Monday 4 August 2014

Hairy visits


Good morning all.

Just had a smidge of rain, just enough to make the odd small puddle, but the sun is come out again and it’s mostly dried out already. At least the temperature has been a bit more bearable this past week. Tunnel clearing and potting are bowling along now in preparation for next season. It’s all go.
Still fitting in the extras too with another big release of predators to spread about the nursery. 6 different hunters in chunky numbers to boost the local population and keep the worst pests under control. There are still a few pests that we can’t control effectively this way, American Lupin Aphid and leaf sucker probably being the two worst at the moment. The nemetodes we trialled to control the slugs did make a reasonable dent in the population, especially the nasty little black ones, but not effective enough across the different species to justify the thousands of pounds it would have cost to treat the whole nursery.
We have returned to the new slug pellet Feramol Max which is so much safer than the nasty old metaldehyde based pellets, it is accepted as organic by many organisations. Its effects are impressive but quite short lived and repeat applications are necessary to keep on top of the control but we have seen great results from it this season, which has been a really good one for these pests. With our little applicator we can treat the whole nursery in about an hour and the rate used is so low that it doesn’t litter the crop or cost too much.
I popped out on Wednesday with local nurseryman Roger in his great little Golf GTI (1990 I think) to visit the Ball -Colgraves open day near Banbury. A very refreshing trip, blowing a few cobwebs away, seeing some great plants and a collection of rather smart cars in the car park. There was some discussion of where we had gone wrong but it didn’t last long. Took lots of pictures of the varieties we grow or are about to, to add to my library, and saw some very promising trial plants. All in all an inspirational day.
We are looking to invest again this summer in further improvements to our production facilities to keep costs in check and improve plant quality even further. We irrigate with very hard water here and so far we have put up with the problems this can create (extra fertiliser use, looked up nutrients, marked foliage, damaged spray-line kit etc), but we are about to put in a little acid injector to improve the situation. The promise of super green leaves, clean nozzles and better use of the fertiliser we put in the compost seems like a distant dream, but hopefully one day those dreams will come true. We are just putting up the
little acid store at the moment and hopefully over the next few weeks the whole thing will go in and be up and running. I am told not to expect instant perfection as we will have to find the right balance for our site and usage patterns so will have to gradually turn up the wick until we see the results we are after. Nothing ever stands still.
We got exciting confirmation this week that we will be able to match our nursery OKI printed colour labels with the ones we are having made by Floramedia. This will be great for creating a more uniform display. Both labels will be of very similar size and shape and thread onto our new bamboo skewers which are currently now in production. We won’t be quite as good as the professionals on the colour front but it will be another step-up on the current display.
Big week coming up with further nursery development, production and hosting our NBIS group on site on Thursday. It’s been a couple of years since their last visit and we’ve changed quite a few things since then after our Lean Management training sessions in late 2012. There are a few new members too who haven’t been before so there will have to be a little tidy up, if we can find the time, to make a good impression. It’s a shame it won’t be a few weeks later, as we are a bit in between crops at the moment but I’m sure I can smooth it all over with a bit of flannel, just as usual. As long as the pub lunch is good we will be fine.
Availability
Asters just beginning to show bud and the first occasional flower, summer is going by so quickly.
Blue Salvias are showing a fresh flush of bud and flower, looking quite smart.
Leucanthemum Broadway Lights are showing their first signs of flowering, large pretty pale yellow blooms and lots of bud on nice strong stocky plants.
Ajuga Black Scallop with really very dark tight foliage, a stunner. The variegated Burgundy Glow is looking great too. We have a great range of good looking chunky Agapanthus we are producing for the first time this summer.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

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