| Login | Article categories | Home | Contact US | Links |
| Living Gas Detectors Web tools info likes to publish articles we think would be useful to our readers. If you
don't see a category that would be of interest to you, please let us know by contacting us and requesting
additional categories.
Article: In every heated greenhouse we have a 6 pack of tomato plants growing. Now, we do like tomatoes and grow about 4000 lbs per year, but that is not why we have a 6 pack in every house.Tomato plants are very, very sensitive to ethylene. Not to be very technical, ethylene is from a furnace which does not perform combustion correctly. Usually, there is not a smell, but eventually, there is plant death. When I go in the greenhouse in the morning, I check the tomato plants. If I see curled and half fainted leaves I know we have a problem The tomato plants succumb quickly to even a small amount of ethylene and tell me quicker and cheaper than any detector that there is a problem here. We immediately get the furnace working properly. Most greenhouse operators can repair and calibrate their own furnaces; the professionals are called in only if we can't fix it. It is a skill as necessary as knowing pests and without it repair bills can be well beyond the budget. We even stock spare oil guns. In the middle of the night I don't want to be tinkering with an oil gun. I have 20 minutes to get the heat up past freezing and it only takes a few minutes to change the gun. Yes, 20 minutes before you loose $15,000 or more in plants. Then in the daytime, we get the faulty gun fixed. Do we have an alarm system for when the heat goes off? You bet we do. Just as an aside, there is a thermostat alarm called Thermalarm, sells for $50....DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS, because it malfunctions a lot. I have grower friends that were almost put out of business because it did not sound the alarm and they lost thousands of dollars. Seems bugs can get into the workings of this alarm and it then can't work. Just buy a thermostat with a hi lo switch, run a telephone wire to a bell that you can hear at night. My husband does the mechanical things, but any greenhouse supply company can tell you how to do this. Another place you might see evidence of ethylene poisoning in plants is in a restaurant. I discovered a gas leak at my friend's restaurant when he called me in to look at his dying plants.I told him what was wrong and he wouldn't believe me. All his equipment was brand new and no way could he have a gas leak. Well, two weeks later, he called me, all red-faced. His gas bill was exorbitant. He had the gas company check it out. I was not surprised when he said they had had a major leak. Sometime we female plant growers know something more than growing flowers. I chuckle every time I go into his restaurant. Of course I do not let him see my mirth, well maybe just a little. I want to repeat my warning from my last article, NEVER, NEVER USE KEROSENE HEATERS IN THE GREENHOUSE. Ethylene is a common problem with them and the fumes can and will burn all your plant leaves. I hope everyone will go and grow. Nancy
|
||
This article has been viewed 65 times