Passive Ventilated High-Roof Greenhouse Production of Vegetables in a Humid, Mild Winter Climate

Abstract

Abstract:Florida produces $1.8 billion (United States dollar) of vegetables on 160,000 ha of land. All of this production is destined for the fresh market and most of the produce is shipped to Northern United States markets. Most of this vegetable production is grown in the field out of season in the winter months, thus requiring land not prone to freezes. Unfortunately, Florida is becoming highly urbanized with the population exceeding 15.3 million in 2000. The major impact of urbanization has been a loss of Florida's warmest and most productive lands for winter vegetable production. In 1997, a Florida and Israeli Protected Agriculture Project was initiated in order to take better advantage of land distal from the urbanized coastline. An 8-m high passive-ventilated Israeli-style greenhouse was constructed in north Florida, a minimum of 85 km from either coast. Successful pepper, tomato, cucumber and muskmelon crops were grown as fall-winter and springsummer crops. With proper shading, heat-sensitive crops could be produced throughout the summer. Moreover, a class of high-quality vegetable crops which could not be produced under typical field conditions in Florida's climate were produced. These included Galia-type muskmelon, Beit alpha cucumber, cluster tomato, and high-quality colored peppers. Yields from greenhouse crops are generally 10 times more than comparable field-produced crops.

Response in Strawberry (Fragaria × ananassa Duch. ‘Sweet Charlie’) Growth to Different Substrates and Containers under Greenhouse

“…Similar results were observed by Sirin and Sevgican (1999), they found the wider bags provide more chance for increasing the active roots in the upper parts of the black bags leading to better growth in cucumber. Present findings are also in close agreement with the earlier findings of NeSmith and Duval (1998) and Cantliffe et al, (2001) in strawberry under soilless culture. However, contrary the pot size used by Phala et al, (2012), the smallest pot may be sufficient for the maximum root growth attainable by the genotype.…”

“…Manole et al, (2008) had also reported the significant influence of pot type on the substrate biological activity and growth parameters of plants. These results are in agreement with Cantliffe et al, (2001) and Dafault and Waters (1985), who have also reported the influence of type of growing containers on strawberry plant growth. According to Miralles et al, (2012), white exterior PVC pots reduced the average and maximum temperatures by 3 and 6°C, which improve the plant growth.…”

Undergraduate Sustainable Learning: Effects of Sustainable Soilless Media on Production and Sensory Evaluation of Cucumbers, Basil, Parsley, and Lettuce

“…All media tested contain Canadian Sphagnum peat moss (varying in type and %), horticultural grade perlite, dolomitic limestone and wetting agents, while only Sun Gro Metro-Mix contains composted bark and added rice hulls. These tested media components match similar types commonly used for greenhouse cucumber production [17,20,[34][35][36].…”

“…of flowers (weeks 12-13); no. of fruit (weeks [12][13][14]17) during the experiment as well as final fruit length (cm) and weight (g) in week 17 [10,11]. Plant height (cm), leaf (node) number, and internode length (=plant height/leaf number) were recorded for basil.…”

“…products, disposal (compost ability) and economics all influence selection of the type of materials included in a particular soilless medium or hydroponic growing block [17,21].…”