John Dysinger

AdAgrA 2021: Hidden Treasure

Strawberries for Pleasure and Profit

Barry Mosier

AdAgrA: Adventist Agriculture Association

02 Strawberries

So I think we've talked, we talked in the first hour about some of the big challenges, kind of unique challenges of strawberries.

1 is the rain, which, you know, springs tend to be rainy, and that's right when your fruit is developing.

And then the third 1, which is kind of, well, it's very much related to the rain, is the disease issues.

Yeah, so So we're just gonna go through those in particular and give a little more Detail and thoughts Again, I would refer you to the handout that I have done.

And I think Barry actually has some handouts he's going to be giving out here.

But in there, it's got links to, in our part of the country, North Carolina State University has done a lot of the pioneering research on these methods.

Because basically they took what was being done in California and Florida and adapted it for the southeast, for Carolinas, Tennessee, Georgia, and everything.

So anyway, there's links in the handout to articles that go into like frost protection in depth, you know, way more than we can do here.

And it's interesting with frost protection, just to comment, that, you know, it's strange to me that John is fighting frost so much and spraying his berries in Tennessee and in Minnesota where I'm growing.

I've grown 6 seasons and we've never ever sprayed our strawberries for frost.

We're starting later with the matted row system I'm uncovering those as late as possible to prevent them from blossoming so early And then I never grow early varieties.

I'm scared of them, but I did plant some last year So we're going to find out but and so I've never We've covered our strawberries once for frost, and it still froze them.

I mean, it got down to 28 or something, 26, and it still froze them, but we still got a pretty good production that year in spite of it, it just got a lot of the king berries.

But it's just interesting that because of the plastic culture he's using, he's getting strawberries much, much earlier and fighting frost with it more than we are in Minnesota with the matted row system farming them late.

But again, that brings up the point that if you're not worried about them shutting down from the heat, yeah, you can get later bearing varieties.

You can do things to cause them to bear later.

That's the bottom line with plastic culture.

You're trying to get them to bear earlier.

I will say that we're very much in a frost pocket, which, you know, that's where your best soil is.

And that's where we have gravity flow water.

So we chose that knowing that we were gonna have to deal with frost more than if we were on a hill, you know, we would probably have to frost protect half as much.

Another interesting thing about the frost protection is just that our farm is located on a very slight north slope, and so we're behind most of the strawberry growers in our area by 2 to 3 days every single year.

And I think our plants are getting going a little bit later, and so that also delays us and causes us to have less frost problem.

Another thing that we're going to try this year, because we planted early varieties, we planted a variety called Wendy, and that's very, very early.

And so it could be a week or 2 ahead of our other jewel variety.

And what, I was just talking to somebody I buy some organic fertilizers from, and they have a product that you can spray.

I have a sprayer and we spray foliar on all of the leaves of the field.

And in the spring, after you uncover, they're just fighting, using all the nitrogen they can to grow.

And so you spray them with potassium, and I was just talking to the rep today and he said that will gain you 3 to 5 degrees of protection by spraying them a day ahead of time with potassium and then they get off of that nitrogen kick or nitrogen high they're on and slows them down a little bit and so the frost doesn't hurt them as much.

So that could gain you 3 to 5 degrees and row cover maybe, depending on how thick it is, could save you maybe 2 to 4 degrees.

So there are other methods than spraying.

We've always been a little afraid of the spraying just because like you said, what if the sprayer quits in the middle of the night, your crop's done.

So just quickly, if anyone wants to try to use Irrigation for frost protection and this can be for other things besides strawberries We actually did it on our blueberries this year which I'm not sure how helpful it was but anyway Senninger wobblers are what I recommend for frost protection Not only for frost protection, but just as a general sprinkler, garden sprinkler.

They're cheap, they're very uniform, and they don't freeze up like, you know, traditionally big strawberry farms, they use rain birds, and they have to walk the fields all night when they're frost protecting knocking the ice off the rainbirds and With the wobblers we would just get up every hour so So we we gambled a little bit, but it makes for a very long night I'm telling you especially about the third night.

It's like are we sure we want to grow strawberries?

But the the Senninger wobblers sprinkler heads are plastic and they don't Build up the ice like a metal Rainbird does So I would highly recommend those I know a grower in our area who protected you who protected her strawberries through a 17 degree freeze which most people would never recommend you trying to do that But she did it with wobbler sprinklers.

But just, well again, most of you are not looking at commercial, but you know, you're talking about 45 to 60 gallons a minute to frost protect 1 acre of strawberries.

