Thursday 12 July 2012

Out with the old...............

Like many other growers, we are currently taking our old crops out, and starting the annual cleaning process. This is seeing us removing all of the green waste from the glasshouse as well as the rockwool growing slabs. 

While our green waste is taken to a recycling station, our Rockwool slabs are being stacked prior to us shredding them and introducing some organic material. Hopefully this experiment will allow us to produce a composted mulch that can be used in garden areas. 

The trial is the result of the findings of one of last year's VET mobility students - Catherine Ashton - who spent some considerable time with the Grodan company looking at methods for recycling old slabs as opposed to sending them to the landfill tip. As the trial progresses we'll keep you posted.

The clean up commences!

Our new crops are part of a joint project with seed company, Rizk Zwaan. The South side of the house will be planted with single varieties of Tomato and Peppers, while the North side will include a range of varieties. This will allow growers to see first hand how each variety performs. 

As soon as we are ready to plant we will be posting details of the various varieties that can be seen.

Propagation of these plants is being kindly donated by Trandos Hydroponic Growers who have been long term supporters of the glasshouse. 

Finally, we will be at next weeks Hydroponic Framers Federation conference, so feel free to come along and say g'day. If the technology in Ballarat behaves itself, you should be able to see our glasshouse clean up live via our eGlasshouse camera!

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