Spring cleaning

It’s about that time. The sun is getting stronger, day by day, and the temperature is rising steadily. Birds are returning to their roosts and you can finally shed that cumbersome winter jacket. You might even be able to crack a window and let the breeze roll in.

But April brings with it more than showers and the promise of summer. It comes with the light that illuminates your winter clutter. It comes with the reminder that spring is the perfect time to clean up your mess. While the task of organizing your greenhouse and all of your growing tools may seem daunting, we have an arsenal of tips for you, courtesy of Geoffrey Njue, University of Massachusetts Extension, that will make your life easier.
 

Cleaning around crops

A grower’s first step should be to inspect all plant materials before placing them in the production greenhouse. Clean and remove any dead or diseased plant tissue around the plants every day. Make removing dead plant tissue and diseased plants a daily routine.

Clean bench surfaces and remove potting media and soil particles. Remove any weeds on the greenhouse floors, including those under benches. Bench surfaces and floors can be sanitized regularly with disinfectants labelled for use around crops, e.g. PERpose Plus (BioWorks), ZeroTol (BioSafe), Oxidate (BioSafe), Terracyte (BioSafe) and Physan 20 (Physan). Read and follow the label directions. Waste buckets and trash bins should be covered, removed, and emptied outside the greenhouses daily. Practices growers can adopt to help employees to be cleaner

Growers should also develop a sanitation protocol that will help employees adopt practices that will help them to be cleaner:

• Set up footbaths and hand washing stations at the entrances of each greenhouse (especially propagation houses). The disinfectant solution in the footbaths should be changed daily. Employees should be required to use the footbaths before entering into the greenhouse and to wash hands with soap and water before handling plants.
• Plant waste buckets should not be stored in the greenhouse but should be removed from the greenhouse and emptied daily.
• Provide supports throughout the greenhouses to hang hose nozzles.
• Avoid accumulating dirty pots, old growing media, or plant debris in the greenhouse.
• Trash bins in the greenhouse should be covered.
• Keep growing media in a clean area, and keep it covered.
• New plant shipments should be placed in a quarantine area and inspected for insects and disease before mixing with existing plants.
• No plants from home should be brought into the greenhouse.
• Pets should not be allowed in the greenhouse.
• Train employees to recognize disease. Scout plants routinely and discard any suspect plants. Suspicious plant tissue should be sent to a plant diagnostic laboratory for testing.
• Remove weeds around the perimeter of the greenhouse.