Looks like a bit of cool weather this week which is just fine with us. Better to get winter out of the way in January than deal with it in April. Hopefully it won’t be too bad as I know it can get a bit stressful for some, no matter how much the kids love it. Hopefully it will knock out a few more pests which have had it too easy so far this season.
Unfortunately, but not entirely surprisingly, the cooler weather is timed perfectly with the start of the microprop lab pricking out work, so the boilers are on and the lights programmed to get them off to a healthy start. At this time of year we can get big problems with humidity in the heated tunnel and associated problems with disease which have been tricky to deal with. The temptation in the cold is to seal everything up to prevent the expensive heat escaping, so we have a double skin on the tunnel and all the draughts reduced to keep it cosy, now I understand more about water content held in air after attending a seminar on a house plant nursery, we can manage the resulting humidity much more efficiently. The key is that cold air holds on to far less water than warm air, so the warmed air in the tunnel gathers lots of moisture which condenses on any cooler surfaces giving rise to the disease growth and transfer issues, but by occasionally flushing out the warm moist air with cold dry air (because the cold air can’t hold onto the moisture) you remove the water laden air. Then it is just getting the balance right between the occasional flush of cold dry air and keeping the heat loss to a minimum. We use the lights to extend the day length so that the plants are active enough to grow away in their new tough nursery environment after years in 21C and 14 hrs a day under lights in the lab.
Lots of whittling got done this week as we completed one of our winter jobs of repairing all the broken wooden trays that were returned through last year. It looked and sounded like a scene from Santa’s workshop with our own busy pixies and their little hammers tapping away. We have spares for any unrepairable tray sides so very few are beyond putting right, we also remake the inserts up from bits of the broken one’s and we have a few spares for those too. So don’t be embarrassed about sending the odd casualty back we can always do something with it and please bear in mind that careful/tidy stacking the empty trays does help reduce damage. The repairs didn’t take too long and we now have another couple of pallets of strong reusable trays to use again. The wooden tray return idea is working nicely for us, it may be less convenient than the throw away trays of the past with having to collect, clean, dry and repair them, but after the initial painful investment they are now beginning to save us money too. The reduction in waste we have to deal with now is a bonus and hopefully you will have noticed how much less material ends up in landfill from our deliveries compared with some others.
I widened my retail experience this week with my first trip to IKEA in Southampton on Thursday night (only opened 3 years ago). No I don’t get out much. It was a bit overwhelming for such a quick visit. The scariest bit was the multi-storey car park and especially the spiral ramps which had obviously been constructed on the same flat pack principle as all of the furniture. As we drove home we started to recognise IKEA show rooms through people’s windows, so it must be as popular as it was rumoured to be. Naturally the one item we went for was out of stock. We will go back for a proper look round one day. The meat balls looked good.
Eco News
We used our first borehole water this week to apply a bit of irrigation. It worked really well, the new pump set produced a very consistent pressure even when we turned on multiple lines, so this summer looks like a less stressful one for all those trying to water in the potting. The key to this was a more energy efficient pump selection. The two variable speed pumps adjust output to the demand so there isn’t the constant on/off scenario with big pressure vessels etc as we used to have. Not only is the supply more reliable but the pumps use 30-50% less energy which should quickly pay back the extra cost. By controlling our water use we are able to keep daily consumption below 20 cubic meters for most of the year which we can take from the borehole and we are looking to top this up with some harvested rainwater in the future. The neighbours will now benefit from a higher pressure supply, as we will only be using a fraction of our previous mains usage and the water company will no longer be wasting treated pressurised drinking water on plant production.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday, 30 January 2012
Monday, 23 January 2012
Just a quick one today as I can’t sit still too long this morning. I over did it a bit this week and my over-eating and lack of exercise has caught up with me. After collecting, moving and splitting a load of logs last weekend ready for next winter I felt a bit stiff. Rather than holding back I tried to keep up with a couple of youngsters on the nursery during the week, helping shift and spreading tonnes of soil and a bit of road-stone as we finished off tidying up the turbine sites. Naturally I still attempted a game of hockey yesterday and although I didn’t play a whole game as I was substituted quite quickly when it became obvious I could do little else but imitate a slow moving pregnant goose. I am now dosed up on muscle relaxant and need to move gently about on a regular basis to prevent complete seizure. Oh to be 30 again.
I am hoping to attach a couple of images to this note of the new tray insert we have been working on to make the watering of our hairy pots quicker and easier. The shallow tray provides a slow draining pool of water allowing the compost more time to absorb the irrigation overspill. The tray corners are open so the water does get away after a few minutes preventing the pots from sitting in a permanent puddle.
