A34-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 20, 1993
Early Sweet Corn Demands Crucial Soil, Plant Management
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
NEW HOLLAND (Lancaster Co.)
Sweet com on July 2? It’s
possible!
At least David Lankford, a
grower based in Hurlock, Md.,
believes so. Using a combination
of raised beds, drip irrigation, and
inserting sweet com transplants
through clear plastic mulch, Lank
ford said that last year his sweet
com was picked for roadside
stands on July 2.
Seeds for transplant are placed
in trays March 15. The transplants
are injected through the plastic in
the fields on April 10. Using this
method, the central Maryland
grower is able to get to the markets
early and sell at a high price.
Lankford spoke to farmers and
vegetable business representatives
at the New Holland Vegetable Day
on Monday at Summit Valley
Elementary School.
Attract customers
Lankford, who grows a variety
of vegetables for the roadside
markets, manages 60 acres. He
also maintains eight greenhouses
totalling 20,000 square feet to start
his crops.
He said that without sweet com,
he wouldn’t be able to attract cus
tomers to roadside markets. “For
some reason, sweet com is the
attractant for all vegetables,” said
the grower.
He spends close to $3OO per acre
for plastic mulch and drip irriga
tion. Lankford uses raised beds on.
his sweet com, but he found that
planting through the clear plastic
(even with cold soil conditions)
worked well. While growing sweet
com as transplants can be more
expensive, he told the farmers that
he makes up the difference in total
yield at an earlier date.
Also, spoon-feeding places nit
rogen in the soil to the plant in the
exact rate at the right time. It saves
fertilizer cost and cuts down on
leaching that may occur. The
“spoon-feeding” program, he
said, “puts out what the plant
needs closer to when it needs it,”
he said. With his production
methods, after planting a total of
18,000 sweet com plants per acre,
he achieves a yield of 1,000 dozen
per acre.
(Lankford noted this applies to
regular sweet com, and not the
supersweets, which require 70
degree soil temperatures in order
to germinate and grow. Also,
injecting the supersweet com
seeds through the plastic worked
well if done late enough.)
Larry Yager, Penn State marketing specialist, spoke
about getting started in the vegetable business and alterna
tive markets. "If we fall to plan, we plan to fall,” said Yager,
who introduced the results of the Mid-Atlantic Produce Pro
ject (MAPP) survey.
Ray Samuils, Burlington
County, N.J. agent, spoke
about the Importance of rec
ognizing and learning to man
age soil compaction with veg
etables. “There’s no doubt In
my mind that we are losing
significant yields through
compacted soils,” he said.
No substitute
The vegetable grower spoke
about the importance of growing
material here, in the climate in
which the plants are meant to
thrive. “There is no substitute for
locally grown plants for our own
conditions,” he said. Plants that
are grown in Florida and shipped
here often go through shock from
the temperature change, and can
go into dormancy.
Lankford grows cabbage, toma
toes, peppers, egg plants, water
melon, cantelope, and other crops
for the roadside markets in the
Baltimore-Washington area.
Lankford emphasized the impor
tance of custom feeding his plants
(often, even nitrogen can stress
plants readily in the greenhouse).
Proper care of greenhouse
plants include maintaining the dif
temperature (setting the heat in die
greenhouse 2 or 3 degrees warmer
at night than during the day). He
uses side ventilation, similar to
poultry houses, with fans to help
only during the summertime, when
heat stress can create problems.
A key ingredient in overall
stress management in the green
house is using thermostats to
ensure a nearly constant room
temperature.
He also uses a suspended
sprinkler system. Lankford told
the farmers he doesn’t believe in
the floating or flood system
because if one tray goes bad, the
rest can be easily affected.
Relies on automation
He also relies heavily on auto
mation, including clocks, because
of his busy schedule.
Also, he told the fanners that if
using a greenhouse to get a good
alarm system. At the end of March
last year, the temperature fell to 20
degrees at night, and if it wasn’t for
a temperature alarm system, he
would have lost 250,000 peppers.
‘ ‘We keep all of our controls in
the center of the house,” he said,
“out of the sunlight. All the ele
ments have to be in good working
order.”
Also, keeping a backup supply
of water is critical. “Water is the
most critical thing you need,” he
said. The Maryland vegetable
grower keeps 3,000 of gallons of
water handy in case of emergency.
He uses three water pumps in the
greenhouse. Also, he checks to
ensure the pH of the water (which
runs to 8.2 in some cases) is
balanced properly.
Managing stress
Lankford also spoke about man
aging stress in vegetable plants.
The optimimum growing condi
tions are when moisture levels are
near field capacity in the soil. Too
much water and there is no oxyge
nation and roots can rot. Too little,
and the plant is under stress, which
directly affects yield.
