Welcome to The Gator Incubators blog!

Welcome to our blog! We are the Gator Incubators. Our members include Amanda D, Emmylou C, Jack M, and Maria F. We will posts updates about our incubator farm project here. 

Holistic Management Goals:

Use of sunflowers, buckwheat, and other plants to sustainably control weeds and pests without negatively affecting our environment or any of our stakeholders.

Utilizing intercropping techniques, such as the three sisters method to maximize yield.

Assess the economic viability of our incubator farm and compare it to the profitability achieved by other sustainable farming operations.

Week 1-2 (9/9/20 - 9/14/20)

This is an overview of our incubator farm project after the first day of planting. We planted our crops in rows, so it is easy to discern between them and any weeds that come up. We paid special attention to spacing them apart correctly especially since we are not done planting and will be trying intercropping techniques. 

Here we have planted corn later we will probably plant some type of cover crop that prefers shade. This will help with efficiency because the corn likes full sun and the cover crop we choose will like shade. This way the cover crop will not get burnt from too much solar radiation and it will benefit the corn by managing weeds. It is also a good way to provide the variety which will make our crops more resistant to pests and diseases. 

Here we have zucchini on the left and our cucumbers on the right we planted them close to each other to have them share a trellis. This way we can save space for other crops and cover more surface area of the trellis. The trellis will be inserted after they have grown more so we can train the vines up it. This will provide support to the plants and increase their exposure to sunlight. This will provide healthier crops because it improves their circulation and will prevent the produce from rotting before harvest.

These are our tomato plants which will also need a trellis system we eventually want to intercrop some flowers with them. We will use a short variety so they do not get shaded since tomatoes like full sun however, many other plants can benefit from growing under tomatoes. We will most likely choose marigolds to intercrop with the tomatoes since they reduce the likelihood of soil-based nematodes and pests that target tomatoes like hornworms. 

We placed hay in the buffer zones to retain moisture in the soil and manage weeds. We also introduced many insects by placing the hay and gave them places to refuge since our plants are not large enough yet. Many spiders were introduced which will benefit our crops because they are beneficial insects. Spiders will help keep insect populations in check which will reduce the need for pesticides.

These are our eggplants this photo is showing that we put compost which we did for all of our crops. This will benefit our crops because there are microorganisms in the compost that will break down organic matter into plant-available nutrients. We have sandy soil so it is difficult to retain moisture for our crops the compost will increase the amount of moisture the soil retains which will help the soil hold water longer. The compost will also help prevent soil erosion.

Here we have planted sunn hemp seeds along the edges of our rows they are a beneficial cover crop. Sunn hemp will suppress weeds and sequester nitrogen and carbon it is also resistant to plant root nematodes and it actively suppresses them. It is also a great soil-builder due to the high biomass production it also produces benefits as a forage producer. It will also recycle plant nutrients, retain soil moisture, and reduce soil erosion.

Week 3 (9/21/20)

 

This week in our incubator garden plot we planted turmeric. This flowering plant is a relative of ginger and has edible roots. Turmeric plants prefer rich soil, and so we transplanted each plant with a generous portion of worm castings under the roots. We also applied the biostimulant Endomaxx and surrounded each plant with a thick layer of hay.

This week we also planted some broccoli and purple cabbage. We planted six of each. Hopefully, these plants will do well in our garden since we waited for the weather to get slightly cooler before planting them. We want to avoid hot temperatures causing them to bolt. In the upcoming week, we will likely fertilize them and then mulch around them with hay to avoid weed competition.

This image shows a line of our freshly sprouted sun hemp. We are using this hemp to prevent weed encroachment and manage pests. In addition to the hemp, we have also planted ryegrass and sunflowers at the ends of the bed. These efforts are all in line with our first holistic management goal. I look forward to seeing how effective they are in the future.

Here is a picture of our teammate, Amanda, applying the biostimulant Endomaxx to one of our pepper plants. We found that the best way to apply this solution is to dig a small trench around the base of the plant. This way any runoff stays in the plant's general vicinity. We hope that these endomycorrhizal fungi will help our plants grow and stay healthy.

Here are some of our cucumbers that have just been treated with Endomaxx. On our next garden day, we will fertilize them and mulch around them with hay. I noticed that some of them are also flowering. This seems inopportune as their energy would be better diverted into growing more foliage at this time.

Here are our freshly fertilized corn and squash. this is part of our intercropping efforts. We have taken this idea from the three sisters' intercropping method and we hope that as the corn grows it will provide shade for the squash plants. This effort is also an attempt to comply with our holistic management goals.

Week 4 (9/28/20)

This is our teammate Amanda weeding the field before we apply a thick layer of mulch to suppress future weed growth. Which will help our crops stay healthy because they will not be competing with the weeds for nutrients and water in the soil. We weed once a week because they are easier to control when they are a younger plant with a small root system. It also rained as we were weeding which makes it much easier to get the entire plant.