There is also an image of the new collection of POS boards we have had made. They each explain a little more detail about the whole hairy pot thing to give more depth to the whole hairy story. It has taken us a while to identify the right style of POS to use to create a complimentary, informative and good value effect and we feel we have pulled it off with these free boards. They simply fold into one of our display boxes which effectively act’s as a picture frame. You can simply lean it on or close to your display, or insert a hook or two and hang the box in an appropriate position.
Eco News
It has now been six months since the turbine were plugged in and as expected we fell just short of anticipated output. The wind forecast was about right but the one turbine with the sensor problem meant that we fell short by just under 2,000 units. At this time of year that is about 6 days wind, so not bad. Mind you will are still waiting for the first FIT payment so payback hasn’t really started yet.
Having tidied up each of the three turbine sites this week by topping the levels back up to ground level, I can see that they should look nicely established by the summer. The hedge plants we cut back to get the foundations in are already showing signs of rejuvenating so they will quickly grow back towards the towers and I’ve got a nice chalk wildflower seed mix to re-sow around the rest of the foundation area.
The water system is up and ready to go, the borehole pump is now running the right way, the leaks are sealed and all the time-clocks and heat protection are all more or less in place. Now we need to save a lot of water to pay for all the new equipment and work done to install it. If only horticulture paid as well as electricians.
We planted some more native hedge plants this week in small clumps around parts of the nursery that are a bit far from other natural habitats. We are hoping that we might get more overwintering of natural predators nearer the tunnels.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
I am hoping to attach a couple of images to this note of the new tray insert we have been working on to make the watering of our hairy pots quicker and easier. The shallow tray provides a slow draining pool of water allowing the compost more time to absorb the irrigation overspill. The tray corners are open so the water does get away after a few minutes preventing the pots from sitting in a permanent puddle.
There is also an image of the new collection of POS boards we have had made. They each explain a little more detail about the whole hairy pot thing to give more depth to the whole hairy story. It has taken us a while to identify the right style of POS to use to create a complimentary, informative and good value effect and we feel we have pulled it off with these free boards. They simply fold into one of our display boxes which effectively act’s as a picture frame. You can simply lean it on or close to your display, or insert a hook or two and hang the box in an appropriate position.
Eco News
It has now been six months since the turbine were plugged in and as expected we fell just short of anticipated output. The wind forecast was about right but the one turbine with the sensor problem meant that we fell short by just under 2,000 units. At this time of year that is about 6 days wind, so not bad. Mind you will are still waiting for the first FIT payment so payback hasn’t really started yet.
Having tidied up each of the three turbine sites this week by topping the levels back up to ground level, I can see that they should look nicely established by the summer. The hedge plants we cut back to get the foundations in are already showing signs of rejuvenating so they will quickly grow back towards the towers and I’ve got a nice chalk wildflower seed mix to re-sow around the rest of the foundation area.
The water system is up and ready to go, the borehole pump is now running the right way, the leaks are sealed and all the time-clocks and heat protection are all more or less in place. Now we need to save a lot of water to pay for all the new equipment and work done to install it. If only horticulture paid as well as electricians.
We planted some more native hedge plants this week in small clumps around parts of the nursery that are a bit far from other natural habitats. We are hoping that we might get more overwintering of natural predators nearer the tunnels.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Saturday, 24 December 2011
Just a quick message to wish everyone a happy Christmas and a jolly festive break.
It continues to be very busy this end, getting things sorted for the winter and attempting to get through the list of jobs to do that were left for the long winter period when we have loads of spare time! We have got through a few of them but spring will be here in a couple of weeks and most of that time will be spent doing Christmas stuff. I’m looking forward to my annual Christmas shopping trip in a couple of days, there’s nothing like a bit of pressure to get things done! Why don’t they just move Christmas to a quieter time in the shops? It would be so much nicer. Mind you it sounds from the TV reports that there may be no-one in there when I go anyway.
All the Christmas decorations are up here. We ran our usual competition for the best decor in the style of Blue Peter and I must say the standard was well up, or should that be down, to the usual level. Hugh won with a very tasteful window decoration and Jamie was runner up with his food contribution, shepherd’s pie! My nativity scene which took minutes of my valuable time to put together, was the equivalent of the UK in Eurovision and received nil point in the judging, must try harder.
Our old homemade tree is all decorated again up in the house, so we are ready for all the fun to begin. As we are expecting guests we are considering turning on the central heating, it is Christmas after all!
Eco News
After a quiet November for wind, December looks to be recovering well so far. The storms early in the month kept things moving although we are finding that the turbines tend to be more productive in steady moderate wind conditions rather than in the more erratic storms. We have not quite caught up yet with the anticipated output, due to a sensor problem on one of the turbines, but our continued success in reducing consumption has meant that we are generating more than we are using.
