Winter Greens Production at Kilpatrick Family Farm

Successful winter farming

Michael KilpatrickKilpatrick Family Farm

Brief Historystarted in 2004, rototiller and strong backs

2005, first tractor, Super C and first high tunnel

2006, first year of CSA, 10 members

2009, 5 acres, 4 weekly markets

2011, CSA sales into Albany, CSA manager

2014, 50 tillable acres, 4 weekly markets, wholesale, CSA

Kilpatrick Family Farm today

12-15 acres in vegetables

25-30 Acres in Cover Crop

8 full time employees

1/3rd acre of Tunnels

3,000 yards of compost annually

4 Summer Markets

3 winter markets

• 6 properties,14 acres in crops, 25 in cover crop

• 8 full time employees during the summer

• 4 part-time employees during the winter

• 4 weekly summer markets/ 3 winter

• 210 CSA summer shares / 140 winter shares

• over 1/3 acre under tunnels

14’ profile

Income $450000+

Farmer’s MarketRestaurantCSA

21% gross profit margin

This talk will be on my blog..

www.michael-kilpatrick.com

http://www.michael-kilpatrick.com

1/22/10 8:55 AM9778 State Route 22, Middle Granville, NY 12849 - Google Maps

Page 1 of 1http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=9…2849&ll=42.747012,-74.256592&spn=10.937574,23.181152&z=6&pw=2

Address 9778 State Route 22Middle Granville, NY 12849

©2009 Google - Map data ©2009 Google, Tele Atlas -

We are in Middle Granville, NY - an hour north of Albany, NY Zone 4b

Mini tunnels

Our Different Tunnels

Hoophouse

Transplant House

High Tunnels

Mini-Tunnel Crops

• Kale and Swiss Chard

• Late Greens

• overwintered onions

Disadvantages of hoophouses

Snow!

Transplant House

• all transplants on farm are started here in this 17’ x 48’ house

• air and bench heat

• Note germination chamber on right

• hose on wire and pulleys

• benches are covered with several layers of rowcover at night to retain heat

Haygrove

51

14 K 14 K

58 K

Area of hoophouses 28,000 cubic ft

Area of high tunnel 58,000 cubic ft

Tunnel Size

205% more area in High tunnel

Heated VS Unheated

overhead wateringtakes the headache

out oftripping

over pipeson the soil

surface.

Rondo Mini Sprinkler

Planning your winter growing

Growth rates

0

5

10

15

20

1/1 2/1 3/1 4/1 5/1 6/1 7/1 8/1 9/1 10/1 11/1 12/1

Outdoors Greenhoue

Online Sales tracking

ITem Number crop variety Days Seed date plant date container Company

Have seed

?

Seeds ordered

seeds

per cel

l

Plants/

Seeds

needed

Field bed feet

rows

per bed

2120 Artichoke Imperial Star 3/1 5/16 20 row> 3" JSS 1 250 450 12015g Arugula Astro 2/8 JSS Y Tomato house 3 50 52015g Arugula Astro 3/1 JSS y Haygrove 3 100 42015g Arugula Astro 4/4 JSS Y lb TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 4/11 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 4/18 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 4/25 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 5/2 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 5/9 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 5/16 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 5/23 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 5/30 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 6/6 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 6/13 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 6/20 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 6/27 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 7/4 JSS Y GR 4 25 42015g Arugula Astro 7/11 JSS Y GR 4 25 42015g Arugula Astro 7/18 JSS Y GR 4 25 42015g Arugula Astro 7/25 JSS Y GR 4 25 42015g Arugula Astro 8/1 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 8/8 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 8/15 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 8/22 JSS Y TW 25 42015g Arugula Astro 8/29 JSS Y Bottom 100 122015g Arugula Astro 9/5 JSS Y Bottom 100 122015g Arugula Astro 9/12 JSS Y Bottom 150 123021BO Arugula Ice-Bred 9/17 FS oz Bottom 200 123021BO Arugula Ice-Bred 9/22 FS Bottom 200 123021BO Arugula Ice-Bred 9/26 FS Bottom 200 123021BO Arugula Ice-Bred 10/1 FS Haygrove 4 50 12