Here are our sour gherkins we paid extra attention to weeding around them as they are still our smallest crop. Weeds can easily outcompete them since they are still developing and are low to the ground. We had to be extra cautious because the sour gherkins have spread across the ground. Most of the weeds in the immediate vicinity had to be pulled out by hand. We ensured the entire weed was pulled from the ground otherwise it is ineffective and inefficient.

This is our green magic broccoli and our sunn hemp which will help suppress weeds and add nutrients and biomass to the soil. We densely planted the sunn hemp so it would flower earlier and would not grow too tall and risk shading our crops. The sunn hemp will also provide erosion control, soil improvement, and suppress root-knot nematodes. 

Here is our teammate Emmylou planting kale by our Ichiban eggplant and peas. We avoided planting it with its brassica relatives such as the broccoli and cabbage. These plants are prone to the same pests and diseases so if they were planted together they would be susceptible to outbreaks. It is also near the cilantro which will attract beneficial insects for the kale and other crops. The sunn hemp will also benefit the kale because it prefers a lot of nitrogen as well. It is a very flexible crop that prefers a variety of companion plants.

This is the thick layer of mulch we added to suppress future weed growth and make them more manageable. Hay will prevent weed seeds from germinating it also breaks down and contributes to nutrients in the soil. It will also keep the soil temperature cooler and keep the soil damp which will help the crops access to water especially since the soil is sandy and drains. For our smaller crops, we did not mulch them yet since we wanted them to get more established first.

This is showing that we put a thick layer of mulch around our taller plants and the progress on our pea plants. We plan to trellis our peas next week since they have gotten tall enough that they are going to need support. Especially since we noticed the peas have begun sending out tendrils and have been attempting to latch onto neighboring weeds for support. We want to prevent them from climbing on nearby plants. The trellis will be healthier for the plant because it will allow for better airflow around the leaves which will prevent mildew and disease.

Week 5 (10-5-20)

This week we planted a lot of new transplants including radishes, Pac Choi, tomatoes, dill, and cilantro. We also direct seeded some new crops to completely fill our plot. We direct-seeded beets, spinach, carrots, and radishes. Additionally, we added began trellising our sour gherkins and our snow peas to let them grow upward as they're supposed to. 

Here you can see that we've added more hay mulch to some of our crops to deter weeds from growing in our plot and competing with our crops for resources. Weed control has been a major issue in organic crop production. We had issues with laying the mulch thick enough because some of our crops seem to have stunted perhaps from nutrient deficiency.

We completed our incubator farms logo this would allow us to market our business. We chose a simple design to allow our name to be clearly visible and imprint in the customer's mind. The logo was a learning experience because we felt it was too generic and thus would be easily forgettable, unfortunately. Next time we would make the logo more iconic design-wise, we were not very familiar with the medium used and creating art for the outdoors.

Here you can see our turmeric transplants beginning to show some growth with some kale transplants set up behind them. Interestingly enough the turmeric has pesticidal properties that pests such as ants dislike. Turmeric is often used in a powder form as an organic pesticide. Kale is a very hardy crop that can withstand winter temperatures so we felt it was a very reliable crop to grow.

The gherkins were trellised which they needed because they were on the ground so they were susceptible to disease. Trellising helps improve airflow and limits the spread of disease. We direct seeded to the left of the gherkins we planted carrots and beets. Unfortunately, we did not get enough time to apply mulch thickly to the gherkins and thinly over the seeded rows. Cucumbers prefer warm soil so we felt mulching around them could have helped the soil temperature.

Week 6 (10/12/20)

This is our cairo cabbage we applied 10-2-8 organic fertilizer this week to most of our crops. It produces cabbage heads that range from 3-6 pounds however, it takes 85 days to achieve that so unfortunately we doubt we will get to harvest it. We chose this variety of cabbage because it has disease resistance specifically against fusarium and black rot which many red cabbage are susceptible to and lost from. 

These 2 rows are our buttercrisp lettuce and kale which are doing very well however, they need to be mulched. Our sunn hemp got too tall which backfired and shaded our crops so we had to trim it down. We did mess up a few times with timing this because sunn hemp produces more nitrogen before it has flowered but for the most part this row wasn't flowered luckily. 

This is one of our corn plants which has produced a corn ear too soon this could have been an issue with spacing. It also could have been an issue with plant stress from nutrient deficiency which could be due to an error in our fertilization calculations. Most of our corn crops had this issue which leads us to believe it was one of the problems stated or a combination of both. We also had sunn hemp issues in this row as well because they grew too tall.

Here is our sunflowers which seem to be doing well and have even begun to bloom. These sunflowers will be beneficial to our zuchini and cucumber plants because they will attract pollinators to them. They are also good for marketing as cut flowers and produce edible seeds. These edible seeds can also limit weeds because they are allelopathic however, this could also potentially be an issue to other crops. 

