How to optimise crop management of protected salad crops

PR11

Trainee agronomists (pre-BASIS), growers, technical managers, supervisors, retail technologists and horticulture graduates who wish to gain a basic understanding of crop production and pest and disease control in protected salad crops to achieve maximum commercial crop yields and quality. The course covers tomato, cucumber, sweet pepper, chilli, aubergine and lettuce crops.

Able to demonstrate practical experience

Register interest

£245 + VAT

A one day classroom-based course

To be awarded

Dr Richard Binks, Director, FreshTec

Content: Classroom module 1 (half day) – Crop production:

 

General protected salad industry overview:

• Crops, greenhouse structures, industry and planting through to harvesting.

 

Greenhouse plant physiology:

• Light, temperature and humidity interactions with protected salad crops, and their connection to greenhouse plant physiology and environmental management.

 

Water quality, EC and pH, and irrigation:

• Assessing water quality;
• Characteristics of different treatment systems and their application;
• Principle factors involving EC and pH;
• Irrigation strategies to match growing media;
• Irrigation strategies to match water uptake and drainage;
• Irrigation strategies to control root-zone water content and EC;
• Plant evaporation and transpiration.

 

Greenhouse environmental management:

• The principal factors affecting environmental management, including the effect of outside conditions on inside conditions (temp, relative humidity, wind, radiation, rain);
• Growers’ tools used to influence the internal environment (heating, cooling, fans, screens, climate control systems, fogging, etc.);
• Principles of ventilation.

 

Plant structure, nutrition and nutrient management:

• Assessment of plant structure;
• Photosynthesis, nutrition, characteristics of different root-zone factors and their application;
• Principal factors involving nutrient management, including functions of nutrient elements, nutrient uptake principles, plant disorder symptoms, deficiencies and toxicities, nutrient management, difference between root zone and input solutions, interpretation of root zone nutrient analysis, adjusting input solution based on drain analysis, and basic formula calculations.

 

Substrate/media types and characteristics:

• Assessment of media types, characteristics, their application, and the principal factors affecting their selection, including ideal media properties, void space, porosity, aeration, cation exchange capacity and pH;
• Commercial hydroponic media types and their characteristics.

 

CO₂ enrichment of greenhouses:

• The benefits, costs and equipment required to correctly enrich a greenhouse with carbon dioxide for maximum crop growth and quality, including CO₂ enrichment principles, influence of light and temperature on CO₂ enrichment, enrichment technology options, enrichment targets and strategies.

 

Classroom module 2 (half day) – Integrated crop management:

 

Common greenhouse pests, diseases and IPM:

• Assessment of common pests and characteristics of different diseases;
• The principal factors involving IPM;
• Implementation of bio-controls and bio-pesticides to control common greenhouse pests;
• Identifying key pests and diseases (e.g. taxonomy, life cycles);
• IPM programmes, including consideration of sources of plant pests and diseases, crop hygiene, and plant fungal, bacterial and virus conditions;
• Common physiological problems and their treatments.

 

Greenhouse crop protection principles:

• Basic principles of crop spraying, including high volume, low volume and ultra-low volume systems, and suitable vertical and horizontal spray systems for greenhouses crops;
• Chemical crop protection options (dripping, spraying/fogging/low volume misting, dusting, sulphur evaporators).

Trainers are accredited by ARTIS

Participants receive an ARTIS Accredited Certificate