NNYADP Winter-Grown Spinach Trials: Nitrogen Savings May Be Possible

Willsboro, N.Y.; September 21, 2020.  How much nitrogen fertilizer does winter-grown, high tunnel spinach really need? Cornell vegetable specialists had heard of some producers applying up to 600 pounds per acre.  Their research conducted with Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) grant funding suggests that growers in colder climates may be able to save on nitrogen costs while harvesting the popular leafy green for late year and early spring sales.

“Our data suggests that spinach crops may require significantly less pre-plant nitrogen fertilizer than is commonly applied in northern New York,” said Cornell Vegetable Program Specialist Judson Reid, co-leader of the NNYADP project hosted at the Willsboro Research Farm in Willsboro, New York.

The Cornell guidelines suggest applying 130 pounds of nitrogen (N) per acre for high tunnel spinach crops; however, “we have heard of a wide range of applications with reports of 200 to 600 pounds per acre,” said Reid.

The NNYADP research project compared spinach grown with application of 65, 130 or 300 pounds of N per acre and without any N applied to the unheated, high tunnel trial plots from 2017-2020. The fertilizer, a 10 percent N commercial fertilizer blend of vegetable protein meals, was applied one week before the planting of August 27-seeded spinach seedlings and later September 10-seeded spinach seedlings. The crop remained uncovered throughout the trial and received overhead irrigation as needed.

The trial spinach was harvested at baby to medium leaf stage on four dates: October 15 and November 4, 2018; and March 1 and April 2, 2019.

“The control plot with no added nitrogen yielded as much spinach as plots treated with up to 200 pounds of nitrogen per acre across all four harvest dates,” explained project co-leader Elisabeth Hodgdon, a vegetable specialist based in Plattsburgh, New York, with the Cornell Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program.

The researchers recommend that high tunnel growers seed their spinach crop in late August for transplanting in September rather than into October.

“The earlier planting date of September 21 produced significantly greater yields than the spinach planted two weeks later on October 9. The later planting did, however, catch up with similar yields by the April 2nd harvest date,” Hodgdon noted.

“This cold-climate research suggests that northern New York growers may be able to reduce input costs by forgoing or reducing fall fertilizer application. However, soil nutrient levels from the previous sod in the tunnel may have influenced the results of this initial trial. We are now evaluating whether the source of nitrogen fertilization impacts the response of the spinach to the rate of application,” said Reid.

For the 2019-2020 trials, the research team plowed the sod under before setting up its high tunnel to receive August 30-seeded spinach seedlings on September 24, 2019. This trial is evaluating four rates of N fertilization using two different fertilizer types: a 13 percent water insoluble nitrogen feather meal and the 10 percent commercial fertilizer blend used in the 2018-2019 trial.

The trials in 2017-2018 evaluated three sources of nitrogen: urea, blood meal, and alfalfa cover crop. In 2018-2019, the researchers evaluated spinach yield under different rates from a single source: a 10 percent commercial fertilizer blend of vegetable protein meals as noted earlier.

These three years’ NNYADP spinach trial reports and a pre-recorded Introduction to Winter Growing webinar are posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website under the Research: Horticultural and Local Foods tab at www.nnyagdev.org.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.

Read the NNYADP Winter-Grown Spinach Report

Lowville, N.Y.; September 16, 2020.  The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP) has published the second-year results of research into whether re-tapping maple trees in one sap season increases single-season syrup production. The report is posted at www.nnyagdev.org.

Uihlein Maple Research Forest Director Adam D. Wild will share the results of the re-tapping research at the October 3, 2020 Lewis County Maple School in Lowville, N.Y., and via a free Cornell Maple Program virtual workshop on November 24, 2020. For October 3rd workshop cost and registration, call Cornell Cooperative Extension of Lewis County at 315-376-5270 before September 30. To register for the six-program Cornell maple virtual series, go to www.cornellmaple.com.

Changing weather patterns are causing maple producers in northern New York to seek information on the best time to tap trees for maximum production value. Research conducted outside of northern New York has indicated that tapping for early sap run and re-tapping later in the maple season could potentially increase syrup production yields by at least 20 percent or $6 per tap profit. The farmer-driven NNYADP- funded trials in 2019-2020 tested that opportunity under northern New York conditions and regionality played a role in the results.

“Our timing-of-tapping research was done in Lake Placid’s northern forest environment which traditionally experiences extremely cold winters, deep snowpack, and a maple season that starts later than maple-producing areas to the south. In those southern areas where heavy sap flow starts in January followed by intermittent freeze-thaw cycles re-tapping provided more of a benefit than we saw in our trials in the northern New York-type maple-producing region,” Wild noted.

“Although re-tapping by adding a second dropline with a new spout here produced an average of 23 percent more syrup per tap, once time and material were factored into the economic equation, there was a loss of 73 cents per tap. Although droplines and T-fittings could be used for a few seasons, there is still added labor time and droplines must be capped off completely to prevent vacuum loss,” Wild added.

An additional outcome of the NNY project emphasized the importance of preserving tap hole cleanliness as a best management practice. The data showed that increasing sanitary practices in the sugarbush to limit microbe growth within any tap holes drilled well before the season starts is warranted.

“Everyone should consider implementing practices, such as the use of check-valve spouts, new droplines, or cleaning, to preserve tap hole sanitation and achieve optimal sap production,” Wild said.