So you have to have a lot of water when you're going for hours and hours.

And I think, if I remember correctly, it's rated for 3 to 5 degrees.

But the neat thing that you can do, and this is 1 of the benefits that we've found in the last few years, we've standardized all our plot sizes.

So we grow on basically 30 by 100 foot plots and it's very easy to put row covers on a 30 by 100 foot plot.

But when you're putting it on a 300-foot field, putting row covers on is a test of your Christian experience.

Because usually you're putting them on when there's a cold front coming through.

And so it tends to be breezy and it's not easy.

So anyway, just an advantage of small plots.

But the other thing with the small plots is that we can easily double or triple cover them.

In every additional row cover you put on is trapping air between those layers, and you can protect, I mean, with 3 layers of row cover, you can protect most anything.

I mean, I guess I should be careful what I say, but you're going to be hard-pressed to freeze your strawberry flowers with 3 layers of row cover on there.

So that's a simple solution, especially on a home scale.

Just have enough row cover to double or triple cover your plants, and you should be good to go.

Now, ideally, you have a thermometer under the row cover, and growers, you know, have these electronic thermometers with probes, and so they can go around their field and be Monitoring the temperature under the row cover because otherwise you're just kind of guessing But again you know for home scale Just always err on the side of You're not going to hurt the plant overnight by putting on 3 layers of row cover so just air on the side of caution Does that make sense?

Any Any other comments on frost no, I'm ready to move on to rain, okay Yeah so This is kind of a bad picture, but it's the only...

This was actually after we had had a bad windstorm that came through and really kind of bent up our caterpillar tunnel.

So, I guess I'll just go through some things we do for rain protection and then you can go through yours.

So again, the raised plastic covered beds in and of themselves are rain protection because it's keeping the plants up and it's keeping excess water from the plants so that in effect is is rain protection And then of course having individual plants with air flow and sunshine around each plant.

The plants will dry out quicker after a rain or whatever.

And so, you know, that's what you're wanting.

You're wanting to encourage an environment where the plants are as dry as possible.

So again I talked some about spraying organic fungicide.

Oxidate, which is a hydrogen, I think it's actually hydrogen dioxide, but I think it's pretty similar to hydrogen peroxide.

Hydrogen dioxide is a more fancy name of hydrogen peroxide.

So, Oxidate is a hydrogen peroxide-based spray.

I think is So oxidate is is a hydrogen peroxide based spray serenade is a Some kind of beneficial bacteria, I don't remember exactly the name or anything, but again, it's working in that kind of way.

Trilogy is actually a neem-based spray, and Somebody was just sharing with me that they've seen some some harmful effects on on soil life With spraying neem so I don't know I haven't actually used trilogy in quite a few years, so you may want to be careful with that Double nickel is another 1 that again is is some kind of strain of bacteria that attacks certain pathogenic organisms And then, this is something we've been experimenting with over the last couple years and we're actually quite excited about it.

A lot of people have tried growing strawberries in greenhouses, you know, it's like, okay, if rain and frost are a big issue, it makes a lot of sense to grow them in a greenhouse.

But there's a couple downsides that people have found.

We've found it, and I've heard it from others.

Number 1 is just the reality that you're tying up your greenhouse all winter with something that's not even gonna be ripe until spring.

So it doesn't seem like the best use of very prime real estate.

But secondly, Greenhouse environment seems to really Encourage the growth of the spider mites do you deal with spider mites?

Not much problem with those Pretty much anybody I've ever known and I'm seeing some nodding heads back there, pretty much anybody I've ever known that's grown strawberries in greenhouses, or hoop houses, has had major spider mite infestations.

So for those reasons, among others, we have not grown them in our hoop houses But we've come up with this You all are familiar with caterpillar tunnels, maybe.

In fact, I think, is it this evening, maybe?

They're putting 1 up out here during booth time so you can see it for yourself.

But basically, it's a low-cost hoop house that can be put up and taken down relatively easily.

So, sometime in March, well early March ideally, we just erect caterpillar tunnels over, right now it's only a third of our plants, but that gives us some insurance.

It actually, even without any ends on the tunnel, they produce almost a week earlier than those that are outside.

So it's a nice solution and you're not having to spray anything or any of that.

And then somebody was asking me about shade cloth.

We haven't done this yet, but we want to try this spring.

You put shade cloth over it, and I think actually we could take our berries in the caterpillar tunnel longer into the summer than those outside.

