At only 30 years old, Ashley Rodgers became one of the youngest female organic farm owners and operators in Georgia and has relied on one major company to ensure her day-to-day production needs — Atlas Greenhouse Systems.

With 64 acres of land — 15 used for organic growing, 20 for vegetables and 5 for perennial fruit orchards — Rodgers has solidified her importance to the local community and Metro Atlanta area with her certified organic farm, Rodgers Greens and Roots Farm.

Established in Douglasville, Georgia, alongside the Chattahoochee River, the historic farmland is home to a Pro-Com Gutter Connect greenhouse, two standard budget plus high tunnels and three high tunnels that were previously used, but “doctored” by Atlas when necessary, Rodgers says. The greenhouse is primarily used for propagation and microgreens, while the high tunnels are used year-round. According to Rodgers, they’re good for season extension, especially in the winter.

“I’ve been farming for 11 years. I’m going on the fourth season of owning my own farm, but I’ve actually always farmed with Atlas Greenhouse Systems,” she says. “Their structures are very popular in our area and I’ve used them from the very first farm I was on and built one on the second farm I was on, so it was kind of a given that when I went to have my own farm, that I was going to work with them.”

With 9 acres used for production, Rodgers primarily grows vegetables, fruits and herbs for farmers markets, wholesale and previously, to restaurants in the surrounding area. Her harvest calendar includes foods like arugula, basil, carrots, eggplant, fennel, kale, okra, spinach, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and winter squash.

While that sounds like a large workload, Rodgers’ farming style is medium-scale, mechanized production with tractors, tools and machinery in use. It also maintains sustainable farming of compost, cover crops and crop rotation, which Rodgers considers the “backbone” of the farm. She also aims to build community awareness of local, seasonal and organic food, and advises growers to partner with Atlas Greenhouse Systems if their goals are similar.

“Since they’re local to me, it’s easy and the shipping is cheaper, but the quality of their tubing is a lot better than other companies — the sturdiness of it,” Rodgers says. “And their customer service has just always been really, really great. I worked primarily with one person there and when I needed something or have questions, he sent me pictures and sent me questions for two weeks straight. I couldn’t [have built the structures] without him. Plus, their pricing is really great, and the structures are high quality compared to other companies out there. They have just always been really great.“

Greenhouse growers, even those with heated facilities, have always been at the mercy of the elements. Fluctuations in cold, heat, humidity, light levels and ventilation can all take a toll on productivity.

David Hoffman, senior director of sales and operations, and Bill Hall, head grower at Hoffman Nursery know this well. Based in Rougemont, N.C., the company has been selling ornamental grasses to landscape architects and wholesale nurseries in the U.S. and Canada since 1986. Business was good, but Argus Controls played an important role on taking it to the next level.

“We started using Argus in 2016; we purchased a greenhouse and they recommended Argus,” Hoffman says. “We didn’t have much control before we built gutter-connect greenhouses. But now we have so much more control. It really was a game-changer for us having gutter-connect houses. It’s made a big difference, particularly in the winter months.”

Hall says that the nursery now uses Argus’ system in three inter-connected greenhouses and several hoop houses. “We probably monitor 1.5 acres with Argus’ system. It allows us to control the climate in the greenhouse and provides access to the [environmental] information. Pairing that data with the knowledge of our growers gives us a real advantage.”

“It’s made a big difference, especially in the winter months,” Hoffman says. “It made us a lot more productive being able to give the plants what they need. The gutter-connect houses have bottom heat and are passively cool. Plants grow well and we’re able to deliver a lot more of them in the off-season. We also have quicker turn.”

“With Argus, we have better production,” Hall says, adding that, by being able to target climate control, the company has been able to easily grow new varieties. “Plus, we enjoy working with them. When we have issues, the support team is very helpful. And the weather station that monitors our system informs other activities, such as spraying.”

Sounds like Mother Nature won’t be playing any more tricks on Hoffman Nursery.