master farm sheet

3/1 3/15 4/1 4/15 5/1 5/15 6/1 6/15

BED 1 strawberries 1st half/

strawberries 1st half

strawberries 1st half/lettuce mix/mesclun xx

strawberries 1st half/lettuce mix/mesclun




basil

BED 2 transplanted turnips and radishes- radishes in center of bedxx

transplanted turnips and radishes- radishes in center of bed



Tomatoes in center of bed turnips finishing up on edges

Tomatoes in center of bed turnips finishing up on edges

tomatoes tomatoes

BED 3 Arugula/mesclunxx

Arugula/mesclun

Arugula/mesclun

beans beans beans/ cukes in center of bed

beans/ cukes in center of bed

beans/ cukes in center of bed

BED 4 Swiss chard, mustards, pac choi, hon tsai tai xx

Swiss chard, mustards, pac choi, hon tsai tai



peppers peppers peppers peppers

Haygrove 2011

Haukuri Turnips

Haukuri Turnips

Radishes

Radishes

tomatoes

Greens

Greens

Greens

Greens

InterplantingSwiss Chard

Boc Choi

OverplantingOnions

Micromix

664 Radish Rover 2/7 2/28 JSS 3 3600 1200 200 3 Haygrove 2 2

2015g Arugula Astro 3/1 JSS y 100 4 Haygrove 3 brassica30.0

1C Mesclun, GreenhouseMixed 28 3/1 0 16000.0 100 8 Haygrove 3 brassica20.0

702 Swiss Chard, Greenhouseruby red 3/1 JSS 0 3600 50 6 Haygrove 2 beet 12

706 Turnip Hakuri 1/24 3/1 200 sp JSS 4 3200 800 200 2 Haygrove 2 2

Greens, GreenhouseMixed 45 1/24 3/7 200 speedling Haygrove 4

138 Greens, GreenhouseHon Tsai Tai 37 2/8 3/7 200 speedling 2 532 266.0 50 4 Haygrove 4 1.3

2460 Greens, GreenhouseBlack summer45 2/8 3/7 200 speedling 1 266 266.0 50 4 Haygrove 4 1.3

1C Mesclun, GreenhouseMustards 28 1/25 3/7 3 780 260.0 50 4 Haygrove 4 1.3

703D Swiss Chard Bright Lights 1/28 3/15 200 speedlingJSS 1 300 300 100 3 Hoophouse 1

664 Radish Rover 3/28 JSS 50 M 1 7200 7200 150 4 Bottom 9 radish 12

706 Turnip Hakuri 2/14 3/28 200 sp JSS 4 1600 400 50 4 Bottom 8 2

1B Lettuce, GreenhouseMixed 45 1/3 4/1 200 speedling 0 600.0 50 6 Mixed 2.0ITem

Number

crop variety DaysSeed

date

plant date

container Company

Have seed?

Seeds ordered

seeds per cell

Plants/

Seeds

needed

Plants

needed

bed feet

rows

per bed

Field Plate Seeds per FT

Venting

Venting

Several schools of thought-

Vent in the 50-60 degree range, keeps greenhouse dryer, no large temperature fluctuations.

Let the greenhouse heat up- plants respond more to the average temperature that the extremes.

Always vent- no disease or damping off

Peak vents for winter ventilation

advancingalternatives.com/

http://www.advancingalternatives.com

Andre CantelmoHeron Pond Farm

Andre CantelmoHeron Pond Farm

Jon SatzWoods Market Garden

Jon SatzWoods Market Garden

Roll-Up Secured with Wiggle Wire

Jack ManixWalker Farm

Four Season Tools

90

Heating

Cordwood-Vermont Herb and Salad

Company

“We’d easily be using 1200 gallons of oil each month”

http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/CaseStudies.html

http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/CaseStudies.html

THE EXPERIMENT

Green Mountain Solar Project

Total Cost $43 K

January18 days

February23 days

March15 days

Days with Precipitation 2010

99

Pete JohnsonPete’s Greens

Headhouse w/ heater

Gre

enho

use

Gre

enho

use

Air return

Biochar + Heat

• James Madison University

• "Wayne Teel -" <[email protected]

• Appalachian State University

• David Domermuth-<[email protected]>

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

• With our heat system we can raise the soil temp 3 degrees during the night

• The sun can raise the soil 5 degrees and the air 40 degrees on a mostly sunny day.