01 Strawberries

It's exciting to talk about strawberries, but also a little daunting because there's so much that could and should be said.

I was just counting up, I guess we're anticipating our 23rd strawberry crop this spring.

We started in the, we planted our first crop in the fall of 1998.

So it's been, but the thing I like to remind people of, you know, they think, wow, you've been farming for 23 years, that's crazy, you must know everything.

But actually, you know, how many repetitions of something does it take to master it?

So if you think about it that way, we've only had 23 springs.

We've only had 23 shots at growing strawberries, and There's still a lot of mistakes that we make, and we're still learning a lot.

But before we get going here, I wanted to take a poll of the audience here, and I'm suspecting that most of you are home gardeners or just beginning to look at strawberries.

But let's just see how many of, well let's ask it this way, how many of you are growing commercially or interested in growing commercially?

1 day, yeah, well you got to start somewhere.

Okay, and that means the rest of you, how many, well let's ask this, how many of you have grown strawberries before?

You know, we used to do you pick in the early years and people would drive up to the farm and get out of the car and just breathe in deep and say, oh, this is the life.

And I'm thinking in my mind, actually, I'm not sure you would give anything to do this, because you don't know about the nights we spent up frost protecting and the challenges we had with deer and all of that.

So, everybody loves strawberries when the sun is shining and the birds are singing and the freshness of spring is in the air, but they have no idea what goes into bringing that fruit to maturity.

So I think Barry would agree with me in saying you need to count the cost before you dive in.

Strawberries are not an easy crop to grow.

In fact, I would say they're probably 1 of the more difficult crops to grow.

There's just many things that can go wrong with them.

So, not to discourage you, and we will try to bring it down to a level a home gardener can understand.

But hey, you know, you gotta start somewhere.

And so, we're going to, the nice thing about Barry and I doing this together is that we have Where he's from Minnesota.

I'm from Tennessee have 2 very different climates.

We have 2 very different Growing strategies and that's what this chart here.

I apologize if I'm in the way of anybody.

Berry is growing with the matted row system.

That's the way everybody used to grow strawberries back in Mrs.

In fact, just an interesting tidbit, I'm convinced strawberries were Mrs.

Because if you read all she had to say about agriculture, she mentioned strawberries often.

And wherever they moved, they were always planting strawberries.

So we're in good company if we like strawberries.

And James White wrote a booklet, I'd call it, I think it's 40-some pages, on small fruit growing and talks a lot in there.

That's on the EG White app, I think, right?

So Anyway, let's just look at the differences here, the pros and cons.

So Barry does the matted row, we do plastic culture.

And again, very different systems, and they both have pros and cons.

So the matted row, the pros are it's a lower initial investment.

So you're buying 8, 000 plants in the spring to plant an acre.

With plastic culture, it's 16, 000 to 18, 000.

So with matted row, the plantings last 3 to 5 years.

Up north, for the most part, they're still doing matted row, although plasticulture is creeping north.

This is kind of interesting, but because of the techniques used, the plants flower later in the spring.

With plastic culture, you're actually encouraging them to flower earlier in the spring.

So you have to be prepared to protect from frost.

The pros of plastic culture, it's increased picking efficiency, because matted, and I don't want to say too much, because Barry's going to be talking about this, so I'm trying to just go through this quickly.

With matted row, you're making literally a matted row.

It's just kind of a mass of strawberry plants.

Whereas with plastic culture, you have individual plants.

And if you do it right, you can kind of, you know, pick around the plant.

And of course, because it's covered in plastic, wherever there's plastic, you're not gonna have weeds.

I think an average production for matted roe is 8, 000 pounds.

Sometimes they can get up to 20, 000, but that's not normal.

With plastic culture, an average yield is more like 16, 000 pounds, So a pound per plant.

Now you get into areas like California where they grow them, where they keep producing all summer, they're getting 70, 000 pounds or more per plant.

Less ongoing maintenance with plastic culture.

You know, you don't have to renovate the plants after the season.

You don't have to water, weed, maintain them all summer long.

With plastic culture, it's a 1 shot and you're done.

Plant them in the fall, pick them in the spring, plow them under.

Which some people say, wow, that's a lot of work.

In my mind, it's way less work than trying to keep them, especially in an organic system.

So matted row, the cons, I think the biggest challenge, and again, especially for organic growers, is weeds.

You know, you can't cultivate a matted row.

You can cultivate along the edges and stuff.

Slower picking, you know, again, you're kind of having to look for the berries through the plants.

Potential for higher disease pressure because you don't have the air flow and sunshine around the plants.