The trial of LED lighting in the lab growth room is going well so far despite initial concerns that the light distribution on our closely spaced shelves didn’t look brilliant. The Phillips units use a combination of red and blue lights, selected specifically for plant growth. They look bizarre, dark and not very plant friendly but the growth under them is really good and may be even better than the old fluorescent tubes. We will continue with the trial until the summer when we will make a decision on expanding their use. They are expensive to install but with potential savings of over 60% on energy use they could save us loads as we do have a lot of them.
Novembers figures on electric use are still encouraging, a saving of 4.5% on 2010 and 36.82% on 2009. If we include the turbine output in the figures that brings it down to 26.65% and 51.50% savings for the same periods. For 2012 we should be in generating surplus all year with the turbine contribution, which will help offset our heating and some of the transport carbon output.
Please enjoy lots of sprouts and parsnips to keep the wind speeds up.
Have a good Christmas and New Year, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
It continues to be very busy this end, getting things sorted for the winter and attempting to get through the list of jobs to do that were left for the long winter period when we have loads of spare time! We have got through a few of them but spring will be here in a couple of weeks and most of that time will be spent doing Christmas stuff. I’m looking forward to my annual Christmas shopping trip in a couple of days, there’s nothing like a bit of pressure to get things done! Why don’t they just move Christmas to a quieter time in the shops? It would be so much nicer. Mind you it sounds from the TV reports that there may be no-one in there when I go anyway.
All the Christmas decorations are up here. We ran our usual competition for the best decor in the style of Blue Peter and I must say the standard was well up, or should that be down, to the usual level. Hugh won with a very tasteful window decoration and Jamie was runner up with his food contribution, shepherd’s pie! My nativity scene which took minutes of my valuable time to put together, was the equivalent of the UK in Eurovision and received nil point in the judging, must try harder.
Our old homemade tree is all decorated again up in the house, so we are ready for all the fun to begin. As we are expecting guests we are considering turning on the central heating, it is Christmas after all!
Eco News
After a quiet November for wind, December looks to be recovering well so far. The storms early in the month kept things moving although we are finding that the turbines tend to be more productive in steady moderate wind conditions rather than in the more erratic storms. We have not quite caught up yet with the anticipated output, due to a sensor problem on one of the turbines, but our continued success in reducing consumption has meant that we are generating more than we are using.
The trial of LED lighting in the lab growth room is going well so far despite initial concerns that the light distribution on our closely spaced shelves didn’t look brilliant. The Phillips units use a combination of red and blue lights, selected specifically for plant growth. They look bizarre, dark and not very plant friendly but the growth under them is really good and may be even better than the old fluorescent tubes. We will continue with the trial until the summer when we will make a decision on expanding their use. They are expensive to install but with potential savings of over 60% on energy use they could save us loads as we do have a lot of them.
Novembers figures on electric use are still encouraging, a saving of 4.5% on 2010 and 36.82% on 2009. If we include the turbine output in the figures that brings it down to 26.65% and 51.50% savings for the same periods. For 2012 we should be in generating surplus all year with the turbine contribution, which will help offset our heating and some of the transport carbon output.
Please enjoy lots of sprouts and parsnips to keep the wind speeds up.
Have a good Christmas and New Year, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
What a lovely bright spring morning, primroses in the garden and grass growing away well. What is going on, this time last year we were getting cold and snowy. We haven’t even put our central heating on yet, although that is mainly due to all the insulation and the wood burner we put in last autumn, smug, smug, smug. Actually the insulation didn’t get finished until nearly Christmas so we have still to see the full benefit of a whole year’s savings but it looks good so far with our heating oil consumption nearly halved for the last year, although the cost per litre went up hugely (over 30%). It has turned into one of those frustrating situations that we have ended up with a similar bill despite the investment and we just have to hang onto the fact that the bill would have been much higher if we had done nothing. It reminds me of the time we bought a very expensive automatic price labelling machine to stick the prices on the pots going to one of the multiples. The theory was that the kit paid itself back out of the labour savings over a few years but what happened in practice was everyone else did the same and the customer demanded a lower price because the production costs had fallen. In the end we effectively bought the machine to keep the customer and we got no extra profit to pay off the cost. You live and learn.
We have just got back from our annual break to sunny St Ives. What a fantastic couple of weeks, warm, mostly dry, lots of visitors came to stay and plenty of healthy outdoor activities were undertaken. There are now so many more people taking a break at this time of year in the area and most of the restaurants were open and much busier than previous years. We had some fantastic meals, a couple of special treats in our favourite (Al Fresco’s) on the harbour-side and some delicious more modest treats in other spots. We even managed Sunday Lunch at the Gurnards Head (as recommended in the Sunday Times) followed by an Italian in the evening. Needless to say I put on a little extra ballast, just the 9lbs (not a record), and we are now on a strict winter vegetarian soup regime to get back in shape for Christmas. It was worth it.