At the October 3^rd workshop in Lowville, Wild will cover factors that influence how the timing of when maple trees are tapped impacts sap yield and, in a separate session, present basic tubing design and installation for gravity-fed and vacuum sap collection systems. In the 7 pm Cornell Maple virtual workshop on November 24, Wild will present “Maximizing Production in Your Sap Collection System” with a live discussion.

The Northern New York maple industry has grown from a $3.25 million annual industry in 2008 to an estimated $10-12 million industry with room yet to grow in 2021 .

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets. Learn more at www.nnyagdev.org.

The latest NNYADP-funded maple research project results are now available. Project leader Adam D. Wild, director of the Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, N.Y., has provided the details of his investigation into the opportunity to increase syrup production by re-tapping maples within the sap season. His report is available in .doc and .pdf formats.

Some report highlights:
“Recent maple sugaring seasons have seen increased amounts of thawing earlier in the winter to be followed by extended freezes and later thaw-outs.  . . This flux in weather across the maple season has extended the duration of the sap season. . . Producers are challenged to capture either early or late runs and must try to anticipate future weather patterns to optimize their sugar yield. . . With funding from the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program, the feasibility of re-tapping maple trees during the sap season was tested in 2019 and 2020 at Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest in Lake Placid, NY.”

“Four treatments were applied. . . all trees were under vacuum. . . using 5/16-inch spouts and tubing.”

Click here to read the 2019-2020 NNYADP “Increasing Syrup Production by Re-Tapping Maples within the Sap Season” report.
Click here for more information on past NNYADP maple and birch syrup production.

The Northern New York Agricultural Development Program has posted the RFP and Application Form, Budget Template and Research Ideas for those interested in proposing projects for 2021.

Funding ($300,000 designated in the 2020-21 NYS Legislative Budget for NNYADP projects) is contingent upon the final approval and availability of funding through the New York State Department of Agriculture which administers the funds.

Click here for more details.

Willsboro, N.Y.: September 1, 2020.   Northern New York Agricultural Development Program (NNYADP)-funded research evaluating harvesting and production respectively of ground cherries and goldenberries produced mixed results. The good news: a harvesting frame built to efficiently collect ground cherries worked well. The unwelcome news: three methods of trellising of the upright-growing goldenberry proved too costly.

The farmer-driven NNYADP funded the research conducted by Cornell University and Cooperative Extension vegetable specialists at a commercial greenhouse in Essex, New York, and under the high tunnels at the Willsboro Research Farm at Willsboro, New York. The complete project report with production and harvesting data and costs and a video are posted on this website.

Ground cherry (Physalis pruinosa) and goldenberry (Physalis peruviana) are warm season annual crops that yield a yellow fruit popular as a healthy snack food. Golden cherry is currently grown and sold by farms in northern New York. It grows close to the ground and drops its fruit when ripe, making harvest labor-intensive. Goldenberry grows upright, is harvested by picking, and is being evaluated as a new crop for growers in northern New York.

“New York farmer interest in growing Physalis crops has increased in recent years with the Boyce Thompson Institute at Cornell evaluating their potential as crops here,” said project co-leader Elisabeth Hodgdon, Ph.D., based in Plattsburgh, with the Eastern New York Commercial Horticulture Program.

The research team started ground cherry and goldenberry, with seed from the Boyce Thompson Institute, in a commercial greenhouse in Essex, New York, in March 2019. The plants were transplanted into an unheated high tunnel at the Willsboro farm in May.

The ground cherry demonstration project grew the low-growing crop without any trellising support. The research team used a harvesting frame built of aluminum pipe and cut flower support netting by Willsboro Farm Manager Michael H. Davis, Ph.D., to efficiently gather ground cherry fruit. A video of this trial is posted under NNY Farm Videos under the News tab of this website.

For the goldenberry trial in the high tunnel at the Willsboro farm, the research team applied four treatments, including those studied in an earlier NNYADP-funded cherry tomato production trial: single leader, double leader, and stake-and-weave trellising, and untrellised.

The average marketable yield per goldenberry plant was less than one pint. Economic calculations showed that a grower would have needed to receive $91 per pint for the goldenberry grown by single leader, $67 per pint for the double leader crop, and $13 per pint for the stake-and-weave crop.

“These unrealistic prices reflect only the recovery of the expense of trellising and not the cost of seeds, potting soil, greenhouse space, or the time to remove the fruit from its husk and sort the goldenberries to determine marketability,” Hodgdon noted.

Serious pressure from multiple pests was also problematic with this trial.

Will the researcher try again with goldenberry?

“If goldenberry is to be come a viable crop for New York State, more research and development are needed to determine any opportunity to reduce costs, identify shorter season varieties, and improve pest management, particularly for the Heliothis moth that burrowed into the fruit in the trial,” said Hodgdon.

Goldenberry pest resistance and varietal difference research continues at Cornell University studies are underway at the Boyce Thompson Institute. New varieties may allow goldenberry to be a more viable crop for northern New York in the future.

NNYADP project reports on the ground cherry and goldenberry trials and high tunnel and field-grown fruit, berry, and vegetable production are posted on the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program website at www.nnyagdev.org. Growers may also contact their local Cornell Cooperative Extension office for more information.

Funding for the Northern New York Agricultural Development Program is supported by the New York State Legislature and administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets.