Quote:
Originally Posted by Gabe15
I'm glad you brought this up, because plant spacing is actually a rather complex issue and not commonly a subject on our forum.
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And as for crowding, this is a farm, not plants growing out in the wild, and we manage them. We will remove pups as needed and make sure they don't form huge mats that encroach on each other. If we were to let them grow out fully, we may see a loss in gross yield, but then again, we don't really care because we are just a student farm, not a commercial grower trying to maximize production with every trick in the book. Each grower has a specific need for their plants, if you need them to produce huge bunches you will adjust your planting system accordingly, but if you need them to be easy to manage and require little work to be put into them then you will too adjust your planting system according.
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Gabe,
Your response, after I mulled it around my feeble mind for a few hours, led to this response.
I would think that the farm would lead to a ton of experiments toward learning and publishing results, not just farming for experience. Productivity techniques, different fertilization and irrigation practices, and other areas that I cannot think of at the moment look to be possible given the gift you have received. For example, would it be possible to have control plots and then experiment with different techniques and measure the result? Monoculture vs. interspeciation (my term, meaning multiple species in close proximity) on single plots to limit insect and disease damage?
I am sure you may have thought of this, but what an opportunity!
Good luck in whatever you achieve!