Cool weather had its upside in 2004, producing a bountiful salad crop, said Doug Waterer of the University of Saskatchewan.
The vegetable crops specialist said warm season plants like pumpkins and tomatoes fared poorly, while cool season crops like lettuce and radishes stretched out their harvest season.
Speaking at the Saskatchewan Greenhouse and Vegetable conference in November, Waterer offered tips to make cool weather work for growers.
Site selection is critical, he said, noting some areas of Saskatchewan receive 25 more frost-free days than others.
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South-facing slopes are a great place to get plants off to a quick start, but the low-lying, frost-prone bottom of a river valley is not.
“Just know what you’re dealing with,” Waterer said.
Cool-season crops are better choices than warm season crops such as watermelon.
“Nine years out of 10, it will fail no matter what a good job you do,” he said.
Waterer suggested choosing a range of varieties and maturity dates when selecting seeds.
“Hedge your bets a little bit,” he said.
Irrigated vegetable growers can dry out the soil and warm it up with “maximum tillage” in the spring.
When planting early, choose seeds graded for enhanced performance under adverse conditions and ensure they are coated with fungicides.
Using transplants from covered shelters such as high or low tunnels and greenhouses helps growers get through the difficult establishment phase, minimizes weather risks and improves quality.
Creating microclimates with mulches and covered shelters increases air and soil temperatures, protects plants from frost and increases the rate of growth.
“It gives you a six-week jump on the growing season,” Waterer said.
He noted vegetables can be grown successfully from seed in the field three years out of five. In the other two years, there is often yield or quality loss or no crop at all.
He conceded inputs add cost to production and do not always make sense.
“This year, if you didn’t have them in place, you were wiped out,” Waterer said.
This past cool season did offer vegetables one advantage, as most were already two-thirds cooled for storage by harvest, he said.