One thing I like doing on holiday is to stretch sides of me that don’t get much exercise the rest of the year and this involves taking a bit of the art scene which is so active in the area. Tate St Ives is always a challenging place to start and this year was no different with their current exhibition ‘The Indiscipline of Painting’. This was a collection of abstraction painting from 1960 onwards which can be a struggle to get to grips with for a simple nurseryman from the country. I have to go on the guided tour first to get an idea of what is going on but with that extra input I always find something of value to take away. Mind you it didn’t help me in the Exchange Gallery in Penzance where there was an exhibit of a young man in a just a loin cloth crouched in a large dog cage with a muzzle on. He was going to be in there for 5 days but there was no way of really getting to grips with what the intention behind it was. Then there are all the deep intellectual questions you want to ask but can’t, are you going to wash over the 5 days? Or are they after creating more of an atmosphere by day 5. Are you feeding through a straw and how about loo breaks? Have Health & Safety at work assessed your working conditions? Back to reality I think with bills to pay and a winter to get through before another exciting Spring starts in January.
Excitement on this week with one of our long serving youngsters slipping away to a new exciting life in Australia with her young man, and our longest serving young lady Elaine reaching an astonishing age (because she doesn’t look it). Loads of cake all round, bang goes the soup diet.
Eco News
The solar FIT rates are changing more or less as I expected and although there are a lot of complaints about how quickly the large reductions were brought in I feel sure that it is the fair thing to do. The rates of return on the investment were getting silly as the price of the panels fell and I have heard rumours already that the panel costs are set to reduce further especially after the FIT readjustment dates pass. This will hopefully take the jumping on the bandwagon element out of the solar industry and get back to a value and service approach. I have already heard from one business who are still looking at solar as an investment because even after the changes the rates of return are likely to recover to sensible levels very quickly.
Turbines had a quieter period with the rather slack southerlies we have been getting for the last few weeks. Did ok yesterday!
Cornish nature notes
Spotted; 6 Common Cranes (bizarre sight in UK field), Desert Wheatear, Marsh Harrier, Bittern, Cough, Great Northern Diver.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
We have just got back from our annual break to sunny St Ives. What a fantastic couple of weeks, warm, mostly dry, lots of visitors came to stay and plenty of healthy outdoor activities were undertaken. There are now so many more people taking a break at this time of year in the area and most of the restaurants were open and much busier than previous years. We had some fantastic meals, a couple of special treats in our favourite (Al Fresco’s) on the harbour-side and some delicious more modest treats in other spots. We even managed Sunday Lunch at the Gurnards Head (as recommended in the Sunday Times) followed by an Italian in the evening. Needless to say I put on a little extra ballast, just the 9lbs (not a record), and we are now on a strict winter vegetarian soup regime to get back in shape for Christmas. It was worth it.
One thing I like doing on holiday is to stretch sides of me that don’t get much exercise the rest of the year and this involves taking a bit of the art scene which is so active in the area. Tate St Ives is always a challenging place to start and this year was no different with their current exhibition ‘The Indiscipline of Painting’. This was a collection of abstraction painting from 1960 onwards which can be a struggle to get to grips with for a simple nurseryman from the country. I have to go on the guided tour first to get an idea of what is going on but with that extra input I always find something of value to take away. Mind you it didn’t help me in the Exchange Gallery in Penzance where there was an exhibit of a young man in a just a loin cloth crouched in a large dog cage with a muzzle on. He was going to be in there for 5 days but there was no way of really getting to grips with what the intention behind it was. Then there are all the deep intellectual questions you want to ask but can’t, are you going to wash over the 5 days? Or are they after creating more of an atmosphere by day 5. Are you feeding through a straw and how about loo breaks? Have Health & Safety at work assessed your working conditions? Back to reality I think with bills to pay and a winter to get through before another exciting Spring starts in January.
Excitement on this week with one of our long serving youngsters slipping away to a new exciting life in Australia with her young man, and our longest serving young lady Elaine reaching an astonishing age (because she doesn’t look it). Loads of cake all round, bang goes the soup diet.
Eco News
The solar FIT rates are changing more or less as I expected and although there are a lot of complaints about how quickly the large reductions were brought in I feel sure that it is the fair thing to do. The rates of return on the investment were getting silly as the price of the panels fell and I have heard rumours already that the panel costs are set to reduce further especially after the FIT readjustment dates pass. This will hopefully take the jumping on the bandwagon element out of the solar industry and get back to a value and service approach. I have already heard from one business who are still looking at solar as an investment because even after the changes the rates of return are likely to recover to sensible levels very quickly.
Turbines had a quieter period with the rather slack southerlies we have been getting for the last few weeks. Did ok yesterday!
