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So you will grow on string and do lean and lower? Or use the high lift vehicle to prune and harvest? For vine crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplan

So you will grow on string and do lean and lower? Or use the high lift vehicle to prune and harvest? For vine crops (tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers, eggplants), we use a high wire system. The stems are clipped to the wire as the crop grows upwards. The entire wire (and crop) is then lowered as fruits are harvested to make room for more growth. We keep the same crop for an entire year. I've been in some of the greenhouses in Mexico, (Sinaloa to be exact) growing peppers and Asian eggplants. They were fairly simple plastic houses but had strict entry protocols including booties and yellow sticky trap mazes to enter. Pest and disease management is a big deal in greenhouses as they spread quickly given that it is an indoor environment. In Mexico, more high-tech plastic greenhouses are being built. They are cheaper than the Dutch glass equivalent but still have a high degree of actuation. In Mexico, there is so much light, that you don’t need the high light transmissivity of glass. There is a more complex industrial greenhouse I saw in Utah growing tomatoes on string. Very tall, unfortunately I didn't get to go in. It's next to a power plant and they pipe the expelled CO2 into the greenhouse for increased crop production. I believe it was started by Dutch growers. I’ve been to this facility. It was built by a company called Houwelings which are a Canadian company with Dutch heritage. Unfortunately it was not operated well and it has recently gone through a restructuring [1]. I agree on greenhouse quality 100% but but am personally a big fan of soil and compost and dislike hydroponics. Nearly religiously so haha. There’s a case for soil vs hydroponics but the reality is that you can’t supply year-round at the quality and price that consumers expect without hydroponics. Also I didn't realize you were founder of this company. I thought you were just a guy on the internet. I am both :) People think because something looks like a tomato it is all the same. But there is a huge difference in flavor and nutrition as you correctly point out and the idea of optimizing for nutritional quality is so overlooked. You can grow high taste varieties and low taste varieties in greenhouses. Which variety you choose is a simple ROI calculation like in any business. A big problem in the US today is that greenhouses have been built in Canada and Mexico and the produce is trucked a long distance. This results in significant quality degradation vs growing locally. We aim to fix this in the US and in other countries. [1]: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sunset-continues-to-grow-west-mastronardi-adds-utah-to-locally-grown-network-301567257.html https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sunset-continues-to...

mythrwy 4y ago
Interesting. I'll have to take your word on the necessity of hydroponics to meet quality at a price point year around because don't have enough detailed knowledge. I currently live in southern New Mexico which I suppose is really northern Mexico if you removed the political lines. Yes, sun is not lacking here at all. The problem here is intense heat and scorching sun and wind and hard water. Crops like tomato and bell pepper do not really produce outside (fruit fails to set except for a couple months, bell-pepper the size of habanero if you are lucky enough to get one or two). People have tried greenhouses but they are too hot. Some have tried with wetwalls but the hard water quickly ruins them. Several abandoned attempts (not to your scale obviously) sit around town as a warning to others. I've been experimenting in this area for a few years and finally last year was able to grow a massive crop of tomatoes (that set fruit all summer) and full sized bell peppers. Even a rhubarb which the sun would fry normally. I built a metal hoop house and covered it with 40% aluminet which is a reflective shade cloth, no doubt you are familiar. Normally I guess removing 40% of the light would be an issue but there is just _so_ _much_ _sun_ and my feeling is it probably compares to normal atmosphere and cloud cover in say, England but don't have any hard numbers. I was really surprised how well it worked and what I was able to grow. I left it open to air circulation with no plastic. It cut the harsh winds down to a nice breeze. I did have an early problem with aphids in some crops (exactly right about the threat of pests in greenhouses and pseudo greenhouses like mine). Next year I'll be introducing lacewings and minute pirate bugs with wheast very early and hope to avoid as much soap spray and cursing. I'm expanding the tunnel over the winter (got 3000 square feet aluminet but will only use maybe 600-800) and trying a number of different indeterminate tomato varieties on string with clips. Then lean and lower as they reach the top. Similar (but smaller and not as pro) to what you are doing. My medium is 1/3 peat, 1/3 composted cotton burrs and mushroom compost and homemade compost, the rest sand and perlite with bone meal, blood meal, calmag and micros, traces of clay and some crushed volcanic stone. Also water holding crystals. Growing in 7 gallon bags. Fish emulsion and kelp compost blends primarily for fertilizer. All water is run through an osmosis system I built with an RV softener and undersink RO parts into a 300 gallon tank then pumped. Open (or non enclosed with translucent cover) aluminet is a real game changer in this region and I've wondered if it could be commercially viable to expand the range of crops that could be grown locally. It also holds in some heat and I evaded the first 3 frosts still producing tomato and pepper. But for now am just puttering and experimenting and enjoying some really excellent tomato and peppers! Thanks for the info anyway. This truly is such a fascinating topic and your plans and company are impressive.

mythrwy 4y ago

Interesting. I'll have to take your word on the necessity of hydroponics to meet quality at a price point year around because don't have enough detailed knowledge. I currently live in southern New Mexico which I suppose is really northern Mexico if you removed the political lines. Yes, sun is not lacking here at all. The problem here is intense heat and scorching sun and wind and hard water. Crops like tomato and bell pepper do not really produce outside (fruit fails to set except for a couple months, bell-pepper the size of habanero if you are lucky enough to get one or two). People have tried greenhouses but they are too hot. Some have tried with wetwalls but the hard water quickly ruins them. Several abandoned attempts (not to your scale obviously) sit around town as a warning to others. I've been experimenting in this area for a few years and finally last year was able to grow a massive crop of tomatoes (that set fruit all summer) and full sized bell peppers. Even a rhubarb which the sun would fry normally. I built a metal hoop house and covered it with 40% aluminet which is a reflective shade cloth, no doubt you are familiar. Normally I guess removing 40% of the light would be an issue but there is just _so_ _much_ _sun_ and my feeling is it probably compares to normal atmosphere and cloud cover in say, England but don't have any hard numbers. I was really surprised how well it worked and what I was able to grow. I left it open to air circulation with no plastic. It cut the harsh winds down to a nice breeze. I did have an early problem with aphids in some crops (exactly right about the threat of pests in greenhouses and pseudo greenhouses like mine). Next year I'll be introducing lacewings and minute pirate bugs with wheast very early and hope to avoid as much soap spray and cursing. I'm expanding the tunnel over the winter (got 3000 square feet aluminet but will only use maybe 600-800) and trying a number of different indeterminate tomato varieties on string with clips. Then lean and lower as they reach the top. Similar (but smaller and not as pro) to what you are doing. My medium is 1/3 peat, 1/3 composted cotton burrs and mushroom compost and homemade compost, the rest sand and perlite with bone meal, blood meal, calmag and micros, traces of clay and some crushed volcanic stone. Also water holding crystals. Growing in 7 gallon bags. Fish emulsion and kelp compost blends primarily for fertilizer. All water is run through an osmosis system I built with an RV softener and undersink RO parts into a 300 gallon tank then pumped. Open (or non enclosed with translucent cover) aluminet is a real game changer in this region and I've wondered if it could be commercially viable to expand the range of crops that could be grown locally. It also holds in some heat and I evaded the first 3 frosts still producing tomato and pepper. But for now am just puttering and experimenting and enjoying some really excellent tomato and peppers! Thanks for the info anyway. This truly is such a fascinating topic and your plans and company are impressive.