Factors to Address in Growing Organic Seed

Featured Seed Crop! Carrot! 

Pictured above, sourced from www.thehomesteadsurvival.com

Carrot (Dacus carota) is a biennial crop that can be quite challenging to grow in this region due to the presence and abundance of the weed Queen's Anne Lace (Dacus carota). Since carrot and this weed are the same species they can easily cross pollinate and produce a seed that is not viable for vegetable production. Other challenges involve the long life cycle and the fact they are a root crop and we have very wet winters here. However, it is possible! I am working on the BC Seed Trials project to increase farmer knowledge of nantes carrot cultivars that perform best in BC and I am helping FarmFolk CityFolk  with their research project on establishing good methodology on how to achieve viable carrot seed in BC! Long live the carrot in BC! 

Specific Growing Environment for my Seed Crops

Space: 0.75 acres 

Orientation and Climate: North West facing growing area within an 8b hardiness zone. However, South Burnaby is significantly warmer than North Burnaby perhaps due to being located lower down in a valley with quite a lot of protection from wind. The seed crop climate can be described as Warm-Season Dry-Seeded Crops. The Lower Mainland generally has considerably dryer and hotter summers than winters, with quite long spring and autumn seasons. 

Water: City of Burnaby water, rain and rain barrel irrigated through drip irrigation. The city water reported to have a pH of 7.9, a chlorine level of 0.2mg/L, the metal levels are within safe parameters for drinking and the zinc in the water is negligible (however some present) - the city considers the water to be of high quality. Not too much information is available on how the quality of the drinking water translates into the quality of the water for irrigating. In the future, it will be good to investigate how levels of chlorine and dissolved metals affect the crops. 

Soil: Clay loam with very high organic matter (~50%), poorly drained (high water table) and acidic. The soil originates from undecomposed accumulations of sphagnum and hypnum mosses. The soil is within the Trigg's series which is said to be very infertile, however the soil report from last year shows very high organic matter and sufficient to optimal levels of essential nutrients, except deficient in nitrogen and excessive in zinc. 

Factors to Address

Climate and Small Isolation Distances: Crops that will do well in the aforementioned climate with small isolation distances will be beans, peas and lettuce. Self pollinating crops will be the best choice since it is hard to know what exactly the neighbours are growing all the time. 

High Acidity: Grow crops that favour acidic conditions. Lime the soil to bring the pH up. Fava beans may be a good choice for high acidity, appropriate for the climate as well as less sensitive to water-logging.

Poor Drainage: Keep a good eye on the weather forecast as to not over irrigate. Grow in raised beds, plant crops that tolerate wet roots. Build up soil level over the years and dig drainage pits around the perimeters. Plant water loving perennials around the edges to provide a consistent uptake of water. 

Low Nitrogen: Grow N fixing crops, fertilize with compost and organic fertilizers 

Excessive Zinc: Liming the soil for acidity control may help balance the zinc levels. Make sure no zinc is being applied. 

Timing: Once the most appropriate crops have been chosen the time to seed will be chosen to ensure enough growing days are reached. Seed crops tend to be more dependent on temperature, so fingers crossed for conducive temperatures for seed growing. 

Spacing: Spacing won't be a problem as most of the land won't be in production as myself and the owners are just getting started in converting the land into a fully productive plot. I can plant the seed crops off to the side from the vegetable crops and the plan is to keep the seed crops centered on the land to maximize isolation distance from the neighbours. Again, the focus will be on self-pollinating crops with isolation distances of 5ft to 20ft which won't be a problem. 

Pest Management: A diversity of plants will be grown on the property to decrease the likely hood of host specific pests. There will be plenty of flowers and natural habitat on the land to promote natural insect predators. Good cultural practices will be practiced to minimize transfer of pathogens. The compost is kept a good distance away from the crops to discourage insect transfer. We are currently struggling with a cooch grass problem, but are having a work party tomorrow to dig out the plants - once those have been removed by hand the whole property will be roto-tilled and mostly covered in a clover cover crop. The vegetable growing area will be intercropped with clover and chickpeas for nitrogen fixation, soil protection and weed suppression. 

Cash Flow and Risk: This land is being cultivated for the passion of growing and to provide supplemental food to our families. Of course, we would like to see the crops be as productive as possible and make sure we break even for operating costs and to see a return on the work put in but nothing is intended to be sold at the moment.