Cornish nature notes
Spotted; 6 Common Cranes (bizarre sight in UK field), Desert Wheatear, Marsh Harrier, Bittern, Cough, Great Northern Diver.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday, 31 October 2011
Morning all,
Big numbers this week. Population of 7 billion by next week, 49% income increase for top business directors and 50% cuts in Feed In Tariff payments for new solar panel installations.
There is a popular belief that history repeats itself but a rapidly expanding and enormous population is going to be a new challenge to all over the coming years. It’s a situation that not many have faced up to yet but there must be some major redressing of resources if it isn’t to all end in tears. I wonder if that is part of the reasoning behind the hoarding of the obscene amounts of wealth by those at the top of the business pyramid, because they can see tough times coming. It is difficult to morally justify the top directors income rises when the rest of the population and I suspect many of their own employees are struggling to make ends meet. I would like to think that the money won’t bring them satisfaction and happiness and guess that they haven’t noticed the shallow and selfish action they have taken or just don’t care, which is sad. If it makes anyone feel better many of the directors I know in smaller businesses struggle to take home the minimum wage for the hours they put in. Mind you that might be something to do with knowing a lot of people with nurseries! Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not particularly envious just a bit frustrated and worried that the system doesn’t seem to be set up to cope well with future challenges. I see Carlos Tevez was fined two weeks wages (£400,000) for his misunderstanding with the Man City management, are we on the same planet?
Meanwhile back on earth we installed our trial LED lights in the growth room this week. Just red and blue lights which look very odd but the plants are supposed to like it. We could save 70% on our lighting energy use but we have to be sure they will work with us first. The theory looks brilliant, but the practice is never that simple. Fitting them was very easy but we seem to have an issue with the distribution of light across the shelf due to the fact that our growth room shelves are so close together. We are returning to the drawing board with Phillips to find another way of using their LED’s. I’m sure we will get there in the end.
Eco News
No negative only positive responses from last week’s local paper coverage which is great. www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/9319823.New_wind_farm_near_Winchester_up_and_spinning
I have held back from stirring things up about the ‘Hampshire’s first major wind farm’ statement when we are only a ‘micro-generation project’ and take comfort from the fact that is has been so well received overall. It’s interesting how many individuals you speak to say how much they like their appearance but think they are in the minority and how it is assumed the ‘anti’ lobby are in the majority. Such is the power of the media and the weak position created by a silent majority.
There has been a bit of a solar rush in the last few months as many people have cottoned on to the falling installation costs and high current rate of solar Feed in Tariffs resulting in ever shortening payback periods. Lots of little installation companies appeared offering all sorts of deals and the ‘clever’ buyers were holding out for lower prices for maximum return. This balloon was due to pop in April when the annual FIT review comes into force and the government adjust the FIT rates to compensate for falling costs. However it was leaked last week that the new rates are coming into force for all solar systems installed after 8th Dec (still to be officially confirmed). There is a big cut 50%+, new rules and the quick implementation of the changes which has put the wind up a few but it is something that had to happen. The good news for all is that solar costs are falling rapidly which brings it a lot closer to being an economically viable asset to have as part of the energy supply system. The high rate of FIT support was a tool to get these things started and it has succeeded in that, but when monetary gain becomes the main aim things do need looking at. I’m sure after a few months of readjustment the solar industry will settle into a more sensible phase of development. One company I was speaking to was looking at designing ground mounted tracking systems where you can increase output by up to 40% which sounds very sensible especially in a country where we need to make the most of our limited sunshine levels use the same panels and get more output.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Big numbers this week. Population of 7 billion by next week, 49% income increase for top business directors and 50% cuts in Feed In Tariff payments for new solar panel installations.
There is a popular belief that history repeats itself but a rapidly expanding and enormous population is going to be a new challenge to all over the coming years. It’s a situation that not many have faced up to yet but there must be some major redressing of resources if it isn’t to all end in tears. I wonder if that is part of the reasoning behind the hoarding of the obscene amounts of wealth by those at the top of the business pyramid, because they can see tough times coming. It is difficult to morally justify the top directors income rises when the rest of the population and I suspect many of their own employees are struggling to make ends meet. I would like to think that the money won’t bring them satisfaction and happiness and guess that they haven’t noticed the shallow and selfish action they have taken or just don’t care, which is sad. If it makes anyone feel better many of the directors I know in smaller businesses struggle to take home the minimum wage for the hours they put in. Mind you that might be something to do with knowing a lot of people with nurseries! Don’t misunderstand me, I’m not particularly envious just a bit frustrated and worried that the system doesn’t seem to be set up to cope well with future challenges. I see Carlos Tevez was fined two weeks wages (£400,000) for his misunderstanding with the Man City management, are we on the same planet?
