Eco Seedlings Development
What are Eco Seedlings ?Eco seedlings are young and small, lettuce and herb seedlings, designed to be planted at high densities to improve the efficiencies and profitability of baby leaf production.Beginnings of Eco Seedlings
Boomaroo Nurseries have been working with the salad mix industry for many years supplying top quality seedlings in Lannen 144 cells to lettuce growers, getting good results producing the larger leaf types required for the salad mix sector of the industry. However we became aware through working with our supply chain partners that changes were coming to the salad mix industry, and based on the worldwide trends that were emerging, the need for smaller leaf species was developing. This was particularly evident in the pre-pack sector of the industry, as they required a small leaf area to help reduce browning whilst still maintaining as long a shelf life as possible.
Overseas this sector was supplied using direct seeded crops, this method was then employed in Australia. We did carry out trials using traditional L144 cell seedlings but the crop they produced had specs too large for true baby leaf, and was not economically viable to plant at high densities. As the Victorian growers continued with direct seeding we became aware that whilst it worked quite well in the Spring and Autumn, during the high pressure seasons of Winter and to a lesser extent Summer, direct seeded crops did not provide a consistent supply of product. This was due to mainly to the high densities being sown increased ikely hood and severity of disease, and also a softer leaf resulting in shorter shelf. As well as these issues, direct seeding also has problems with poor germination at times, and the longer periods in the ground resulting in higher weed pressure, or expensive weed control measures. These problems all lead to direct seeded production at these times being less profitable and perhaps just as bad inconsistent supply which in these times is less tolerated than it used to be by the market. This all led to Boomaroo Nurseries developing the concept of an inexpensive, young seedling, capable of being able to be planted at high baby leaf densities, giving the grower all the advantages of a transplanted seedling whilst retaining the true baby leaf specifications required by today's market. ECO SEEDLINGS was born ! Early Development
It was one thing to come up with the idea of a small seedling, but getting them into the ground inexpensively also had to be found.
We decided on using the Lannen L256 tray which measures ~ 25mm square at the top and is ~ 75mm deep, this size and shape enables the seedling to be extracted from the tray with a relatively small amount of root system, therefore transplantable at a young age which was required to meet the baby leaf specifications. Another advantage to using the L256 tray, which we did not consider at the start of the project, but became evident as we continued our trial programme, was that the depth of the L256 cell provided a robust plant because of the depth of the root system into the ground. Once we had selected a suitable tray we were able to begin the trial stage of the project. First of all we seeded the trays with raw seed in multiples of around 3 seeds per tray and transplanted them in the field at different grow times from within the nursery, (3-5 wks of age). These preliminary trials showed tremendous promise, so we decided to continue with commercial trials. Commercial Trials
Four trial sites were selected Virginia in South Australia, Cranbourne, Bacchus Marsh and East Gippsland all in Victoria, and titlehough the results were favourable at all sites it was decided to concentrate on the Bacchus Marsh and East Gippsland sites.
Both results were similar but for this report we will concentrate on the Gippsland information. They were planted on the 28/8/03 at 3 different densities to ascertain the optimum range for yield and economy. The densities were :
MEDIUM DENSITY (MD) - 150mm x 80mm (100 plants) HIGH DENSITY (HD) - 80mm x 80mm (200 plants) Harvest Results
Harvesting was carried out on the 8/10/03 using a commercial harvester. All crops were treated as a commercial harvest. The area chosen for direct seeded harvest was from a good area, full of leaves and very few weeds, (this was despite at least 25% of the crop not being able to be harvested due to weeds, disease and poor germination).
YIELDS -
MD - 2.640 kg/metre LD - 1.810 kg/metre DS - 1.460 kg/metre Trial Conclusions Our trials have shown that the MD (medium density 80 x 140 mm) crops were the most economically viable and produced the best quality product, (for the full economic evaluation please contact a Boomaroo Nurseries sales representative as listed below).
ECO Seedlings consistently performed over all trials, had less weeds, higher yields and less inputs such as water, fertilizer and faster crop turnarounds, than the direct seeded control plots. The grower was having many problems over the 2003 winter with the direct seeded crops, both controlling diseases and weeds, as well as many areas of poor germination. These problems meant the grower was unable to consistently supply product to his supply chain partner. This required a more economical and reliable method of baby leaf production to be found. Based on the results of the ECO Seedling trials it was decided to place a commercial order of ECO Seedlings for a full and comprehensive appraisal. Commercial Crops
Commercial orders have been delivered to Keysborough and Gippsland over winter 2004 and summer 2004-05. Results over winter were excellent with the grower having improved quality crops, with reduced weed pressure and water use, combined with the ability to supply the crop consistently throughout winter, compared to the previous winter where he was unable to do so. The plants also performed well during spring and summer, where second cuts were obtained throughout and growers have continued to order the product.
Conclusion
Boomaroo Nurseries are pleased to release ECO Seedlings as the latest innovation in the baby leaf lettuce industry. We are confident ECO Seedlings will provide baby leaf growers with an ECOnomical and profitable, alternative to direct seeding. Boomaroo Nurseries will continue to trial and evaluate new ECO products, some of which will be at the Werribee Field Days, such as roquette, tatsoi, chard, and spinach. We will commence trialling of bunching crops within the short to medium term, to evaluate the use of the ECO Seedlings with these crops. Please contact your nearest Boomaroo Nurseries customer service representative, should you like organise field trials for your property, or for any other information you may require.
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