Nitrogen Fertility Options for Organic High Tunnels
Cordelia Machanoff, Program Aide
Cornell Vegetable Program
Last Modified: May 25, 2017
It is transplant season for high tunnel tomatoes, particularly on farms that have just completed an early spring greens crop. Now is the time to plan for fertility for the longer season tomato crop. Conventional high tunnel growers can rely on soluble fertilizers which are injected through drip irrigation at a precise rate. However, organic tunnel fertility is more challenging, particularly in regards to long season nitrogen delivery. Most organic nitrogen sources are not injectable and must be applied prior to planting. These often come with unbalanced ratios of other nutrients such as phosphorus, calcium and magnesium. Several years of foliar sampling in high tunnel tomatoes throughout NYS has shown that organic high tunnel tomatoes generally start out with sufficient or even excess nitrogen, but go into a mid-season dive in foliar nitrogen levels.
Given the longer season and higher yields of tunnel tomatoes, a nitrogen fertilizer to inject or side-dress will help prevent mid-season deficiencies.
Our recommendations and pre-plant and in-season organic nitrogen sources are provided in the PDF below.
This work is part of a 2-year project between CCE Cornell Vegetable Program and NOFA-NY with support from the New York Farm Viability Institute.
Nitrogen Fertility Options for Organic High Tunnels, May 2017 (pdf; 1094KB)
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Upcoming Events
CANCELLED: Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) / Harmonized GAPs Farm Food Safety Training
September 26 - September 27, 2017
9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
Salamanca, NY
This event has been cancelled due to low registration numbers. Farm food safety is common-sense practices organized to assist farmers to improve their skill set to continue to grow safe and healthy food. Day One of this training will be an educational training on farm food safety principles and practices to provide the background and information for farmers to understand how to minimize the risk of food born disease contamination. Day Two will be for those who want help with writing a farm food safety plan.
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September 26, 2017
5:30 PM - 7:30 PM
Ransomville, NY
Vegetable growers are invited to tour an on-farm plot of early generation Cornell downy mildew resistant pickle breeding lines. Dr. Michael Mazourek, Professor of Plant Breeding, and lab members, will be on site to walk growers through the plot and review plant selections. All growers that attend will be an integral part of helping make selections for the next generation of pickle varieties released!Season Extension - Stretching Tomato Season and Winter Greens
October 4, 2017
4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Allegany, NY
What do you need to do to stretch out your high tunnel tomato season or establish a profitable crop of winter greens? Meeting the full season's nutritional demands of tomatoes under organic management is challenging. Juggling diverse succession crops and keeping the tunnel profitable year round adds an extra level of difficulty. Announcements
Produce Donations for Hurricane Relief
The ENY Commercial Horticulture Program is leading an effort to collect pallets of produce to send down to TX and FL for hurricane relief. Feeding American is handling the transportation. "Hard" crops accepted:- apples
- onions
- cabbage
- potatoes
- winter squash
- any other crop that withstand no refrigeration for a week
Farms donating product will receive a record of donation. Dates and locations of drop off locations in our region and across the state are provided.
You must be prepared to contact them in advance with details on what crop you are donating, how many pallets, which location you will be dropping your donation off at, and when they can anticipate your products. For more information on this effort and updates on locations, visit the ENY Commercial Horticulture's event details.
You must be prepared to contact them in advance with details on what crop you are donating, how many pallets, which location you will be dropping your donation off at, and when they can anticipate your products. For more information on this effort and updates on locations, visit the ENY Commercial Horticulture's event details.
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