Meanwhile back on earth we installed our trial LED lights in the growth room this week. Just red and blue lights which look very odd but the plants are supposed to like it. We could save 70% on our lighting energy use but we have to be sure they will work with us first. The theory looks brilliant, but the practice is never that simple. Fitting them was very easy but we seem to have an issue with the distribution of light across the shelf due to the fact that our growth room shelves are so close together. We are returning to the drawing board with Phillips to find another way of using their LED’s. I’m sure we will get there in the end.
Eco News
No negative only positive responses from last week’s local paper coverage which is great. www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/9319823.New_wind_farm_near_Winchester_up_and_spinning
I have held back from stirring things up about the ‘Hampshire’s first major wind farm’ statement when we are only a ‘micro-generation project’ and take comfort from the fact that is has been so well received overall. It’s interesting how many individuals you speak to say how much they like their appearance but think they are in the minority and how it is assumed the ‘anti’ lobby are in the majority. Such is the power of the media and the weak position created by a silent majority.
There has been a bit of a solar rush in the last few months as many people have cottoned on to the falling installation costs and high current rate of solar Feed in Tariffs resulting in ever shortening payback periods. Lots of little installation companies appeared offering all sorts of deals and the ‘clever’ buyers were holding out for lower prices for maximum return. This balloon was due to pop in April when the annual FIT review comes into force and the government adjust the FIT rates to compensate for falling costs. However it was leaked last week that the new rates are coming into force for all solar systems installed after 8th Dec (still to be officially confirmed). There is a big cut 50%+, new rules and the quick implementation of the changes which has put the wind up a few but it is something that had to happen. The good news for all is that solar costs are falling rapidly which brings it a lot closer to being an economically viable asset to have as part of the energy supply system. The high rate of FIT support was a tool to get these things started and it has succeeded in that, but when monetary gain becomes the main aim things do need looking at. I’m sure after a few months of readjustment the solar industry will settle into a more sensible phase of development. One company I was speaking to was looking at designing ground mounted tracking systems where you can increase output by up to 40% which sounds very sensible especially in a country where we need to make the most of our limited sunshine levels use the same panels and get more output.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday, 24 October 2011
Had a scary visit to Roundstone Nurseries this week for a Grow-save seminar on heating and ventilation. What a place, lovely smart warm offices and a spotless despatch, potting and production setup on a big scale. We had a brief walk round and saw crops of Poinsettia coming on for the Christmas market, all very closely monitored and managed to keep inputs to a minimum and quality high. Many of the guests were more greenhouse orientated than ourselves so their interest in heating costs etc was probably more financially significant but the overall story of lack of margin for most on this crop or no margin at all, despite a crop waste rate of less than 3%, was sobering. The market is hugely supermarket led and ruthless. Stories of large pot cyclamen imports at 50p/pot were told and there were a few long faces at the longer term prospects if this sort of madness carries on. The depth of knowledge in the room was very impressive, with clever use of heat, irrigation and venting reducing and in some cases eliminating the need for sprays to control growth habits and diseases. These were very highly skilled growers producing fantastic crops yet they struggle to pay minimum pay rates to make ends meet and without better consumer appreciation will struggle to survive. It was interesting to see one large ornamental grower selling up two of their nursery sites over the last couple of weeks to a food producer, possibly a trend to watch. Luckily I did pick up a few useful pointers as to how we can eek our oil heating costs out a bit, while at the same time improving our propagation successes, so it wasn’t all bad news.
I’m not sure whether I should mention how well Southampton FC are doing on their return to the championship, riding high and playing pretty well. It’s amazing how far a bit of extra confidence can take you. We went into the city on Friday to see The Beat and a great young band called Will and the People, all of them oozed confidence but in a fun and non-irritating way. Even if you are not old enough to remember the Ska scene of the eighties look out for The Beat. It always seems slightly sad to be going to see a reformed band in a small local venue, but it was a great party atmosphere and the band very entertaining and talented. It’s always a good sign if the band look like they are having a good time!
Have you noticed the cooler weather has brought about a change in fly populations. We did have a big influx of quick moving little buggers who were very irritating and in my eagerness to catch & despatch them tended to get over splattered. It’s been a good time to avoid any homemade garibaldi biscuits in our house! Now we are into the cluster flies which tend to congregate at this time of year to hibernate. Fatter, dopey things, easier to swat but form ugly seething masses when they find a nice home. They used to be a problem in the loft until we put up an electric killing machine and now I’ve noticed them filling up the control boxes at the base of the turbines, not very nice when you open them up to check the readings. The joys of country living.
Eco News
We made page two in the paper with a reasonable splash. www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/9319823.New_wind_farm_near_Winchester_up_and_spinning
I would hardly classify us as a wind farm (too small and less than 5 in number), let alone a major wind-farm, but there you go why would you want the press to be accurate, there is no sensationalist or entertainment value in that! I may have accidentally invited a load of complaints by mentioning that only one person had complained directly since they went up 3 months ago, but hopefully all will pass off quietly.
