See how we grow our summer crop - Scented Pinks
When do we plant pinks?
At Churchtown Farm we plant our show pinks into new grow bags either in April or October. We usually keep the plants for between 18 months and 2 years. Show pinks tend to produce flowers continuously throughout the summer, although each variety tends to have 3 or 4 distinct “flushes” of flowering during the season. At the end of their useful life, we pull out and discard the old plants; the used grow bags are then either sold on to other growers for tomato production, or emptied onto fields which are not used for flower growing.
Why do we use Grow Bags?
Water: Here on the Isles of Scilly, water is extremely limited. We only have available whatever rainwater we can collect from our roofs, supplemented by a small quantity from our own wells. By growing our pinks in bags, we can ensure that we give each plant exactly the right amount of water and feed at any time of the year. In this way, we conserve our precious water reserves and minimise any impact on the environment from excess fertiliser.
Crop rotation: On St. Martin’s, we are also extremely limited by the availability of suitably sheltered fields in which to grow flowers, this means that we find it extremely difficult to practice a proper crop rotation with our best fields. By growing in bags, we are able to use our best fields to continuously grow pinks without risk of pests and diseases building up in the soil.
Weed Control: As we first cover the field with a ground cover before laying out the grow bags, weeds cannot grow in the crop. This saves us time in weeding operations and means that we do not have to spray with chemical weed killers.
How do we choose which varieties to grow?
There are many different varieties of show pinks available. We buy our young plants in from the leading UK breeder in Devon.
At Churchtown Farm we try to grow a range of varieties that meet our strict criteria:
1. The flowers must be strong and long stemmed.
2. The variety must be an attractive colour to complement our range.
3. The plants must be naturally resistant to pests and diseases, in order to minimise the amount of chemical sprays needed to grow them.
What is Fertigation?
As all of our show pinks are grown in grow bags we must precisely supply all of their irrigation and fertiliser requirements on an ongoing basis. To do this, we use a system known as FERTIGATION (a combination of fertilising and irrigation).
As soon as each bag is planted, it is connected by two dripper pipes to the field scale irrigation system. We then use a computer to control the amount of water pumped to each field up to 5 times per day. On the way to the field, a very specific amount of specially formulated liquid fertiliser is injected into the water in order to feed the plants. By accurately measuring the amount of feed that the plants are using, we can vary the amount of feed that we inject at each watering time.
How do we extend the growing season?
At Churchtown Farm, our show pinks flower naturally between late April and late September. In order to extend the flowering season to meet up with our narcissi crops, we cover part of the crop with polythene tunnels. These tunnels provide a warmer environment in which the plants can keep growing over a longer season (late March to late October).
Do you have any more questions?
If so, drop us an email or phone us, we always like to chat to our customers.
