TEAGASC ezine / 03 NEW LED LIGHTS FOR STRAWBERRY RESEARCH A new system of LED night-break lights was recently installed for the ‘Malling Centenary’ strawberry trial in the glasshouse at Ashtown. Night-break lights are needed to break crop dormancy. Without the treatment, crop yields and strawberry quality are much lower. Night-break lighting is even more crucial in a mild winter where the strawberry crop receives inadequate chilling. The new LED bulbs use only 11 W of power compared to the standard 100 W incandescent bulbs currently used by the industry. This makes them almost 90% more energy efficient. The lights installed here are made by Philips-Signify and are called ‘GreenPower 2.0’. These lights are specifically designed for night-break lighting. The light gives the optimum amounts of deep red, white and far-red radiation for the strawberry crop. The lights are used for about 40 days once the strawberry crops begin to actively grow. ✽
STAFF RECRUITMENT
MUSHROOM GROWER WORKSHOP AND UK MUSHROOM CONFERENCE On Thursday March 28th, Teagasc hosted a mushroom growers’ workshop in the Four Seasons Hotel, Co. Monaghan. The event was an informative and valuable session. One of the topics on the day was to inform growers of the findings of the SafeMush project undertaken by Teagasc Food Research team in Ashtown and Moorepark. Details and findings from the project were presented by Kaye Burgess and Kieran Jordan. A training video for farm operatives and harvesters developed by the SafeMush project was launched at the event. It can be used as part of employee induction on mushroom farms. Other topics that were presented on the day were harvesting optimisation (best practices to optimise yield at harvesting), integrated pest management, pesticide application and mental health awareness. The workshop was a morning session with a white mushroom farm walk was organised in the afternoon within close proximity to Monaghan town. The Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board is hosting a mushroom conference on 25 April in the Woodside Hotel, Kenilworth (near Birmingham). It is a one day conference aimed at bringing the mushroom industry together during a time of major change, uncertainty and opportunity. Guest speakers include Irish representatives Helen Grogan (Teagasc Mushroom Researcher) and Brendan Burns (Sylvan). The conference agenda is now available and bookings can be made online on the ADHB website https://horticulture.ahdb.org.uk/event/mushroomconference-2019 ✽
8
Danielle Boland has recently taken up the position of nursery production technician at Kildalton College. Danielle comes to the college from the Teagasc Horticulture Development Department where she was working as a research technician on the New Leaves Project, a Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine funded project. The New Leaves project is researching and developing novel crops for the cut foliage sector and generating knowledge of key pest and disease issues on cut foliage crops. Prior to this Danielle worked at SAP Nurseries in Tipperary as supervisor. A native of Waterford, Danielle completed her horticultural training at Kildalton College and WIT before moving to CIT to complete her level 8 degree in horticulture. We have no doubt that Danielle will bring new ideas and initiatives to the commercial college nursery (which produces a wide range of ornamental plants) while involved in the practical training of students. ✽
UPCOMING EVENTS 2 APRIL - GCSAI Turfgrass/John Deere Machinery Seminar, Ashtown 3 APRIL - Horticulture Energy Conference, Ashtown 25 APRIL - National Berry Seminar, Ashtown 20 JUNE - Nursery stock summer meeting, venue TBC 15 AUGUST - Cut Foliage Seminar - Focus on Eucalyptus, Kildalton College AUTUMN/DATES TBC - Reeltech Grass Machinery event, Ashtown AUTUMN/DATES TBC - Turfgrass Industry Science event, Ashtown AUTUMN/DATES TBC - ALCI training for industry, National Botanic Gardens Glasnevin
HORTICULTURECONNECTED / www.horticultureconnected.ie / Spring 2019