We are having the first service of the turbines in a couple of weeks which should see the last of the setup stuff completed. Although they have been busy generating since we turned them on there are still a few bits of the installation to tidy up before all is signed off at which point we will have a look at getting some local groups/schools in to have a look at what is going on and how it all works.
Times are tough and sustainability rules. Even our labels get the chop. Apparently the huge tongue depressor market is saving resources by now making them 1mm narrower so I will need to remake our wider printing plates to accommodate the change, I bet they didn’t think of that when they changed.
Skylarks are back in the field already singing and fighting over territory.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
I’m not sure whether I should mention how well Southampton FC are doing on their return to the championship, riding high and playing pretty well. It’s amazing how far a bit of extra confidence can take you. We went into the city on Friday to see The Beat and a great young band called Will and the People, all of them oozed confidence but in a fun and non-irritating way. Even if you are not old enough to remember the Ska scene of the eighties look out for The Beat. It always seems slightly sad to be going to see a reformed band in a small local venue, but it was a great party atmosphere and the band very entertaining and talented. It’s always a good sign if the band look like they are having a good time!
Have you noticed the cooler weather has brought about a change in fly populations. We did have a big influx of quick moving little buggers who were very irritating and in my eagerness to catch & despatch them tended to get over splattered. It’s been a good time to avoid any homemade garibaldi biscuits in our house! Now we are into the cluster flies which tend to congregate at this time of year to hibernate. Fatter, dopey things, easier to swat but form ugly seething masses when they find a nice home. They used to be a problem in the loft until we put up an electric killing machine and now I’ve noticed them filling up the control boxes at the base of the turbines, not very nice when you open them up to check the readings. The joys of country living.
Eco News
We made page two in the paper with a reasonable splash. www.hampshirechronicle.co.uk/news/9319823.New_wind_farm_near_Winchester_up_and_spinning
I would hardly classify us as a wind farm (too small and less than 5 in number), let alone a major wind-farm, but there you go why would you want the press to be accurate, there is no sensationalist or entertainment value in that! I may have accidentally invited a load of complaints by mentioning that only one person had complained directly since they went up 3 months ago, but hopefully all will pass off quietly.
We are having the first service of the turbines in a couple of weeks which should see the last of the setup stuff completed. Although they have been busy generating since we turned them on there are still a few bits of the installation to tidy up before all is signed off at which point we will have a look at getting some local groups/schools in to have a look at what is going on and how it all works.
Times are tough and sustainability rules. Even our labels get the chop. Apparently the huge tongue depressor market is saving resources by now making them 1mm narrower so I will need to remake our wider printing plates to accommodate the change, I bet they didn’t think of that when they changed.
Skylarks are back in the field already singing and fighting over territory.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Sunday, 16 October 2011
Triumph! Computer security upgrade successfully sorted last week but as is the way with all messing about with computers it’s never that simple. The instant I had finished we had a huge Windows 7 update which loaded the latest Internet Explorer 9. It took ages to download and completely messed up any internet browsing, within 30 seconds or so it would freeze and refresh. Naturally I assumed it was a cock-up on my part with the security update but after a bit of investigation it was the new IE9 upgrade. It automatically sets itself up for the very latest video software which of course we don’t have and can’t upgrade with a compatible driver despite the computers only being a couple of years old. Anyway by ticking the right box in ‘internet tools + advanced’ we sorted it. Another productive few hours!
Caroline came back down to earth last week, quite literally. She did her tandem skydive which she got as a birthday present from a load of ‘friends’ a few months ago. I wasn’t too worried as I had topped up the life insurance and I know she loves that sort of thing, about as much as I hate it. It hit the spot and the ‘money off your next jump’ voucher is now burning a hole in her pocket so I doubt it will be long before she has another go.
Sad news this week that the Woking Nursery Show is no more. We have been exhibiting there for a very long time and it was always a productive and lovely day out for us, but the competition from the new HTA National Plant Fair just a couple of weeks before was just too much to bear and perhaps it was time to move on. It will be interesting to see how the shows get on over the next few years, particularly the national ones especially when I think things are likely to turn more in favour of more local supply with increasing demand for local produce, transport costs and possible future plant movement restrictions. I’m not 100% sure of our future strategy on the show front, we have now lost both of the shows we attended this year but it looks at the moment that the favourite option may be to buy a pig and eat it! As a sideline we might invite a few folk to come and see what we are up to at the same time. We have done quite a few tours already with local interest groups, nursery visits and students and we seem to have built up quite a variety of different things to show, there is all the hairy stuff, production facilities micro-prop lab, sustainability stuff and the turbines and nearly all the people who come have managed to stay awake for most of the time. Perhaps one in early February and another in the summer, we’ll see. Mind you by the time we get too February we might be down to cabbage soup rather than suckling pig!
