Cat on a Hot Green Roof

Hello! It’s Cat again, Lufa Farms’ Chief Greenhouse Aid and Compost Manager. I’m sure all of you have been enjoying the absolutely beautiful weather we’ve been having, and I thought I’d use this week’s Greenhouse Blog to tell you a bit about what that extra heat means up in the greenhouse.

The good news is that our greenhouse team has started to make the switch to shorts instead of pants (always a welcome change), and sunglasses are now part of the uniform! While the highest outdoor temperature this week was around 28 C, temperatures in the greenhouse were slightly higher, just under 30 C. As you might expect, with the jump in temperature and the longer, sunnier days the plants are growing super quickly and all of the vegetables are ripening at almost warp speed. In fact, last week alone we harvested over 2 tons of vegetables, including 2,700 Lebanese Cucumbers and 2,300 Beefsteak Tomatoes!

   

Unfortunately, the plants and those of us who care for them aren’t the only happy ones...warm weather is also when many pests thrive. All of the beautiful leaves on the trees outside are home to pests such as aphids, russet mites, and spider mites, to name only a few. So when we open the roof vents to let hot air out, that means those pests can get in as well. This just means that we have to be even more diligent when scouting for pests, because once they’re in the greenhouse they reproduce even faster thanks to the longer days and warmer temperatures. Our predator bugs are hard at work keeping the pests at bay.

Life without harmful synthetic pesticides can be challenging, but the satisfaction of knowing our food is safe, healthy, and delicious makes it totally worth it!

Make sure to keep enjoying the weather as much as our plants are! Stay cool, Montreal.