These rows contain our radishes, pac choi, cairo cabbage, and green magic broccoli. The green magic broccoli is a good companion plant for radishes because it provides nutrients into the soil. We felt we should have composted the broccoli more and provided it more organic matter because it thrives in humus-rich soil.

This is our zucchini that was intercropped with our sweet corn which is part of the three sisters intercrop technique. The pollen produced by the corn attracts a lot of honeybees to also pollinate the zucchini. However, since the corn is stunted we may have planted the zucchini and corn too close which was detrimental. Some of the zucchini plants seem to be having pest issues such as eaten leaves and whitefly damage.

These are our roma tomatoes which seem to have some brown/yellowing of the leaves which could signal chlorosis. This could mean we made an error in our fertilization calculations that could have caused stunting in our plants. The tomatoes are flowering however they should have been producing relatively quickly which is a consequence of stunting. We planted them by our bush beans which are nitrogen fixing which could benefit our tomatoes.

Week 7 (10/19/20)

Our kale and lettuce looked significantly better since we chopped down the tall border of sun hemp that was shading it. This week we mulched around these little plants to help keep the soil temperature cool. Hopefully, this will also help to stimulate growth. The sun hemp is growing back already so it may need to be trimmed again.

This squash plant is almost indistinguishable due to pest damage. Pest management continues to be one of the more challenging parts of this project. We could have done a better job scouting pests in the beginning. Fortunately, most of our plants are still doing well. Our summer squash plants have probably been hit the hardest.

The most important thing we did in our plot this week was spraying for pests. We used insecticidal soap. Hopefully, this will dissuade pests from our plot and give some of the damaged plants time to recover. I am interested to see how effective this soap will be when compared to conventional insecticides.

Here is a caterpillar that we found on one of our squash plants. We believe that it is a hornworm. We sent this picture to the entomology department to get it correctly identified. Even though we are having these pest problems, we should be able to start harvesting next week.

This week we also cut down the rest of the sun hemp. Last week we cut down most of it to avoid shading our lettuce, and other crops. Just a week after this operation, everything looked better. Because of this we went ahead and removed the remaining portion. This process will likely have to be repeated as the sun hemp grows back.

This is the best-looking squash plant in our plot. Even though our squash has been heavily hit by pests, This one is working to produce several squashes. As of this week, all of the squash were treated for pests, so hopefully, they will improve and produce even more fruit.

Week 8 (10/26/20)

We found some pests on some of our crops luckily the sunflowers attracted the leaf-footed bug away from our cash crops. Leaf-footed bug damage is very limited so they are often not a concern they may cause small blemishes on fruit. They are also attracted by excess weeds and grass so perhaps the sunn hemp borders could have attracted them. Spiders are an important biological control agent because they are a natural enemy of many pests including this leaf-footed bug.

These are our Pac choi, cairo cabbage, and green magic broccoli crops, this is post-harvest for our Pac choi. You can harvest the entire crop like a cabbage head but we preferred to take the leaves as they were ready. We left some leaves on the plant still so it would have photosynthesis capability and continue to grow new leaves to harvest. If it is left to grow and the leaves are not picked Pac choi will flower similarly to lettuce the flowers are edible and seeds are often produced. Typically if flowering occurs early it is known as bolting and can be caused by a variety of factors such as shock from transplanting or too little water.

This is our red cross lettuce, revolution peppers, butter crisp lettuce, and kale we planted these a bit late so the harvest is most likely going to be later than other crops. Especially our Pac choi because it matures quickly. Unfortunately, our revolution peppers have not begun producing yet and perhaps they could be stunted especially since they were planted relatively early as transplants. We have still been maintaining the sunn hemp border to minimize shading of our crops.

This is our Pac choi harvest we got quite a bit compared to our other crops which haven't produced much yet. Hopefully it will be enough marketing wise however, we felt we could have done things differently to improve our harvest from our other crops. Stunting was a major issue on some crops that they didn't seem to recover from. Also pests were an issue especially on our zucchini and cucumber plants and a few plants had to be uprooted because all of their leaves were eaten. We also had whitefly damage on some of our zucchini crops so we definitely feel that there were practices we could have tried to solve our issues.

This is an example of one of our zucchini crops that has pest damage and this is one of our best looking zucchini plants. Although you can see some of the leaves have been completely eaten which reduces the plants photosynthetic ability. The zucchini plant is also most likely stunted because it has been flowering however it has not produced and what it does produce is very small. 

This is some of the beans we harvested from our bush bean crop and we found some snails on our plants. As you can see we didn't get much of a harvest from our bush beans which is surprising considering they are nitrogen fixing. So perhaps there was not enough nitrogen in the soil for the rhizobia to provide to the plant. Snails can be a pest because they will eat most crops but they are deterred by strong smelling foliage such as marigolds or lavender. For snails it is advised to remove organic mulches but luckily these snails shouldn't be much of an issue because they are small and we didn't find enough to be worried about damage.