Kanto Winter Crop (Tochigi)

Finding land, working a small plot or anything else countryside related
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Wolfsong013
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Kanto Winter Crop (Tochigi)

Post by Wolfsong013 »

Hello everyone! It's been awhile. I finally finished remodling the new place, and containing the wilderness that is my new hatake. I put 100 head of garlic in, but there is still tons of room to spare.

Is it too late to start any kind of winter crop? Most home centers don't have any veggie seedlings, so I'm worried I missed my chance. Is there anything that can be sown or seeds that could be started, or am I too late for this year? We are hitting lows of 1C at night as of today.

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Zasso Nouka
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Post by Zasso Nouka »

I'll post something up tomorrow morning if you don't mind, just about to hop in the bath and then hit the sack

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Post by Wolfsong013 »

Zasso Nouka wrote:
Tue Nov 10, 2020 8:33 pm
I'll post something up tomorrow morning if you don't mind, just about to hop in the bath and then hit the sack
No problem Zasso, I look forward to reading your response when you have the time!

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Post by Zasso Nouka »

For many crops the main problem with planting now is that we are about to enter the Persephone months where daylength drops below 10 hours and many plants radically slow their growth or stop altogether. If a plant is too small during that period it won't grow and then once day length increases over 10 hours it will go straight into flowering.

Not all crops are affected, most salad crops will slow down their growth but carry on and plants like corn salad, miner's lettuce, komatsuna, spinach, etc will grow just fine if a little slow.

What you can do is seed vulnerable crops in mid to late December so that by the time they have germinated and thrust up a few small leaves day length has just gone over 10 hours again (should be around early to mid January) and they don't immediately go into flower mode. You'll probably need to protect them with agricultural fleece and or tunnels, depending on your climate. Things like carrots, kabu, kale, spring cabbage, etc do well with seeding at this time.

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Kanto Winter Crop (Tochigi)

Post by Wolfsong013 »

Zasso Nouka wrote:
Wed Nov 11, 2020 5:36 am
For many crops the main problem with planting now is that we are about to enter the Persephone months where daylength drops below 10 hours and many plants radically slow their growth or stop altogether. If a plant is too small during that period it won't grow and then once day length increases over 10 hours it will go straight into flowering.

Not all crops are affected, most salad crops will slow down their growth but carry on and plants like corn salad, miner's lettuce, komatsuna, spinach, etc will grow just fine if a little slow.

What you can do is seed vulnerable crops in mid to late December so that by the time they have germinated and thrust up a few small leaves day length has just gone over 10 hours again (should be around early to mid January) and they don't immediately go into flower mode. You'll probably need to protect them with agricultural fleece and or tunnels, depending on your climate. Things like carrots, kabu, kale, spring cabbage, etc do well with seeding at this time.
Thanks for your full write up. Luckily I got a ton of tunnel materials for free a couple weeks ago, so I will look into starting some seedlings in the greenhouse during december to have a jump on the spring.

I brought in some of my chili pepper plants and put them in my double bay window. I'm hoping to keep them alive through the winter. I am sorely lacking houseplants at the new place, so I have to make due with digging things up from the yard!

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Post by Zasso Nouka »

If you have plenty of tunnel material might as well put it too good use. We use double tunnels for the coldest months, an inner tunnel of fleece with an outer tunnel of vinyl, that actually keeps things pretty warm during the coldest nights.

How is the new hatake working out ?

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