Kurt Grass of Rainbow Acres Inc.:
“Picowell RZ gives good-quality mini cucumbers with a good shelf life”

“Four years ago we switched from tomatoes to mini products,” Kurt Grass relates. Together with his wife Lina he owns the 10 acres of Rainbow Acres Inc. “We started with mini cucumbers. This year we added mini peppers. After several trials we now also have Picowell RZ since last year, because of its good yield, and the quality and shelf life of the cucumbers.”

“We opted for mini products because the market demands them. We sell our products under the Sunset quality label of Mastronardi Produce.” Grass does not adhere to fixed sowing dates, but has 4-5 different zones on the nursery where he plants at different times in order to keep production as level as possible. One crop lasts 14-16 weeks. He plants every location three times. He keeps to the same plant spacing as he used for the tomatoes and estimates that he has a
total of 12,000 plants per acre. “We use a 1-stem system here. During hot weather a plant must be able to sit on the slab in its own rockwool block.”

Good steering
According to Grass, the market demands cucumbers of 5-6.5 inches long, with a fruit weight of 110-120 g. “That means that we always have to know exactly what we are doing. Especially in winter, from November to March, it is difficult to make that size. When the weather is overcast for 3-4 weeks at a time, the cucumbers remain shorter. We do not use supplementary light, only natural light.” Grass is very happy again with Picowell this year. The only small minus point is its medium resistance to mildew. The grower never waters during the night in order to prevent guttation. “I usually start watering one hour after sunup and stop three hours before sundown. This is only more difficult to maintain in summer, when the weather is hot.” Grass gives about 12 litres per square metre. In difficult weather conditions the plants are given watering rounds lasting five minutes, or 160-165 ml per plant and if it is a little cooler, three minutes. Grass tries to maintain the EC in the slab at 1.5-2.0, so he adds an EC of 2.0 to the feed.

Happy balance
The grower uses a day/night differential of 2-3°C, depending on the weather. “I try and steer fruit set by allowing the temperature to drop rapidly to 17°C after sundown and letting it rise again gradually the next morning to a day temperature of 21-22°C. This enables me to strike a happy balance between vegetative and generative. Further steering is done with the ratios between the different fertilizers.”

Area: Sowing/planting dates: Plant spacing: Growing medium: Average fruit weight: Fruit length:

4 ha, 3.8 ha of which Picowell RZ various ‘tomato’ spacing rockwool 110 g 5 - 6.5 inches

Seeds & Services Canada, september 2008