This handout was prepared by Cindy Rubinfine, Pleasant Hill Farm for a workshop offered at the ACORN CONFERENCE, (Atlantic Canada Organic Regional Network) held in Touro. Nova Scotia, February, 2009 . Other Presenters were Mike Rabinowitz, Organic Farm, Newfoundland and Tim Livingston, Jolly Farmer.

VARIETIES
Selwood Green Farm: Carmen. Trials other varieties
Pleasant Hill Farm: Tyria, Sweet Success. Trials other varieties. This year will try piccolino, a mini euro- type cuke.
Organic Farm: Carmen, Garden Sweet, Suyo Long, Tasty Green, Tasty Jade, Tyria
Jolly Farmer: Carmen 2002, Phoenix 2003, and Logica 2004 Phoenix = best harvest but smaller size and Logica = good size and mildew resistance, but poor yield in late fall.

SEEDLINGS
Selwood Green: Started early April in 72 packs, transplanted into 4 inch pots. Selwood Green potting mix. Bottom heat from heat cables 78ºF. Water with fish emulsion or kelp if pale leaves are observed.
Pleasant Hill: Started last week of March in 4 inch pots. Jolly Farmer organic mix. Bottom heat on heat table 72ºF. Water with fish emulsion and kelp once a week after 2 weeks.
Organic Farm: Started April 23 in 72 packs. Pices in a Blue Bag potting soil – organic mix. Greenhouse in a greenhouse – very cold spring, some replanted at the end of June.
Jolly Farmer: Started in 4” pots in our organic mix.

PLANTING IN GREENHOUSE
Selwood Green: June or late May. Beds 5’by 65’. 9 wheelbarrow loads composted manure per bed. 2 rows per bed planted diagonally 18 to 24 inches apart.
Pleasant Hill: Second week of May. Beds 3’by 60’. Nine 5 gallon buckets composted manure per bed. Lime if necessary. 5 lbs. kelp meal per bed. One row per bed 18” spacing.
Organic Farm: Only 3 days above 10C until July 2. Planted second week of July in two rows 6 feet apart, plants 18 inches apart in row. Greenhouse fertilized as the remainder of the farm, for 1000 sq feet - 1.5 kg Potassium Sulphate, 2 kg kelp, 6 kg organic alfalfa meal, 2 kg Envirem certified manure pellets, 1 handful of lignite (lime if necessary).
Jolly Farmer: Planted in buckets or in bags on their sides each containing our organic mix. Spaced at 1.2-1.4 plants per square meter.

GREENHOUSE TEMPERATURE
Selwood Green: Heats with Kerr hot air wood furnace. Strives for 65 to 70 F nights, and 78 to 82 days.
Pleasant Hill: Heats with wood stove in greenhouse, with a fan behind it. Strives for 65 F nights and 75 to 80 F days.
Organic Farm: No heat source other than the sun, which is not always predictable.
Jolly Farmer: Planted in buckets or in bags on their sides each containing our organic mix. Spaced at 1.2-1.4 plants per square meter.

MULCHES
Selwood Green: none
Pleasant Hill: After 2 weeks top dress lightly with finished compost, mulch with hay and grass clippings. Grassed paths between beds.
Organic Farm: none

IRRIGATION
Selwood Green: Drip irrigation , 1 line per row. About 3 times per week 3-4 hours.
Pleasant Hill: Drip irrigation 2 lines per row of cukes. About 3 times per week 2-3 hours.
Organic Farm: Soaker hose for drip irrigation, 1 line per row, about 3 times every 2 weeks.

FERTIGATION
Selwood Green: Manure tea one liter per plant per week .by hand. Foliar feeding starting when harvesting has started. Once a week: Calcitrol 75 ml in 15 L water. Also MgSo4 ( Epsom salts) 1 lb in 15 L water. Every other week: Kelp 2/3 cup to 15 L water.
Pleasant Hill: Fertigation through drip. Kelp once per week, fish once per week. Epsom salts once or twice per season.
Organic Farm: Foliar Spray, Envirem salmon emulsion, once per week
Jolly Farmer: Liquid fertilized through the drip irrigation system using Rain Grow 4-2-3 plus some sulfates for Potassium, Magnesium and other deficiencies

PESTS
Selwood Green: Spider mites, cuke beetles. Have used Trounce, insecticidal soap, pyrethrins.
Pleasant Hill: occasionally aphids- Introduce predators selected according to aphid type.
Organic Farm: Foliar Spray, Envirem salmon emulsion, once per week, keeps the greenhouse free of aphids and white flies. No other pests.
Jolly Farmer: Prefer beneficial insects over trying to spray.

PRUNING
Selwood Green: Clip to twine with tomato clips, twist clockwise. Remove sucker and cuke first 10 nodes. Next 10 alternate removing sucker and leaving cuke with removing both. Next 2 nodes remove cuke but leave sucker and let it have one cuke before removing sucker. Repeat. Lower plants when they reach the cable .Discard twisted or curved cukes.
Pleasant Hill: Clip to twine. Remove first 10 suckers and cukes .Then let cukes grow but remove all suckers .Lower plants when they reach the cable. Discard twisted or curved cukes .Cukes are trained to a V cordon. Each row has 2 cables above it, 30” apart. Support strings are tied alternately to each wire, creating a V arrangement down the row.
Organic Farm: pruned according to the Canadian Department of Agriculture Guidelines.
Jolly Farmer: Used main leader then kept one sucker at the wire.

HARVEST
Selwood Green: Harvests 5 days per week .Long and slightly plump. Air cool in cooler. Line boxes with plastic.
Pleasant Hill: Harvest at least 4 times per week. Cool in tubs of cold water. Store in plastic bags in picnic coolers.
Organic Farm: Harvest as necessary, air cool in cooler.
Jolly Farmer: Harvest 10 weeks in summer/fall with harvest amounts of 20-28 cukes per square meter of greenhouse or 16-25 cukes per plant.

LENGTH OF HARVEST
Selwood Green: About 12 weeks, averaging 500-600 cukes most weeks from eight 65’ rows.
Pleasant Hill: About 14 weeks, averaging about 200 cukes most weeks from four 60’ beds.
Organic Farm: In 2008 about 7 weeks, 100 cucumbers per week from 2 56 foot rows.
In 2007 about 12 weeks, 100 cucumbers per week from 2 56 foot rows.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS
Both Selwood Green and Pleasant Hill use window screen on the greenhouses to exclude cuke beetles and bees. For seedless cukes, this is important to avoid pollination.
Organic Farm: Lack of heat primary problem. Sometimes leads to mildew. No significant insect problem.

USEFUL REFERENCES

Growing Greenhouse Vegetables Publication 371. Ontario Ministry of Agriculture www.omaf.gov.on.ca

Handbook of Vegetable Pests. Capinera Academic press

Knowing and Recognizing the biology of glasshouse pests and their natural enemies Malais and Ravensberg. Available from Koppert

Florida Greenhouse Vegetable Production Handbook Volume 3
University of Florida Cooperative extension service
www4.agr.gc.ca/resources/
edis.ifas.ufl.edu/CV268
________________________________________________________________________
For more information.
Norbert Kungel, Selwood Green: minga.norbert@ns.sympatico.ca:
Tim Livingston, Jolly Farmer: info@jollyfarmer.com www.jollyfarmer.com
Cindy Rubinfine, Pleasant Hill Farm: cindyrviola@gmail.com
Mike Rabinowitz, Organic Farm: organicfarm@nl.rogers.com