Greenhouse Maintenance and Equipment

1. Greenhouse Maintenance and Equipment Tracey Cortez tcortez@austinisd.org

2. So you have a greenhouse… • Now what? • Teaching? • Fundraising? • Research? • Production? • Student Projects? • All of the above???

3. Weeds • Solarize the greenhouse • Manually remove • Round Up • Pramitol • Rock Salt • Newspaper as a barrier

4. Fans and Pads • Clean your pads once a year • Let them dry out • Knock off the algae and mineral deposits • Use Zerotol, Triatholon, or barley straw to control algae • Do not use bleach!!! • Fans • Service your fans once a year • Tighten or change belts • Keep extra belts on hand • Keep and extra motor on hand

5. Glazing Materials • Clean your glazing material once a season • Just like washing windows • Dirt and dust will diminish your light levels • Use a hose with some soap • Rinse off well

6. Disinfecting • Disinfect your greenhouse after each crop • Allow the greenhouse to be empty each year for a couple of weeks so that you can clean really well • Limit your chances of diseases and insect outbreaks • Clean irrigation system as well • Zerotol or Triathalon • Use a Foaming Sprayer to apply the chemical – available from Nasco

7. Fertilizer Injectors • Service your fertilizer injector once a year • Send the unit to the company • If the injector will not work soak it in a bucket of water for 24 hours • Keep an extra injector on hand • You will need to have an RPZ backflow preventer installed before you injector • I recommend Dosmatic Injectors

8. Irrigation Supplies • Dramm • Red Head Water Breaker • Color Storm No Kink Hoses • Heavy Duty Shut Off Valves • Netafim • Filters • Pressure Compensating Drippers • Drip Line • Dripper Accessories • Weights • Drip Stakes

9. Chemical Applicators • Dramm • Chemdose - $2000 • Apply chemical solution pot by pot • MSO Sprayer - $1500 • Hydraulic sprayer • Mini Autofog - $2500 • Applies chemical solution in a fine mist • Controlled by a timer • Pump Sprayers • Gilmour Professional Quality • Hand or Backpack • Use spray tank cleaner! • Neutralize

10. Compost Tea • Aerobic Brewer • 10 Gallon - $500 • 24 Hours to Brew • Growing Solutions • Composting Vessels • BW Organics • Compost Project Center Waste, Food Scraps, Lawn Scraps, etc • 1 Yard a Day Machine - $26,000 • Vermicompost

11. Greenhouse Building and Repair • BWI Grower Technical Sales • Ludy Greenhouses – Sylvia Courtney • Stuppy Greenhouses – Jerry Haines

12. Chemicals I Use • Insecticides • Fungicides • Growth Regulators • Fertilizers • Read Labels and keep a copy of the MSDS Sheets • Use IPM Techniques to Control Insects and Diseases

13. Insects • Yellow and Blue Sticky Cards • Use Lady Bugs and Parasitic Wasps • Get rid of infected plants • Use water to loosen and remove insects • Insecticides: • Insecticidal Soap – M-Pede • Tame/Orthene followed by Preclude Aerosols • Tristar

14. Fungi and Diseases • Manage moisture in the greenhouse • Allow plants to dry slightly between waterings • Water the soil not the leaves • Fungicides • Actinovate • Banrot • Use as a drench and follow the directions

15. Growth Regulators • Keep plants uniform and internodes short • B-Nine • Spray, very forgiving • Bonzi • Spray or drench, not forgiving • Florel • Spray, not forgiving, cheap • Flowers will abort for 6 weeks

16. Fertilizers • Compost Tea • Milorganite • Scotts Pro Horticulture • Use a fertilizer injector

17. Pots and Soil • Elle Pots • Paper Liner filled with Soil • TMAC Nurseries, Angleton, Texas • Dillen Pots • 6.5” Azaleas • 10” Hanging Baskets • Soil • Pro Mix BX • Pro Mix HP

18. Supply Dealers • BWI • Kenny Bonded

19. What to grow? • Bedding Plants • Potted Crops • Hanging Baskets • Specimen Plants • Mixed Containers • Topiaries • Any other ideas?

20. What We Grow Poinsettias Ellisons Greenhouses Christmas Cacti Whitton Greenhouses Pansies Raker Vegetables Grown from Seed Herbs Grown from Seed Bedding Plants 40 varieties Raker or North Carolina Plant Farm Seed Seeds Park Seed or Burpee

21. What are you doing? • Any new ideas?