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Succession planting in the greenhouseSuccession
planting is one of the more challenging aspects of commercial vegetable
production because there are no prescriptions or shortcuts. You have to
work out your successions to fit your own marketing schedule, climate,
and crops. And then you have to refine your plans every year, as you
learn how specific varieties perform for you. Good record keeping and
analysis are essential to successful succession planting. Here are some
general rules to keep in mind for scheduling your greenhouse
transplants.
Heat mat space and bench space are two limiting
factors for transplant production, so try to plant only what you need.
Check the germination rate on the seed packet to determine how many
seeds will give you the required number of seedlings. Add 10-20% to
account for possible losses. Avoid the temptation to plant far more than
you need because, if all goes well, you will be faced with the even
bigger temptation to grow more than you wanted just to keep from
throwing out healthy seedlings.
Plants grow more slowly in the
shorter days and cooler temperatures of late winter, even in a heated
greenhouse. It's possible that plants seeded a week or two later will
catch up with an earlier planting. Keep careful records about seeding
dates to determine if this is the case.

Days to maturity printed
in the catalog and on the seed packet can be used as a guideline for
scheduling your successions. But it is highly accurate only when optimum
temperatures are provided, so pay attention to recommended
temperatures.
Johnny's catalog includes detailed growing instructions for every crop.
You
should know the earliest dates you can plant groups of crops, based on
the average last frost date for your area. Count back the average days
to maturity of a variety to determine when to seed the first succession.
You should also figure out the latest date you can expect to have
crops, and count back the days to maturity to determine when to seed
your final succession. For example, you may be able to plant
cold-tolerant crops such as broccoli in early April, two weeks before
final frost. If your summers are extremely hot, you might have to set a
date in June as the time when broccoli starts to decline. Count backward
from both dates to determine your earliest and latest possible seeding
dates.
Choose several varieties of each crop to provide a longer
season. Start the season with a cold-tolerant variety, then switch to a
heat-tolerant variety for summer harvests, then switch back to the
cold-tolerant variety for fall.
With all these variables in mind,
create a calendar of seeding dates to keep in the greenhouse. Get
yourself in the habit of starting seeds on a specific day of the week.
You will have a much better likelihood of sticking to your schedule, and
having multiple successions of transplants to keep your crops producing
all season.
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Reprinted
from JSS Advantage February 2010