To plant 800 plants (two hoop houses worth), it takes Haydn 4-5 hours.

While the seedlings mature, Haydn fills his pots or numberless (this summer he used both) with media. This is a more fourth dimension-consuming task and takes him about 2 weeks to finish by himself. When the seedlings are gear up and the greenhouses are warm enough, they are transplanted into the pots and brought into the greenhouse.

The tomatoes are maintained and harvested from February to October. Past the end of Oct, Hadyn has tapered off labor and irrigation and harvested the last of the tomatoes.

Materials and tools

Haydn uses 3-gallon plant nursery pots that can handle 2 "leaders" (the main vine on a tomato institute). After running an experiment his outset year with sand, Haydn settled on the more sustainable and water-property coco coir as his media.

Following his mantra, "keep it unproblematic", Haydn sources nearly of his irrigation supplies from Home Depot. Poly lines and two GPH drippers were the staples of the irrigation system.

Tomatoes demand a trellising system, which tin be built with posts and wire, usually with actress support from the greenhouse. Each wire holds Tomahooks  which connect to vine clips for a lean-and-lower system. This system lowers the plant as information technology grows, maximizing space and cleanliness.

Pricing scarlet tomatoes

Each farmer should do some asking around to find the price lists that are most relevant to their area. (Learn more than most choosing your markets in this Upstart University course). For Haydn, pricing was based on farmers market place pricing found in online survey reports and his own experience.

At the farmers' market, Haydn sold fresh ripe cherry tomatoes for $3/pint. To the school commune, who bought in greater volume, Haydn sold the tomatoes for $30-36 per example depending on the time of the flavour. During the summertime months, he harvested about 35 from a hoop business firm with 400 plants. By the cease of October, that had slowed down to xxx cases.

Haydn suspects that he tin increase that yield with improvements on next year's organisation and with more streamlined labor.

Why use fertigation over recirculating systems?

Haydn's choice of fertigation was based on resources, opportunities, and situation. This is a smart way to arroyo the method decision using these three questions:

1) What unique resources exercise I take at my disposal?

Haydn was able to source his pots for 10¢ apiece used, and found that he could source coco coir locally. He could outfit his whole greenhouse with fairly depression overhead costs.

Haydn also got two used hoop houses and had the land to set them upwards, then space wasn't a major limiting factor.

2) What sales and marketing opportunities do I have?

Haydn sold tomatoes primarily to the Boulder Schoolhouse District and at farmers' markets. Together they built enough demand to brand the tomato operation worthwhile.

3) Do I have unique situational constraints or considerations?

Sometimes, y'all won't identify unique constraints until the flavour is ending. This is when it's smart to plan those considerations into next year's operation!

Improving the procedure for next year

Haydn will leave this system up for use next leap and summer. Over the winter, he'll prepare up ceiling tresses and a slab/gutter arrangement to collect runoff for use elsewhere. His goal is to keep costs the same, and with building mostly out of the style, he can focus in on maximizing production.

Learning to farm? Become a well-rounded instruction.

As Haydn shows us, business planning and sales are just as important to a good farm as growing the crops is. Haydn wisely diversifies his income stream and always has a plan for consistent income year round. This is a good way to eliminate risk for any business organization.

If you lot're looking for assist on concern planning, finding demand for your produce, and managing a small farm business, and then look no further; Upstart University has over 30 courses (and counting) tailored particularly for pocket-sized startup farmers.

You can enroll today or try out a 1-week free trial.

Source: https://university.upstartfarmers.com/blog/profitable-fertigation-system-hoophouse

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