How to Strengthen Winter Management of Greenhouse Vegetables

In winter, the indoor temperature of vegetable greenhouses is low, which can easily cause cold damage to vegetables. Li Yuhong, associate professor at the College of Horticulture, Northwest A&F University, reminds vegetable growers to correctly distinguish common physiological diseases from infectious diseases in winter, use pesticides scientifically, and achieve timely prevention and control.

Yellowing Leaves - The Greenhouse Needs Insulation

In winter, the temperature inside the greenhouse is too low, and cold damage is prone to occur. According to interviews with reporters, cold damage mostly occurs under two conditions: one is continuous cloudy and rainy days in winter, which affect the temperature inside the greenhouse. At this time, vegetables are in a state of starvation, causing leaves to turn yellow. In this case, small amounts of water can be applied frequently to avoid excessive water volume, combined with the application of functional fertilizers. The other is that arch greenhouse vegetables are planted too early, and winter vegetable planting encounters cold wave weather, affecting vegetable growth. At this time, growers need to pay attention to watching weather forecasts, strengthen greenhouse insulation, increase the thickness of coverings, and pay attention to raising the temperature inside the greenhouse during the day. Avoid watering in low-temperature weather, and spray amino acid and chitin foliar fertilizers on the leaves to improve plant resistance.

Many Deformed Fruits - Vegetables Need Supplementary Light

Winter is a period of high incidence of deformed fruits in greenhouse vegetables, mainly due to the influence of adverse climate and environmental conditions during the important period of flower bud differentiation. Flower bud differentiation is a physiological and morphological marker of the transition from vegetative growth to reproductive growth, and this period has relatively high requirements for environmental conditions. After the physiological differentiation of flower buds is completed, they begin to develop. At this stage, during the morphological differentiation period, deformed flowers and fruits are most likely to appear. Growers need to strengthen supplementary lighting in the greenhouse during cloudy and rainy weather, pay attention to raising the greenhouse temperature, and spray boron fertilizer and monopotassium phosphate on the leaves to promote flower bud differentiation.

Poor Color Conversion - Nutrition Needs to Be Supplied

There are many factors causing poor color conversion in winter tomatoes and other vegetables, such as low temperature, little light, more nitrogen and less calcium, all of which can affect the normal color conversion of vegetables. At the same time, there are also many conditions that affect poor color conversion, such as rib rot disease, green-shouldered fruit, tea-colored fruit, and so on. The environmental conditions in winter often cause severe effects on pigment conversion. Growers need to remove deformed fruits as early as possible to reduce plant consumption, frequently wipe the greenhouse film and pay attention to supplementary lighting in the greenhouse, reduce the amount of nitrogen fertilizer, and supplement medium and trace elements such as boron and calcium on the leaves. Ensure that greenhouse vegetables in winter can be unaffected by climatic conditions, achieve safe production, and reach the effect of high yield.