Hi I’m Erin and this is Our Wyoming Life
Per square foot the high tunnel produces more pounds of produce than any other part of Erin’s gardens.
Consequently it takes the most maintenance every week to keep the plants producing and
their yield high.
This time of year the plants are at the very beginning of setting their fruit in the high
tunnel.
In some ways this time is the most critical.
We need to keep the plants healthy and prepare them nutrient wise to be able to set lots
of fruit.
The plants have spent up until now establishing their root systems.
Now we start to see their growth focus upward and onto their fruit and vegetable production.
Tomatoes are the bulk of the crop in the high tunnel and therefore the most maintenance
needy.
We’ve already showed you how to string and sucker the plants back in episode 36.
First thing that gets done on maintenance day is to continue to string and sucker the
tomatoes.
This will happen every week until sometime in September.
All of the plants are setting blossoms and some even have little fruit on them.
This is an excellent sign.
Pulling the suckers will allow the plants to continue to put their maximum energy into
producing their fruit.
The cucumbers are also blooming and are ready to be trellised.
As with the tomatoes the cucumbers like to have something to grow up onto.
A cucumbers natural instinct is to climb.
They use these little tendrils to attach onto things and hold on.
We use hog panels to provide them their support.
Some t posts get pounded, being careful to not poke holes in the plastic!
Then the hog panels are brought in and leaned against the posts.
Everything gets clipped together and then we can move the cucumber vines onto the panels.
They won’t immediately grab on.
It usually takes a day or so.
If the wind is high before they’ve anchored themselves this step will have to be redone.
Usually after about a week of coaxing a majority of the vines will have attached themselves
to the panels.
The peppers are the least needy plant in the high tunnel.
They are just doing their thing.
An occasional weed gets pulled that has snuck through the landscape plastic and that’s
it for now.
There are different ways that you can prune peppers for high production but we’ve always
been lucky with more peppers than we honestly need at market so for now no pruning of peppers
happens.
The last step for the day in the high tunnel is to apply an Epsom salt spray to the leaves
of all the plants in the high tunnel.
For the first application 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt are mixed with one gallon of water.
The sprayer is turned on and a mist is applied to all the plants in the high tunnel.
Epsom salt is not actually a salt.
It’s magnesium sulfate.
Magnesium is an important minor nutrient required in gardening.
It helps with higher yields and better blossom set.
More magnesium also allows the plants to take in more nitrogen and phosphorous.
We use a foliar application, meaning that we apply the Epsom salt to the leaves of the
plants.
Through the leaves the magnesium is quickly absorbed and can go to work right away.
For the last 3 years I have been regularly applying Epsom salt to the plants in the high
tunnel.
I will definitely say that it helps.
I always see more blossoms come on after an application.
I also really believe that it helps push the tomatoes to be larger.
The first year I started applying the Epson salt and my tomatoes were small.
I was looking for a way to increase size and came across the recipe for the foliar spray.
Once I started applying the Epsom salt I saw a noticeable increase in the size of the tomatoes.
I will continue to spray the plants every other week throughout the season.
This week my ratio was 2 tablespoons to one gallon of water.
For my next application I will back it down to one tablespoon per gallon.
Although the high tunnel is needy I really enjoy all the hands on work the plants require.
Stringing and suckering and trellising allows me to keep a close eye on all the plants.
Every week I get a good look at their overall health.
I keep an eye out for any pests or visible nutrient deficiencies.
So far this season everything looks amazing and I’m very happy with how everything in
the tunnel is growing.
We’re only a few weeks away from eating the first of our crops!
Make sure you check us out on instagram and facebook for more pictures and short videos
from the ranch and as always thanks for joining me in Our Wyoming Life.