As we head towards the end of the season, it is time to start thinking about the cleanout process. Throwing out the old and preparing for the new is one of the most important components to protected production.
Here are a few key parts to your end-of season wrap-up:
- Removing ALL organic matter from the greenhouse, and greenhouse vacinity
- dried up leaves, old soil, dirty pots and growing supplies are perfect hiding spots for pests and disease to overwinter. Its important that you eliminate as much potential habitat and food source as possible
- Don't hesitate to do this in stages. Clean out the big stuff, and come back a second and third time to get rid of the bits and pieces that were not picked up the first few times. Vacuums and leaf blowers can be excellent tools for capturing/collecting small organic bits that seem to escape the grasps of a broom
- Do not leave piles of plant material or old soil next to your greenhouse. As much as these serve as habits inside the production space, they will do the exact same thing outside. No matter how well the inside is cleaned, if you have a major source of insects just steps away from the greenhouse...there will be problems
- Collect all old growing supplies from the year, and remove from the space for cleaning. Pots, carrier trays, pruners, clips, support stakes/string etc. should be dealt with to reduce pathogen and pest load into the new production cycle.
- Suds up the space
- Giving all growing surfaces a soapy scrub is going to grab hold of any bacterial, viral and fungal agents that are still in the space and wash them away.
- The best strategy for washing a greenhouse is to start at the top and work down - and this includes your ceiling! Failure to wash the top of the grow space creates a disease bank that can literally rain down on your future crop.
- Once you have applied your soap, give the production space a thorough rinse and allow it to air dry
- Once you have allowed the space to airdry after cleaning, it is time to bring in the big guns- Sanitizer! There are a lot of sanitizers on the market to chose from, but they do have a few things in common:
- Contact time is important. Different products have different required contact times in order to be effective. Be sure to check what the required contact time is for your product of choice, and do your best to adhere by that. Otherwise there is no guarantee that the product will sterilize to the degree that you are hoping for
- Organic matter will de-activate sterilizing agents. Any of those leaves or soil bits that got left behind will actually render your product useless.
- Consider how corrosive your cleaning agent is. Bleach is effective, but does impact the longevity of growing equipment, both for plastics and other materials.
- TEMPERATURE. Sanitizer efficacies significantly decrease at lower temperatures. While it is difficult to justify heating a protected space for cleanout, it is a key factor in maximizing your product efficacy.
Once sterilized, be conscious of what is coming into the space. Clean clothes/shoes/growing supplies should be the only thing that enter the space for as long as possible to maintain your clean growing slate.
Here's to a clean start!
Posted by: Talia Plaskett
