RED DEER COUNTY - Greenhouses often help give Alberta farmers an early start to the growing season.
Here in Central Alberta, several area farms with the Innisfail Growers group have been using greenhouses to grow plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables for many years.
The Jungle Farm north of Innisfail is one of them.
“A greenhouse is a great space to be in this time of year and people love a greenhouse,” said Blaine Staples, co-owner of The Jungle Farm.
He and his wife Leona operate three greenhouses on their property. They began using greenhouses about 20 years ago and have added two more over the last 12 years, with the newest one operational about two years ago.
“In the smallest, older one we have a hydroponic system coming to grow lettuce and greens in it,” said Staples, noting they have grown a variety of fruits, vegetables and plants in their greenhouses.
“We grow primarily transplants and bedding plants for ornementals, the hanging baskets and flower baskets, and then vegetable transplants for us to plant in the field,” he said, noting an example. “To get the big, mature Spanish onions we start them in the greenhouse and then transplant them out. We do about 100,000 of those a year,” he added, noting other crops include cucumbers, pumpkin, squash, cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce.
“We start them all in the greenhouse and then transplant them outside.
“The big traditional greenhouse crops are tomatoes, long English cucumbers and peppers. Those are the big three,” he added.
Staples noted several large commercial greenhouses in Alberta grow crops and other products, like cannabis, year round and never shut down during the winter months.
“With ours we don’t (operate all year). We start the first of Februrary and run until about the end of November,” he said, noting energy costs can be a big challenge for greenhouse operators.
“The big thing with greenhouses is the energy cost. If energy costs are high, it makes it very difficult to make a profit,” he said. “As far as the economics of it, it’s a competitive world and you have to really get out there and work hard at it to make it a paying proposition.”
Greenhouses have several features to help farmers grow their crops, noted Staples.
“A greenhouse has to have irrigation because there’s no natural water getting into it, so you don’t get any rainfall, he said. “The other thing about a greenhouse is they heat up very quickly as soon as the sun comes out, so you need to have some sort of ventilation system that works automatically to either open a vent or use fans to cool it,” explained Staples.
There are several positive sides to greenhouse growing, noted Staples.
"We can get our transplants ready early so that they’re mature enough to plant in the spring,” said Staples. “We can get good produce early and we can grow a little longer season varieties,” he added, noting they help protect crops from poor weather.
“You’re not restricted by the weather while you’re working in a greenhouse. That’s the biggest advantage,” Staple concluded.