Winter growing is a sun driven system

30 vs 34 ft house

14 K 14 K

58 K

Area of hoophouses 28,000 cubic ft

Area of high tunnel 58,000 cubic ft

Acclimating Greens to Cold

0

7.5

15

22.5

30

October November December January

Heated, gradual drop Dangerous

Crop Specifics

Spinach

seed transplant

Location Type Sales date

9/1 raised field bedsbaby November

9/1 hoophouse full sizeFebruary

9/25 Haygrove baby December

10/10 High-tunnel baby December/January

10/6 11/6High-tunnel full sizeEmergency

Spinach Successions

seed transplant







Spinach Successions

• Hoophouse spinach is seeded by September 1st

• fertilized and weeded 3 weeks later with soybean meal

• preferred Varieties are Space, Pigeon, Donkey

• Spinach makes around $300,000 an acre

seed transplant







Spinach Successions

Seeded Baby Spinach

• Seeded by October 10th

• seeded at 30 seeds per ft with rows 9” apart

• Pigeon or Red Cardinal (for Christmas Spinach)

seed transplant







Text

Spinach Successions

•Red Kitten or Red Cardinal

•Faster regrowth 4-5 cuttings during our growing season

•does bolt faster in the spring

•really good flavor!

Spinach trial

Flamingo Spinachfor bunching

Emperor (bunch or leaf)

Giant winterbig and floppy

Pigeonpersonal favorite

Favorite winter varieties

• Space

• Tyee

• Giant Winter

• Pigeon

• Racoon

Lettuce Mix

seed transplant Location Sales date

7/28 9/5 raised field November

8/10 9/27Haygrove December

9/25Direct unheated house January, February

10/5Direct unheated house March

1/10Direct high-tunnel April

Varieties• need Downy Mildew Tolerant (DMT)

varieties

• Johnnys 5 star mix (192) good place to start

• like sulu, concept, magenta, winter density













Lettuce Mix

• Lettony

• Sulu

• spock

• Gaviotta

• Bolsachica

• DMR mix

Salanova

Seeded August 10th

Mesclun

• Seeded around 30 of September

• start harvest mid November

• will cover with mini tunnels before snow for harvest until christmas

SL

0

30

60

90

120

1 2 3 4

Growth in March

1/10-20 20%

10/23 34%

10/15 20%

10/6 15%

9/27 10%

Seeding mesclun for a consistent supply

we’re finding that 4-5 inches is best for row spacing

Tokyo Bekana

Yukina Sav

Yukina Savoy

Komatsuna

Boc

Boc choi, Red and Green

Mustards

Braising greens

Pictures courtesy of Johnnys Seeds

Arugula

Preventing Steminess

Overwintered trial

Kale

Variety seed transplant

Location

Fall Kale Jul 5, 2011 8/4Field

Baby field kale September 15-30 Field

Greenhouse Kale Aug 4, 2011 9/1High tunnel


Location





Location




Microgreens

Days to harvest

Variety seed transplant Location

Bright Lights 8/1 Field/mini-houses

Bright Lights 8/10 10/13 High tunnel


Fordhook giant 9/10 high tunnel

Swiss Chard


Bright Lights 8/20 field, cut and store




Swiss Chard


Bright Lights 8/1 Field/mini-houses




Swiss Chard

Asian Greens

Savoy transplants ready to be transplanted


Location

Pac choi 8/20 9/16 fieldPac choi 8/25 9/30 haygrove Brocolli Raab 9/9 10/21 haygrove Pac choi 9/9 10/15 high tunnelVitamin Green 9/9 10/15 High tunnelTokyo Bekana 9/9 10/15 High tunnelYukina savoy 9/9 10/15 High tunnelMix 1/15 2/20 Hoophouse


Location



Location


Other crops

Mini -Broccoli

Upland Cress

Sorrel

Maché

Turnips/radishes

• Member of the Crucifer family so appreciate high boron as well as steady moisture

• Hakurei turnip variety preferred during the summer and fall

• For radishes, Rover and Cherriette preferred.

Cover with mini-tunnel in the spring for up to 3 weeks earlier

Connect with us!

@michaelkilpatrick1

Kilpatrick Family Farmor

Michael Kilpatrick

www.kilpatrickfamilyfarm.com

www.michael-kilpatrick.com

http://www.kilpatrickfamilyfarm.com

http://www.michael-kilpatrick.com

Education

Winter Greens Production at Kilpatrick Family Farm