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Regional Profile: Southern Getting Ahead with Lettuce By Sue Harri: n 1988. a dream became a reality for my husband. Alan. and me - we bought a farm near Langton. Ontario. We converted the old tobacco greenhouse into a hydroponic lettuce operation. We are now into our seventh year of growing leaf and Boston lettuce hydro ponically. Hydroponics is a technique of growing plants without soil, It has been an ongoing learning experience that has seen many changes and. I am sure. will see many more! I have always found it difficult to describe our operation because it is so different from anything most people have seen. Our 40’ x [40‘ glass greenhouse contains two 14’ x 1 l8' metal frames. At one end, the frame is 2 l/Z feet above the ground. at the other. 4 Hz feet. Each frame holds 240 fourteen foot. eavestroughâ€"like channels. The entire frame is also tilted a little to one side to allow the water to flow through these Channels readily. Each channel has a lid with holes in itevery seveninches into which 1 1/4" x3" longtubes are inserted. These tubes are filled with the growing medium by pressing them through a block of foam oasis material. similar to that used in flower arrangements but more po- rous. The filled tubes are first put into trays; then. holes are punched in the top ofthe oasis and lettuce seeds are planted into the holes by hand. The trays spend a week on a germi- nation table. a table-sized pan which holds the fertilizer solution, until they are sprouted. At that time. they are put into the channels on the main bed. 0n the main bed. the water flows through the channels into a run-off pipe at the end. which carries it to the fertilizer tank under the bed at the lowest end. The water is really a fertilizer solution and is constantly recircu- lated from this tank through tubing back to the channels. The fenilizersolution is heated to about 68°F to keep the root zone of the lettuce warm and encourage growth. In the winter the temperature in the greenhouse is maintained around 60°F by gas furnaces forcing air through plastic bag tubing under- neath the growing bed. The greenhouse is equipped with high»in- tensity grow lights and a shade curtain to help optimize growing conditions. The grow 8 Home 8. Country. Fall '95 Alan and Sue Harris lights are used during the winter months to extend the hours ofdaylight. During the win- ter. the shade curtain is closed at nightto help keep heat in, and opened during the day to allow sunlight and warmth in. During the spring and summer months. the shade curtain is closed during the hottest part ofthe day to avoid sunbuming the plants and to reduce the build-up of solar heat. Last summer. we re- placed the glass sides of the greenhouse with plastic sides on special rollers that can be raised to increase air flow. This summer, Alan converted an overhead watering sys» tem. previously used for tobacco, into a mister to help cool the air in the hopes of maintaining the temperature in the green~ house at around 65“ to 70°F. Some days we are happy to keep it under 90°F. even with these two additions. I am personally against the use of chemical pesticides and feel fortunate that we have never had major problems. To date. remov» ing infested plants and moving the product quickly through the greenhouse has kept any insect problems under control. We do spray calcium chloride. :1 salt. to increase plant vigour and reduce bacterial and fungal dis- ease. We have also. occasionally. had to spray sulfur. an organiccompound. to control powdery mildew. Depending on the temperature and the sun- light. the cycle from seed to harvest is between six to eight weeks. Each ofthe two beds has between five and seven different sized plants. The seedlings start out at the lowest and and are moved towards the higher end, ideally. on a weekly basis. As the plants get bigger. the spacing between the channels becomes larger. The mature plants are har- vested usually once a week. When both beds are in full operation and conditions are good. around 2000 plants are harvested. bagged Photo by Rebecca Harris and boxed for shipping every week, At harvest. each head of lettuce is taken out of the channel. the tube around the roots is pulled off and any really long roots are re- moved along with any discoloured leaves. The head is then put in a bag with a small amount of fertilizer solution and secured with an elastic band around the root ball. The heads are packed in boxes of ten and stored. in a cooler until they are shipped. usually I‘ within 24 hours. During the summer most harvesting goes on at night, because of high heat during the clay both the lettuce and the harvesters would wilt! We started out group marketing with other growers through a company named ‘Lettuce Alive.‘ but have slowly increased our local sales so that this year we will be doing our own marketing. We prefer to sell locally to small stores or vendors at farmer’s markets: we can increase our profit by not having to pay second-person marketing fees; we can decrease our packaging costs by reusing boxes; and, we enjoy the personal contact of small town merchants and their businesses. We also like to know our product is top quality and that it reaches the stores as fresh as possible. With fewer middlemen involved. the price can be lower and the time involved before it reaches the consumer minimized. This means a product that lasts both on the store shelf and in the consumer‘s fridge at home. Our plants are unique in that they keep a long time. do not need to be washed before use and are still growing. roots intact. when bought by the customer. I help Alan in our greenhouse operation and am kept busy with our three very active daughters - Rebecca (age 11). Jenny (age 3 and Krystabel (age 3). Continued on page 9