With perfect timing through our contacts in Plato Sustain we had a very entertaining & productive visit from a marketing strategist from URS Scott Wilson who has done us a quick review of all things hairy. I am always a bit sceptical about consultants especially when they are not horticulturaly orientated but she was brilliant, very sharp, practical and astute. We discussed all sorts of options from very short term ideas on a shoestring budget to longer term business strategies. It was certainly a great way of bringing some of our ideas into sharper focus and finding practical ways of bringing those ideas into reality. Watch this space!
Eco News
The local paper caught up with us this week with a call asking if the turbines were up yet. The reporter lives in Winchester but such is the uproar created by their erection that he hadn’t realized that they had been up for over three months. It won’t be in until next week (Hampshire Chronicle) but hopefully it will get a sensible reaction and not stir up too many negative thoughts. The photographer came in on Wednesday to take some pictures and I look great, so that’s ok.
I have been doing a bit of internet research on UK average monthly wind speeds this week to try and get a more accurate idea of how the turbines are fairing. It will still need a long term review for sensible analysis but it looks ok so far. I found a couple of graphs for UK winds over the last 21 and 34 years and they gave me the percentages to adjust the annual estimate we were given by the turbine installers. By the end of September we were 2.88% under estimate, although if I adjusted for the time one turbine was out of action with a set up problem it would have been 3% up. So far in October we are fractionally up but it is so tight that a day of light or heavy wind could swing it one way of the other.
The recent wooden tray returns have gone pretty well, we still are a few short, but looking back over the three seasons we have been using them we have achieved a return rate of 97.5% which is brilliant. Well done everyone, especially those who have achieved a 100% return of which there are many.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Caroline came back down to earth last week, quite literally. She did her tandem skydive which she got as a birthday present from a load of ‘friends’ a few months ago. I wasn’t too worried as I had topped up the life insurance and I know she loves that sort of thing, about as much as I hate it. It hit the spot and the ‘money off your next jump’ voucher is now burning a hole in her pocket so I doubt it will be long before she has another go.
Sad news this week that the Woking Nursery Show is no more. We have been exhibiting there for a very long time and it was always a productive and lovely day out for us, but the competition from the new HTA National Plant Fair just a couple of weeks before was just too much to bear and perhaps it was time to move on. It will be interesting to see how the shows get on over the next few years, particularly the national ones especially when I think things are likely to turn more in favour of more local supply with increasing demand for local produce, transport costs and possible future plant movement restrictions. I’m not 100% sure of our future strategy on the show front, we have now lost both of the shows we attended this year but it looks at the moment that the favourite option may be to buy a pig and eat it! As a sideline we might invite a few folk to come and see what we are up to at the same time. We have done quite a few tours already with local interest groups, nursery visits and students and we seem to have built up quite a variety of different things to show, there is all the hairy stuff, production facilities micro-prop lab, sustainability stuff and the turbines and nearly all the people who come have managed to stay awake for most of the time. Perhaps one in early February and another in the summer, we’ll see. Mind you by the time we get too February we might be down to cabbage soup rather than suckling pig!
With perfect timing through our contacts in Plato Sustain we had a very entertaining & productive visit from a marketing strategist from URS Scott Wilson who has done us a quick review of all things hairy. I am always a bit sceptical about consultants especially when they are not horticulturaly orientated but she was brilliant, very sharp, practical and astute. We discussed all sorts of options from very short term ideas on a shoestring budget to longer term business strategies. It was certainly a great way of bringing some of our ideas into sharper focus and finding practical ways of bringing those ideas into reality. Watch this space!
Eco News
The local paper caught up with us this week with a call asking if the turbines were up yet. The reporter lives in Winchester but such is the uproar created by their erection that he hadn’t realized that they had been up for over three months. It won’t be in until next week (Hampshire Chronicle) but hopefully it will get a sensible reaction and not stir up too many negative thoughts. The photographer came in on Wednesday to take some pictures and I look great, so that’s ok.
I have been doing a bit of internet research on UK average monthly wind speeds this week to try and get a more accurate idea of how the turbines are fairing. It will still need a long term review for sensible analysis but it looks ok so far. I found a couple of graphs for UK winds over the last 21 and 34 years and they gave me the percentages to adjust the annual estimate we were given by the turbine installers. By the end of September we were 2.88% under estimate, although if I adjusted for the time one turbine was out of action with a set up problem it would have been 3% up. So far in October we are fractionally up but it is so tight that a day of light or heavy wind could swing it one way of the other.
The recent wooden tray returns have gone pretty well, we still are a few short, but looking back over the three seasons we have been using them we have achieved a return rate of 97.5% which is brilliant. Well done everyone, especially those who have achieved a 100% return of which there are many.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
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