Photo courtesy of nick greens

According to culinary legend, backed up by the USDA, San Francisco-area chefs were using what are now called “microgreens” as far back as the 1980s. While no one is sure what they were called back then, one thing is certain: Their popularity grew. By the mid-1990s, commercial microgreen production was formally underway in Southern California. Today, fresh microgreens are familiar sights at restaurants, local farm markets, health-oriented grocers and, occasionally, kitchen windowsills.

With a relatively low barrier to entry and lightning-fast production cycles, microgreens present attractive options for growers — especially small- and medium-scale farmers who comprise a large segment of the microgreen industry’s core. Established and new growers continue to inspire and expand on early microgreen innovation, bringing new products and artisan mixes to local and national markets.

But with the chefs, restaurants and specialty markets at the heart of the business shut down by COVID-19 closures, these growers are turning their innovative energies toward building on microgreen strengths and finding new ways to reach people with produce.

Fortified by microgreen benefits

Jennifer Morganthaler, clinical instructor at Missouri State University’s William H. Darr College of Agriculture, outlines numerous advantages that microgreens offer agribusinesses. With crop cycles as short as seven to 10 days and a relatively easy learning curve, the crop’s minimal space requirements and year-round possibilities complement rural and urban production. Plus, high nutritional value paired with pleasing color, texture and flavors offer built-in commercial and personal appeal.

Microgreens consultant Nick Greens, founder of Nick Greens, LLC, began growing microgreens in Chicago 10 years ago after a stint with crop cycles that spanned up to a year.

“What drew me to microgreens right away was the quick turnaround time — getting my reward faster — but it was the nutrients as well,” Greens says. “At that time in my life, I was becoming more conscious of what I was eating and being very healthy and mindful about what I was putting in my body. That really lined up with microgreens.”

For brothers Joseph Martinez and David Redwood, co-founders of Phoenix-based Arizona Microgreens, the launch of their urban microgreens farm seven years ago was rooted in love.

“We started just because we loved microgreens,” Martinez says. “We loved the way they looked and tasted and how they grew.” The business has steadily scaled up every year, supplying schools, retailers, farmers markets and restaurants statewide.

Intrigued by the opportunity to supply cutting-edge New York chefs with microgreens and other specialty items, former tech entrepreneur Rob Laing founded Farm.One in Manhattan in 2017. Prior to COVID-19, the company’s two main revenue streams were supplying restaurants and doing events, such as tours and tastings, on and off site.

Strengthened by diversification

During times of crisis, the advantages of panoramic vision become especially clear. Martinez has long focused on microgreens’ broad applications, from the fine dining sector to mid-market, health-driven food establishments to hospital and school snack programs. And while some relegate microgreens to garnish status, he promotes microgreens for everything from tiny pops of color to primary components of salad-based meals.

Building a diverse clientele and avoiding eggs-in-one-basket has been a priority for Arizona Microgreens from the start. “We did our best to keep our company as diversified as possible, but we were not prepared for a situation where restaurant sales would go completely to zero, as well as school sales going completely to zero,” Martinez says.

Thanks to a short-term pivot to focus on end consumers, the farm has seen a seen a small bump up in retail sales. One month into coronavirus closures in mid-April, Arizona Microgreens customers were enjoying a continued supply various products, from micro salad and wellness mixes to “weekly essential” and “daily greens” packages.

Prior to COVID-19, Farm.One grew accustomed to telling tour visitors and event attendees that the microgreens and specialty produce they saw weren’t available for individual sales as the farm’s production was consistently sold out to restaurant clients. With restaurant closures and event cancellations, that quickly changed. Farm.One Director of Experience Paige Carter describes a quick shift, fueled by an extensive mailing list, to offer contact-less delivery and pickup.

“Had we not had our events program, it would have been much harder to make that pivot,” she says.

The farm’s staff work staggered hours for minimal contact, customers pick up orders at rigorously sanitized pick-up stations, and delivery professionals deliver contactless orders on electric bikes. Press coverage and social media influencers help raise awareness of the fresh microgreen and specialty options available through Farm.One.

