Crop Management 1 Ornamental bedding, pot plants

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Crop Management 1Ornamental bedding, pot plants
cut flowers

• Level II Agricultural Business Operations

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Crop Management 1

• Selection
• Scheduling
• Management Tasks
• Harvesting post harvest
• Marketing
• Performance Targets

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Selection

• Choosing your crop
• 1. Interest
• 2. Expertise
• 3. Labour
• 4. Equipment / structures

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Selection

• Why select?
• Climate soil, protected, temperature, light
  levels.
• High Input pest disease, weed control,
  fertiliser, heat.
• Marketability demand, market, price, production
  cost, cash flow, harvesting costs.
• Variety F1, style, colour.

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Selection

• Useful sites
• www.ballcolegrave.co.uk
• www.moleseeds.co.uk
• www.young-plants.co.uk
• www.florensis.com
• www.gasagroup.com

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Scheduling

• Why?
• Climate (light levels, cooler temperatures)
• The market (spring, summer, season extension)
• Spacing requirements
• Number of crops per house

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Management Tasks

• Day to day operations
• Ordering the plant seed, plugs (at least 3
  months in advance)
• Planting / potting labour, time, space, holding
• Spacing labour, density (number per m2)
• Culture notes

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Management Tasks

• Nutrient management/Fertiliser /Feeding
• Moisture content use of different composts with
  different AFP
• pH levels Why?
• E.C levels use of base fertilisers, slow
  release fertilisers and liquid fertilisers
• NPK rates at vegetative growth and flowering
  requirement

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Management Tasks

• Growth Regulation
• Why?
• Meet specifications
• Reduce vegetative growth
• Flower/bract initiation
• How?
• Pinching
• Chemical
• Light
• Nutrient

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Management Tasks

• Pest Disease
• What could effect the crop (harvest intervals)
• Examples of common pest diseases

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Management Tasks

• Pest Disease

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Management Tasks

• Weed Control
• In bedding and pot plant production should have
  no weeds due to
• Clean compost
• Clean pots
• Clean facilities
• Cut flowers weed control difficult
• Chemical soil sterilisation
• Steam soil sterilisation
• Mechanical / hand weeding

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Harvesting Post harvest

• Harvesting
• Timescale
• At what stage
• Specifications
• Labour required
• Presentation
• Orders, labelling dispatch

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Harvesting Post harvest

• Post harvest
• Cooling the crop (removing field heat)
• Harvest time
• Cooling facilities
• Storage
• Facilities
• Price
• Moisture content
• Duration

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Harvesting Post harvest

• Storage
• Dry storage
• Examples in cut flowers, Lilies, Peony
  Hydrangea
• Storage success depends on
• 1. Hygiene
• 2. Pest disease free
• 3. Chemical post harvest treatments

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Marketing

• Market identification
• Product specification
• Quality/Price
• Minimum price

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Performance Targets

• Why measure crop performance?
• See what's happening
• Compare crop types/enterprises
• Improve
• Assess profitability

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Performance Targets

• Bedding, pot plant cut flowers
• Number of plants per m2
• Input
• cost per m2
• Labour
• Materials
• Overheads
• Output
• How much achieved per plant /stem per m2

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Performance Targets

• Target spacing
• Cut Flower crops
• Scented stock 64 plants per m2
• Antirrhinum 64 plants per m2
• Dianthus 56 plants per m2
• Alstromeria 9 plants per m2
• Delphinium 24 plants per m2
• (some plants may produce at least 3 stems per
  plant)

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Performance Targets

• Target spacing
• Pot plants / nursery stock
• 9cm pots 18 per tray x 4 trays 72
• 10.5cm pots 15 per tray x 4 trays 60
• 13cm pots 40/50
• 1 litre pots 40/50
• 2 litre pots 20/25

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Performance TargetsExample
Crop Commodity Pot size Planting density/m2 Financial Out put
Percentage marketable Gross margin per pot/stem
Pot plant Poinsettia 13cm 10 95 0.50
Cut Flower Lily 16 per crate 64 99 0.14
Nursery Stock shrub 2 litre 20 95 1.00
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Performance Targets

• Percentage wastage
• Why included?
• Examples
• Protected pot plants 10
• Field Vegetables 25
• Nursery Stock 10