Usually you plant the plants in the spring and you don't harvest until the next spring.

So it's a whole year from planting to harvest.

Whereas with plastic culture, it's not a lot different, but we plant in September, harvest in April, May.

Okay, the cons of plastic culture, higher establishment costs.

AdAgrA 2020: A Living Parable

Misc

Lilia Perlee

Baking Bread the Old-Fashioned Way

We've been baking at the farmer's market.

We've been baking at the farmer's market for about 4 years.

I have been baking bread with just regular commercial yeast for about 20 years or so.

But I will tell you that there is never a time when you feel that you got it.

We're still learning I'm right here with you learning still I just learned a new thing that to bake the bread with especially with a The old-fashioned way with 11 you have to use distilled water if you live in the city Because I was visiting and we were using the starter, and it's not working very well with just Chlorinated water because the chlorine has something to do with bacteria, so I'll you will hear more about the starter itself But we will start With a bread of life because God is our bread of life.

And there are lots of things going on about bread, that we should not be eating bread.

If Jesus would think it's not edible he would let us know he would not call himself the bread of life next please I'll have to ask next so leaven in the Bible I'm sure you read this verses before and the people who took the dough before it was leaven having their kneading bowls bound up on their clothes and their shoulders.

Jesus spoke parable unto them, the kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took and hid in 3 measures of meal till the whole was leavened.

Know you not that the little leaven leavens the whole lump.

So what kind of leaven are we talking about?

Did they have this leaven in biblical times?

I'm sure you say no of course they didn't so in Leaven bread in ancient Egypt in ancient Egypt.

I don't know where to go In ancient Egypt the word for bread was the same as the word for life.

Emmer wheat and barley are by far the most common grains of ancient Egypt, while other varieties of these species and some millet have been identified.

In the beginning, the simplest Egyptian bread was made from flour mixed with water and salt, patted into a flat circle with hands, laid on a hot rock next to the fire to cook, like tortilla bread, and nowadays, no leaven.

And it's believed that Egypt produced the first leavened bread, maybe by accident.

1 theory is that yeast landed on some dough left out, the gluten in the flour went to work and the bread puffed up.

A sourdough was employed for leavened bread, That's what people call it, sourdough bread.

And we will go over that a little bit more.

Remnants of a previous batch of dough was mixed with new dough and allowed to ferment or sour overnight.

And what is the difference between different types of East so we'll go into this it's very very important to understand because I am a 73 Adventist and I was when I just came to us my new mother-in-law said we're not supposed to eat sourdough bread.

And then when lots of talks started coming around about Levin or starter, questions start popping in my mind.

And I prayed for 4 months to the Lord to show me the truth.

And I was directed to search the history.

So this is very important for us to start with.

The Egyptians did not have East sealed and foil packs or jars nor did the pilgrims or settlers so we did the families through history get East the answer is simple from family from community they just Like I shared with lots of people, just give them a spoonful.

In the air you breathe, on the bark of trees, on leaves.

And Many times they start leaven with the wild filming.

They just put the whole grape actually in the jar with the flour and water.

So the same film can be found in juniper berries.

For centuries, both berries have been used as natural start for bread yeast.

Natural yeast is sometimes refers to sourdough, but with the right strain of yeast it doesn't have to be sour.

So this is the time when our pioneers lived and started writing the health message.

Until the 19th century, homemade yeast was the only kind there was.

In 1857, Louis Pasteur discovered that living organisms, yeast, were responsible for fermentation.

So in US compressed East cakes you can see that's how the very first commercial East was available compressed East flakes was introduced to the nation at Philadelphia's Centennial Exposition 1876.

So in US, people for the first time saw commercial yeast in 1876, which drew 10 million visitors.

When America entered World War II, yeast companies developed dry yeast for the military, which did not require refrigeration.

And then in 1984, rapid rise in yeast was invented in the US.

1980 also saw another trend, the beginning of continuous spike in celiac disease.

Back to Menu

Presenter

John Dysinger

All Recordings

02 Strawberries

1h 1m

01 Strawberries

56m

Baking Bread the Old-Fashioned Way

54m

Growing Strawberries in the Southeast

51m

Financing Your Farm

1h 2m

Walking (and Working) with God in the Garden

52m

Discouraging Thorns and Thistles

53m

Succession Planting

50m

Devotional

34m

Starting Transplants

50m

Growing Through the Winter

51m

Introduction to Market Gardening - Part 5

56m

Sound Doctrine