Empowered by rapid production

Arizona Microgreens’ shift in focus underscores what Martinez and other growers see as one of the greatest advantages for microgreen farmers: a production cycle that averages two to three weeks across their product line. Martinez compares their position to growers faced with production cycles of several months. “There’s nothing they could do within one season to adjust their production. We were able to completely change our planting schedule. In just a matter of weeks, our inventory reflected more of what our community really needed from us,” he says. “With shorter production cycles, we could respond more adeptly to changing needs. We’re very grateful for that.”

Greens believes that undiversified small-scale farmers, focused solely on restaurant clients, simply won’t survive COVID-19 shutdowns. But for those that do, he says quick-turnaround microgreen crops can potentially enable them to get back on track faster once the economy reopens and the market returns.

Guided by expertise and demand

With the wide variety of flavors, textures and colors available with microgreens, top sellers vary based on target audiences. While micro cilantro was — and will probably continue to be — favored by Arizona’s leading chefs, Martinez calls out sunflower shoots as a popular item for school sales. For individuals, he says that micro broccoli and micro salad mixes top the list.

In a fortunate twist for new growers, many of the most popular microgreens are also among the fastest and easiest to grow. Both Morganthaler and Greens recommend starting simple with just a few varieties or a pre-packaged mix, keeping diligent records, and expanding as your expertise grows.

“Start off with three or four easy varieties, and master those. Don’t start off with 40 like I did,” Greens says with a laugh.

Prior to growing microgreens, Morganthaler advises potential growers to carefully consider demand and competition in your market. Examine labor and production space, as well your potential packaging, sales and delivery needs. With short production cycles, she stresses that every day makes a difference in size and flavor. Matching the demand in your specific market on all variables is essential to success.

Balancing realism with optimism

Greens expects to see a new wave of post-COVID-19 food industry regulations affect the produce industry significantly. “I’m a food safety guy, but for some of these little farmers, it’s just not going to be worth it anymore,” he says. “Rules will start changing everywhere. It’s a big question mark right now.” He predicts that while additional safety regulations may be good, additional costs may be more than shutdown-strapped farmers can bear.

Martinez offsets short-term focus with longer-term perspectives. “In the very short term, we’re just focused on our direct consumer products, more home-friendly products like microgreen salad mix,” he says. “We’re just doubling down on meeting the needs of the customers we already basically have and helping them maintain safe access to really healthy food. It’s more a matter of doing right by our employees, keeping them employed, and doing right by our customers by continuing to get them the healthy foods that they really have come to enjoy.”

Medium and long term, Martinez anticipates restaurants will reopen, schools will reopen, and a more diversified production model will return — though its configuration may differ from before.

“We are really fortunate, because of our shorter production cycles, we don’t have to place any very risky bets,” he says. “We can go out back into the market and tell wholesale distributors we can meet the demand, but we can do that in dialogue with them and grow what actually needs to be grown for our market.”

For Farm.One, Carter says the New York team is taking it moment by moment and continuing to develop more of an online presence. “We hope to somehow fold this back into our ‘regular’ operations with restaurant sales and events. But what will events and restaurants look like? We just don’t know yet,” she says.

From grower to grower

Greens points to the value in microgreens and an enduring need for professional growers. “Per square foot, microgreens are the most dense nutrients you can grow. We can pack nutrients in a little space and feed a lot of people,” he says. He recommends that new post-COVID growers seek advice and guidance from others, including on non-growing matters, such as business and finance.

“There’s just a certain attention to detail that you need to be a farmer, and not everyone has the attention span to execute that. You’re still going to require growers to grow for people, especially those with busy lives.”

With COVID-19 in mind, Martinez says the biggest challenge they’ve faced has been understanding what support is available for small farms and connecting with agencies that can help.

“A lot of microgreen growers tend to operate in isolation, and they’re not connected to the industry at large,” Martinez says. “I think a lot of that has to do with the low barrier to entry compared to growers who are doing leafy greens or operating a nursery, who have much deeper industry connections.

“My only advice to new microgreen growers would be to try to develop those relationships with people in the industry. Even though you think it’s not necessary, it’s actually tremendously helpful and there’s a lot of knowledge there. Even for us, we could use more support. I wish we had even stronger connections.”

