D26—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 12,1984
Farming under glass
(Continued from Page D 25)
itially to Japanese, Chinese, and
Italian restaurants in the Nor
theast. These gourmet mushrooms
are much larger, darker and
firmer than the commercial button
mushrooms grown in Penn
sylvania. Shiitakes grow on oak
logs rather than in compost, and in
filtered sunlight rather than in
damp, moist darkened beds.
Green Empire plans to build a 1-
acre greenhouse next year that
will be used to grow these
mushrooms during the winter
months, and as a warehouse. The
Shiitake mushrooms are harvested
in spring and fall. The owners plan
to control the temperature and
lighting in the greenhouse to
simulate harvesting-season condi
tions throughout the winter.
Light and tomatoes
Peppendge Farm Inc. has been
experimenting with supplemental
lighting since it built its original 1-
acre greenhouse at the Montour
site in 1982. The company is using
high-pressure sodium vapor and
metal-halide lights to determine if
supplemental lighting used to
enhance the growth of tomatoes is
economically practical. PP&L is
HAVING SOI
Here’s A Ti
Be sure you
The new higher-powered
more lime each apphcat
soil that tests to pH7
Ma
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assisting in this research project.
The Peppendge Farm tomatoes,
which are sold to gourmet markets
in the Northeast, are grown
hydropomcally. During the com
pany’s peak season, 50,000 pounds
of tomatoes are shipped from the
greenhouse each week.
The company expanded its
greenhouse to 6 acres in 1983, after
market research indicated that the
tomatoes would be a profitable
product for the company. Pep
pendge Farm’s long-range plans
call for phased expansion of its
Montour operation during the next
five years.
Bryfogle’s Inc. was the first
grower to build a greenhouse at the
Montour site. The original 3-acre
greenhouse was completed in
December 1980; a 3-acre addition
was completed in late 1983. A wide
variety of flowers, including
poinsettias, geraniums, gloxinias,
bedding plants, Easter lilies and
other holiday crops, are raised in
the two greenhouses.
Floor-heating system
Both the Bryfogle and Pep
peridge Farm greenhouses make
use of a unique, warm-water floor
heating system designed by
Rutgers University’s Department
COW MATS
Use our unique methdd of install
ing a one piece mat under a row
of cows. Prevents movement
of mat and bedding from
creeping underneath.
All "row" and single
mats are cut from
heavy one inch
rubber belting.
of Biological and Agricultural
Engineering. A 20-inch-diameter
supply pipeline, buried three feet
underground, transfers warm
water from the Montour power
plant’s condenser-cooling system
to the greenhouses.
Inside each greenhouse, miles of
J/ 4-mch-diameter plastic pipes are
embedded in gravel just beneath a
porous concrete floor. The warm
water flows from the supply
pipeline to the pipes beneath the
greenhouse floor, and is then
returned to the power plant. The
system acts as a heat exchanger to
warm the greenhouses.
PP&L leases the land where the
greenhouses are located to each of
the growers.
The only-waste-heat greenhouse
complex in the world that’s larger
than the Montour project is a 20-
acre greenhouse in England. The
first commercial waste-heat
greenhouse in the United States
was built near a power plant owned
by Northern States Power Co. of
Minnesota. The original 1-acre
greenhouse, where roses are
grown, was built in 1978 and has
since been expanded to 5 acres.
Bryfogle’s greenhouse, built two
years later, is the second commer
cial waste-heat greenhouse in the
United States. The floor-heating
system used in the Bryfogle
greenhouse has served as a model
Beat
the
Heat
with
Eggs
lA i#e MAX
1 <>
j “ s*-- * -
-
*** 499
Mower
Conditioner
for many other greenhouses in the growers, and utility represen
world. tatives from around the world,
state and federal government of-
Thousands have toured the Mon- ficials, national news media and
tour greenhouses during the past area groups, from cub scouts to
three years, including scientists, garden clubs.
It’s time to control bag worms
' i t*ARK, Del.
•; the annual onslaught of
bagworms. These familiar insect
pests hatch around the beginning
of June. Unless you take
precautions, they could damage or
even kill your ornamental plants.
Bagworms feed on many kinds of
plants. Sycamores, willows,
maples and other broadleaved
species usually can recover from a
complete defoliation. But ar
borvitae, southern white cedars,
red cedars, junipers, spruces and
pines cannot.
To control bagworms, you need
to understand their life cycle, says
University of Delaware extension
county agent Bob Hochmuth.
Bagworms overwinter in the egg
stage inside cases, or “bags”,
hanging from trees or bushes.
After the eggs hatch, the young
larvae crawl around the plant,
eating foliage and spinning long
threads of silk on which they crop
to other branches. As they hand
suspended on the threads, the wind
carries some of them to other
trees. This is the way bagworms
spread.
Soon after emerging, each tiny
larva begins spinning a protective
bag around itself, leaving an
opening at the head end to permit
crawling and feeling. As it feeds, it
attaches small pieces of leaves or
needles to its case, expanding the
case as it continues to grow.
By late August the bagworm is
fully grown. Still in its bag, it
settles into the resting or pupal
stage. During September and early
October, males emerge and fly to
cases containing females, where
IK
847
Round
Baler
Farm Equipment, Inc.
mating takes place. Females stay
in the bags, where they die, but the
eggs remain in their bodies and
hatch the following June.
A bagworm infestation usually
goes unnoticed until the damage
becomes fairly severe, because the
insects are inconspicuous when
young. Later in the summer their
bags are larger and show up
clearly against the branches they
have defoliated.
Be prepared
Hochmuth says bagworms are
easiest to control in late spring,
before their bags are fully
developed. Look for tiny cases of
developing worms attached to
leaves and needles of ornamentals
in early June. With patience, you
can control a light infestation by
hand-picking the bags and
destroying them. If that’s im
practical, spray plants with Sevin,
Diazinon, Orthene, Malathion,
Cygon or Bacillus thuringiensis
(Dipel, Thuricide or a similar
product), while the insects are still
vulnerable, around June 10-15.
Control becomes much more
difficult if you don’t notice an in
festation until late June when the
bags are already formed. Hoch
muth says a systemic insecticide
such as Orthene or Cygon
generally offers the best control at
this late stage.
Always read the label on any
insecticide to make sure the
product is effective against your
target pest. Also check for cautions
against spraying sensitive plants.
Contact the county extension
office in Newark, Dover, or
Georgetown for further in
formation or a fact sheet on
bagworms.
Rolabar Rake
RD#l
Annville, Pa.
(717) 867-2211