During prime growing periods,
water demands are an average of 1
inch of week, or 27,000 gallons/
acre/week for your crop. Drip irri
gation, he said, raised beds, and
plastic mulch are ways to achieve
the 90-95 percent range of field
capacity (equivalent to soil 24
hours after a heavy rain, which is
quite wet) necessary for optimum
growing conditions.
Lankford said that he waters a
little more than two hours per day
every day. His “multiwatering”
techniques also include
fertigation.
To see how much the plant is
taking up, and exactly how much it
would need, he regularly conducts
tissue analysis. He said that since
using this method, especially on
sweet com, instead of the 130 units
of nitrogen normal per acre in a
growing season, he’s “not evdn
near that” in application.
Also, Lankford said that, when
it comes to growing watermelons,
most of the water uptake is at
night. His watering program for
melons is at S a.m., at noontime,
and between 9-10 p.m. He uses a
“rinse” mode after applying fer
tilizer through the drip lines to
make sure there is no root intrusion
into the nozzle.
Using these methods, the Mary
land grower said that he is able to
produce about 1,000 dozen of com
or about 100,000 pounds of water
melon per acre.
But farmers must be careful to
match the drip irrigation product to
soil type to provide that “continu
ous feeding trough” critical to the
plant. “Understand your soil so
you can properly apply water,”
said Lankford.
Manage compaction
Also at the Vegetable Day, Ray
Samulis, Burlington County, NJ.
agent, spoke about the importance
of recognizing and learning to
manage soil compaction with
vegetables.
“There’s no doubt in my mind
that we are losing significant
yields through compacted soils,”
said Samulis.
The New Jersey agent said the
worst compaction problems occur
Using a combination of raised beds, drip Irrigation, and
inserting sweet com transplants through clear plastic
mulch, David Lankford, a grower based in Hurlock, Md.,
said that last year his sweet com was picked for roadside
stands on July 2.
on sandy soil (not, as many think,
on siltorclay loams). The negative
affects of compaction include
decreased root growth, increased
runoff, and yield decreases.
Farmers should measure com
paction problems using a pene
trometer or simply a half-inch
wide solid steel bar, pressed firmly
into the soil, to check for
compaction.
Preventing the problem, by
keeping heavy equipment off the
soil when it is wet, may prove bet
ter than managing it by using sub
soiling equipment. If using sub
soilers, he told the farmers to do
the work in the fall (when soil
moisture is low and the soil is
workable), work to the depth and
width required, and select crops to
help in rotation to prevent
compaction.
Getting started
Larry Yager, Penn State market
ing specialist, spoke about getting
started in the vegetable business
and alternative markets.
“If we fail to plan, we plan to
fail,” said Yager, who introduced
the results of the Mid-Atlantic Pro
duce IToject (MAPP) survey, out
lined in the report, “Developing A
Wholesale Marketing Strategy For
Produce In The Mid-Atlantic
Region,”
The report, prepared by James
Ag Scholarships Offered
THURMONT, Md. Rodman
Myers, chairman of the Maryland
State Grange Agriculture Scholar
ship Committee, announced the
Maryland State Grange will offer
five scholarships this year.
Three $3OO Past Masters scho
larships will be awarded to reci
pients who are enrolling in agri
culture or science-related courses
at a Community College in
Maryland.
Two $5OO Edward F. Hotter
University of Maryland Agricul
ture Scholarships are available to
students enrolling in agriculture at
H^mLeFIN^S
AMERICA
ON THE GROW
C. Hanson, farm management spe
cialist. University of Maryland,
and David J. Rada, produce mark
eting consultant. University of
Maryland, showed the results of
surveys conducted in 1991 of 182
produce buyers in the Baltimore-
Washington area. The buyers indi
cated that a large number (33 per
cent) buy because local produce is
fresher and many would prefer to
purchase from local stands.
For growers to obtain new cus
tomers, it’s important to provide
samples (40 percent listed this) and
that they should provide a list of
products (21 percent). For long
term success, 40 percent said that
the product should be of high qual
ity, and growers should know their
product (19 percent) and offer
good service (16 percent).
According to the marketing spe
cialist, institutions (hospitals,
nursing homes, etc.) would be
willing also to buy directly from
the grower.
Yager said growers should do
some primary research. 4 ’Go to the
buyers and see what they want and
when they want it,” he said.
The Vegetable Day hosted a
wide range of other topics, includ
ing two sweet com integrated pest
management sessions, bedding
plants, pumpkin production, fumi
gation, potatoes, and growing and
managing greenhouse tomatoes.
the University of Maryland,
UMES, or enrolling in a two-year
program at the University of
Maryland Institute of Applied
Agriculture in 1993.
Deadline for applications is
May 1.
Myers said the Grange is
always interested in maintaining
quality education and is able to do
this by offering the Agriculture
Scholarship Program.
For applications, contact C.
Rodman Myers, 15727 Smith
Road, Thurmont, MD 21788,
(301) 271-2104).