The author is a freelance writer and frequent contributor to GIE Media publications. Reach her at jolene@lovesgarden.com

Seedless greenhouse cucumbers (Cucumis sativus) are a popular greenhouse crop due to their thin-skinned and seedless fruits, mild flavor and virtually ready-to-eat nature. However, have you ever cut open or bit into a cucumber to find it is not fully developed on the inside (Fig. 1)? This disorder is referred to as hollow heart. It is primarily associated with plants in the Cucurbitaceae, or “cucurbits”, which not only includes cucumbers, but melons and summer and fall squashes as well. This article will discuss the environmental factors and cultural practices needed to suppress the excessive growth rates of hollow heart development.

What causes hollow heart?

It is not uncommon to find fruits of other greenhouse and controlled environment crops — including tomatoes, peppers and strawberries — not fully developing. However, that is usually attributed to incomplete pollination or damage to flowers during pollination.

The cause of cucumber hollow heart is not related to pollination, especially since greenhouse cucumbers are parthenocarpic and set fruit without the need for flower pollination and ovule fertilization. Rather, cucumber hollow heart is caused by rapid growth rates.

Temperature

The rate of crop growth and development is strongly affected by the average daily temperature (ADT) and, therefore, reducing growing temperatures to slow down cucumber fruit growth can suppress hollow heart. Compared to other vine crops, cucumbers respond well to warm temperatures, with plants thriving day temperatures between 75° and 80° F. Reducing the day time air temperature to the mid- to lower-70s will reduce the ADT and slow down crop development. The ADT in a cucumber greenhouse can also be decreased by lowering the night temperature; however, be careful not to achieve a lower ADT by dropping the night temperature below 65° F since cucumber plants are sensitive to air temperatures cooler than this.

Nutrition

Mature cucumber crops can be fertilized with complete nutrient solutions with an electrical conductivity (EC) up to 3.0 mS/cm. However, healthy and productive cucumber plants can be grown with a lower EC, around 2.0 mS/cm. Reducing the EC and growing close to 2.0 mS/cm can reduce excessive growth rates. In addition to the total fertilizer provided to cucumbers (reflected in the EC), watch the amount of nitrogen being provided to cucumber. During the early growth stages of cucumber plant growth, higher proportions of nitrogen may be provided to plants to promote their vegetative growth to get plants sufficiently sized for transplanting, as well as established into systems after transplanting. However, once cucumbers enter their fruiting phase, less nitrogen should be provided relative to other nutrients. A good rule of thumb is to maintain a nitrogen-to-potassium ratio of 1:1.5; the elevated K is essential for the developing fruits. Lower nitrogen can lead to more manageable growth.

Irrigation

In addition to restricting fertilizers, reduce excessive irrigation to cucumber plants. If the substrate moisture is kept too high too consistently, excessive growth can occur. While drying down substrate is commonly done to steer vine crops from vegetative to generative (i.e. reproductive) growth, it can also be used in moderation to slow down growth. Monitoring substrate moisture, as well as leaching fractions, will help identify and manage excess irrigation and allow better wet-dry cycles to occur. However, be careful to not dry crops down to the point of imparting stress on plants so developing fruits are not aborted from excessive stress.

Light

Cucumbers are a high-light greenhouse crop, and their growth increases in response to increasing photosynthetic light. Due to their high light requirements, decreasing photosynthetic light can diminish fruit growth. However, although lowering the light intensity can suppress cucumber growth, this is not an advisable strategy to suppress the development of hollow heart in fruits, as reducing light will both reduce yield and post-harvest fruit quality from the reduced carbohydrate production. Focusing on environmental and cultural factors such as temperature, irrigation and nutrition to control cucumber growth and hollow heart is a better strategy.

Take-home

Do not let cucumber hollow heart leave you feeling empty on the inside! Moderating the rate at which cucumbers develop will help suppress hollow heart and help maintain fruit quality.

Keeping the average daily temperature in check and minimizing excessive nitrogen and substrate moisture can all contribute to produce fully filled and developed cucumbers and maintain your crop productivity and produce quality.

The author is an associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University. Reach him at ccurrey@iastate.edu