Organic Farmer October/November 2019

Continued from Page 42
The herb display garden is one of the largest of its kind in the
northwest. The Hagens use yellow sticky cards there to keep the
leafhoppers under control. The cards are something they recently
tried and are pleased with how many of the insects hopped or flew
onto the traps. It pretty much took care of the leafhopper problem
this year. And leafhoppers really can create a problem. They are
piercing, sucking insects with toxic saliva that causes white spotting
or yellowing of leaves. Along with transmitting viral diseases,
leafhoppers can cause other damage, too, such as leaf curling,
stunting, and other plant distortion. The Hagens sometimes put
yellow sticky cards to use in the greenhouse and conservatory, too.
The cards trap fungus gnats, and to a lesser degree, white flies.
Bethany Glanville screens seeds.
In the hops field, the Hagen family hand-picks any leaves or shoots
that harbor downy mildew and disposes of them so the mildew
doesn’t spread. They also lop off the first new shoots of vine
growth in the spring, which, because of the wet spring weather, are
more susceptible to mildew. “We remove the primary shoots and
let the secondary growth come out,” Rolfe said. If downy mildew
strikes the hops later in the season, they use a spray of potassium
bicarbonate, which is another form of Epsom salts. It changes the
pH of the leaves, which effectively fights mildew. The potassium
bicarbonate then breaks down into fertilizer. The Hagens also
discourage mildew by watering in the morning, and not late in the
day, so the leaves have a chance to dry before nightfall.
If spider mites prove a problem in the field or garden, the Hagen
family cuts, bags and throws away the affected plant parts. “It’s a
lot of physical labor removing stuff,” Bethany said. “We do a lot of
pruning back and dumping.” As much as the Hagens would like
to compost everything, diseased or mildewed plant bits are the
exception and go in the trash.
A butterfly sips on a flower in the herb display garden.
Clean Up
Clean up is a large part of the process at season’s end, especially
in the greenhouses. “Less habitat for things to grow in,” Bethany
explained. For the overwintered greenhouse stock plants, such
as scented geranium, the Hagens use an all-purpose, slow, sustained-release
fertilizer from Down to Earth in Eugene, Oregon.
They take the stock plants out of the pots “fluff the roots”
and repot.
When planting hop rhizomes, which the family has grown
commercially now for 15 years, they stir a three-manure mulch
mixture (horse, cow and chicken manure) into each planting hole.
Seed Collection
The end of summer and into fall is seed collecting time. Seed
is gathered by hand into paper bags, dried in Rolfe and Janet’s
house. Next comes winnowing the chaff from the seed with a set
of different sized screens, or with an air separator that Rolfe made.
The seeds are labeled and stored in plastic lidded containers in the
seed room. Bethany fills 10 packs of each variety at a time—The
Honeybee on coneflower in the herb display garden.
44
Organic Farmer October/November 2019