Research Library

This study aimed to find out whether adding biochar to an engineered green roof soil blend would ameliorate the soil in order to successfully grow spray-free vegetables at similar yields to the Farm’s older plots with more productive soil.

In a Nutshell

• Farmers found that vegetables grew well in both the control and biochar- amended plots when compared to crops that grew poorly in the originally installed engineered soil.
• However, biochar amendment did not significantly improve crop quality, yield, or soil health during the first year of application.

Suite à leur essai de brocoli sans labour en 2020 avec des cultures de couverture, Ryan et Isabelle ont testé du brocoli sans labour avec du tissu couvre-sol en 2021.

En Bref

• Le brocoli cultivé en utilisant le traitement sans labour du tissu couvre-sol avait un rendement inférieur et nécessitait plus de maind’œuvre.
• Malgré la faible performance du brocoli sans labour utilisant des paillis, Ryan et Isabelle croient toujours que le brocoli d’automne dans le nord-est de l’Ontario peut être cultivé avec succès dans un système sans labour, et essaieront probablement le brocoli sans labour sans système de paillis (culture de couverture ou tissu) en 2022.

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The growers’ objective was to document the best green head lettuce for summer production across different farms throughout southern Ontario during the 2021 season.

In a Nutshell

• Nevada was the top variety with respect to vigor, flavour, longest harvest, disease hardiness, and germination in this trial.
• Muir was a runner-up to Nevada, but did have some germination issues and did not size up as well.
• Concept and Encino were the growers’ least favorite varieties this year.
• Overall, these results are consistent with the 2020 lettuce variety trial.

Growers in northwestern Ontario wanted to identify which varieties of spinach are well-suited for seed production in their area.

In a Nutshell

• Matador and Popeye were among the growers’ favourite varieties, ranking high in most categories.
• Spinach planted in later fall (frost seeded) did not survive to produce seed in this trial.
• From unreplicated data, early fall plantings overwintered successfully and show a trend towards higher seed production.
• Giant Winter was the growers’ least favorite variety and was ranked lowest in almost every category.

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The growers’ objective was to document the best short season northern grain amaranth variety for production across different farms throughout southern Ontario during the 2021 growing season.

In a Nutshell

• Golden Giant, Opopeo, and Atitlan Dorado all performed well and were overall favourites among the growers.
• The Grain Amaranth from Richters Herbs was the growers least preferred variety and didn’t perform as well as the other varieties but ranked top in flavour for growers.
• Despite this, growers are interested in adapting this variety because of its good flavour, early flowering, and wide genetics which they hope means they can work with the population to create an ideal variety for their farm.
• Growers’ enjoyed learning about grain amaranth production and its story but more work is needed to determine if production at the small and mid-sized scale is feasible with the harvesting and processing labour time.

To test whether permanent beds can grow onions well with only shallow tillage (1.5 inches) as compared to deep and shallow tillage.

In a Nutshell

• Jeff found no difference in onion yield (weight) between the tillage treatments.
• Seeing no adverse effects from using only shallow tillage gives Jeff confidence to try more minimum tillage for bed preparation in the future.
• Yankee variety outperformed Norstar by an average of 20% more by weight.

To find a system for growing consistent lettuce in the heat of the summer in eastern Ontario, Luke and Dana compared different methods of altering the microclimate for lettuce including black landscape fabric (control); white landscape fabric, and white landscape fabric with shade cloth.

In a Nutshell

• Luke and Dana did not have the statistical power to detect differences in lettuce yield among treatments.
• From their observations, they will grow more mid-summer lettuce to help increase quantity available; and they will grow it on white landscape fabric to help with quality.
• They will continue to use black fabric during the spring and fall.
• They also plan to continue to experiment with shade cloth for 1-2 weeks post transplant during peak heat.

Michael wanted to narrow down varieties of organic field corn that are best suited for production on his farm.

In a Nutshell

• He tested nine varieties, three of which were bred for organic management.
• He grew unreplicated strips of six of the varieties and, with excess seed, two strips each of three varieties.
• Michael observed relatively uniform growth and development among varieties, and yield was excellent in the trial and across the farm.
• Pioneer 9998, 9608, and 0157 had the highest yields (two replicates each), but P0157 also had high harvest moisture.
• Moving forward, Michael will continue to grow and compare Pioneer 9998 and 9608.

Norm compared three varieties of oats under similar management strategies to see which variety worked best for his farm operation in eastern Ontario.

In a Nutshell

• Orford yielded the highest among the three varieties in the trial.
• Bullet had the highest test weight among the three varieties, although its yield was the most variable.
• The addition of N in a side-by- side unreplicated trial showed a promising return on investment among all three varieties but more work and replication is needed to verify and reinforce these findings.

 

NB: This report was updated January 2023.

As a continuation of their no-till broccoli trial in 2020 using cover crops, Ryan and Isabelle tested no-till broccoli using landscape fabric in 2021.

In a Nutshell

• Broccoli grown using the no-till treatment of landscape fabric had lower yield and required more labour.
• Despite poor performance of no-till broccoli using mulches, Ryan and Isabelle still believe that fall broccoli in northeastern Ontario can be grown successfully in a no- till system, and will likely try no-till broccoli without a mulch system (cover crop or fabric) in 2022.

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In 2021, Dean assessed 6 varieties of quinoa under organic management practices. The goal was to choose the best suited variety for future large-scale production and direct market sales to local consumers.

In a Nutshell

• Quinoa is a slow growing, non-competitive plant that can be a finicky crop to produce!
• It’s hard to differentiate between closely related weeds such as lamb’s quarters during the first 8 weeks of production.
• In a direct seeded quinoa crop, traditional large scale organic weeding practices were challenging, and the use of a rotary hoe was deemed impractical.
• Buffy and Brightest Brilliant Rainbow were the best performers in this trial under 2021 conditions.

Becky’s goal was to see if it was possible to establish land for cut flower production on existing perennial pastures using no-till methods.

In a Nutshell

• Poor germination across her replicated trial comparing cover crop mulch, deep compost mulch and tillage (control) resulted in no appreciable results to note.
• Becky had good luck growing sunflowers in two demonstration plots that she tarped for 12 months and 2 months.
• Becky recommends using tarps for 2-12 months ahead of planting into perennial pasture.

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Based on observations from the 2020 growing season, Kristine wanted to test the efficacy of intercropping cauliflower with onions in their market garden.

In a Nutshell

• Kristine found that the green stem variety performed better than the white stem and Romanesco varieties.
• Kristine found no significant difference in yields or plant health between cauliflower planted alone (control) and cauliflower intercropped with onions (treatment) in either the spring or fall plantings.

Les producteurs du nord-ouest de l’Ontario voulaient identifier les variétés d’épinards qui conviennent le mieux à la production de semences dans leur région.

En Bref

• Matador et Popeye figuraient parmi les variétés préférées des producteurs, se classant en tête dans la plupart des catégories.
• Giant Winter était la variété la moins appréciée des producteurs et était classée en dernière position dans presque toutes les catégories.
• Les épinards plantés plus tard à l’automne (ensemencés sur sol gelé) n’ont pas survécu donc n’ont pas pu produire des graines au sein de cet essai.
• D’après des données non répétées, les plantations du début de l’automne ont hiverné avec succès et montrent une tendance à une production de graines plus élevée.

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