Specialty crops for high tunnel production A Presentation By Mr Allah Dad Khan Former Director General Agriculture Extension KPK Province and Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan

1. Barbara Liedl
West Virginia State University

2.  The Specialty Crop Competitiveness Act of 2004 and the Food,
Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 have defined specialty
crops as “fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits,
horticulture, and nursery crops (including floriculture).”
 Eligible plants must be intensively cultivated and used by people
for food, medicinal purposes, and/or aesthetic gratification to be
considered specialty crops. Processed products shall constitute
greater than 50% of the specialty crop by weight, exclusive of added
water.
 http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/scbgpdefinitions
 http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC
5082113

3. List of Ineligible Commodities
Alfalfa Fish (marine or
freshwater)
Primrose Sugar beets
Amylomaize Flax Quinoa Sugarcane
Barley Flaxseed Rapeseed oil Sunflower oil
Buckwheat Flint corn Range grasses Tobacco
Canola Flower corn Rice Tofu
Canola Oil Hay Rye Triticale
Clover Livestock products Safflower meal Waxy corn
Cotton Millet Safflower oil Wheat
Cottonseed oil Mustard seed oil Shellfish (marine or
freshwater)
White corn
Dairy products Oats Sorghum Wild Rice
Dent corn Peanut oil Soybean oil
Eggs Peanuts Soybeans
Field corn Pod corn Striped Maize

4. Fruits and Tree Nuts
Almond Grape (including raisin)
Apple Nectarine
Apricot Peach
Blackberry Pear
Blueberry Pecan
Cherry Persimmon
Chestnut (for nuts) Plum (including prune)
Cranberry Quince
Currant Raspberry
Date Strawberry
Fig Walnut
Filbert (hazelnut)
Gooseberry

5. Vegetables
Artichoke Collards (including
kale)
Mustard and other
greens
Salsify
Asparagus Cucumber Okra Spinach
Bean. Snap or green
Lima. Dry, edible
Edamame Pea, Garden, English
or edible pod
Squash (summer and
winter)
Beet, table Eggplant Onion Sweet corn
Broccoli (including
broccoli raab)
Endive Parsley Sweet potato
Brussels sprouts Garlic Parsnip Swiss chard
Cabbage (including
Chinese)
Horseradish Pepper Taro
Carrot Kohlrabi Potato Tomato (including
tomatillo)
Cauliflower Leek Pumpkin Turnip
Celeriac Lettuce Radish (all types) Watermelon
Celery Melon (all types) Rhubarb
Chive Mushroom
(cultivated)
Rutabaga

6. Culinary Herbs Medicinal
Herbs
Cut Flowers Annual
Bedding
Plants
Potted
Herbaceous
Perennials
Basil (all types) Coneflower Carnation Pansy Coreopsis
Chervil/Ciliantro Foxgloves Delphinium Snapdragon Dianthus
Dill Ginseng Gladiolus Vegetable
transplants
Peony
Fennel Lavender Lily Rudbeckia
Ginger Stevia Rose
Lavender Sunflower
Mint (all types) Zinnia
Parsley Dahlia

7.  If a HT is to be most profitable, it should be used for year
around cropping. HT real estate is more expensive to use than
field space
 Usually, a grower can have 2 crops of a warm season
vegetable and 1 crop of a cool season vegetable or fruit within
one calendar year. If annuals, perennials are another matter.
 Most warm season crops are established in the HT as early as
soil temperatures reach the optimal level.
 Transplants will reach maturity faster than direct seeding.

8.  Warm Season Crops – 50F
 Cool Season Crops – 35F
 Row covers, mulches and low tunnels can also
modify air and soil temperatures. Portable heater can
also provide supplemental heat.
 Row covers cost about $0.09/ft2 and re-usable for
several years. Row covers are 4x more effective in
retaining heat in the high tunnel relative to the field.

9.  #1 HT crop
 Transplant late March
 Expect first harvest in early June
 Harvest until late Nov/early Dec
 ? sequentially plant every six weeks
 ? remove once field harvest begins
 ? replant in July
 Plant 18-24” apart single row
 Requires staking and training; might require shading
in summer
 Expect about 1.2-1.8 lbs/sq ft

10.  Possible warm season rotation crop
 Transplant mid April
 Expect first harvest in June
 Harvest until Nov
 ? sequentially plant every six weeks
 Plant 18-24” apart double row
 Use shade cloth to reduce sunburn in warm summer
months
 Requires staking and training
 Expect about 2 lbs/sq ft

12.  Perennial crop
 Transplant late March
 Expect first harvest in early June
 Harvest until late Nov/early Dec
 Plant 18-24” apart single row
 Requires staking and training; might require shading
in summer
 Expect about 0.8 lbs/sq ft

13.  Strawberries are a potentially profitable crop for high tunnel production. It is very
important to use annual, short day or perhaps day neutral types for high tunnels.
Matted row production of June-bearing strawberries has a very high opportunity
cost. A commercial high tunnel can accommodate approximately 2200-2500
strawberry plants. One of the most significant costs associated with high tunnel
strawberry production is cost of the planting material. Rooted plugs can cost
approximately $0.25 USD per plug. Thus, it is important to buy runner tips from a
certified nursery and root the tips in plug trays. Four weeks later, the plugs are
ready to transplant within the high tunnel. Strawberries can yield 1.25-1.5 pounds
per plant within a high tunnel. The key to success is to have efficient pollination.
Bumblebees may be used, and with our research we have discovered that
bumblebees did not increase the number of high tunnel strawberries, but did
increase the average fruit weight per strawberry. High tunnel strawberries are
ready to harvest approximately 5 weeks earlier than fieldgrown strawberries.
Exclusion of rainfall by the high tunnel will prevent many foliar and fruit diseases,
but gray mold (Botrytis) and powdery mildew can be potential problems.
 Packaging costs can be a significant cost associated with strawberries. I
recommend marketing strawberries in small volumes (pints). The breakeven price
for high tunnel strawberries was calculated to be approximately $1.28 USD per
pound. Our test marketing revealed that consumers are willing to pay 3-4 times that
amount for early, vine-ripened berries.

14.  An excellent Spring and Fall season crop for high
tunnels.
 Both slicing and “hothouse-type” cucumbers can
yield very well within a high tunnel, although we
 have had greater success with slicing types.
Hothouse cucumbers can develop powdery
 mildew within a high tunnel and don’t seem to grow
well in the fluctuating temperatures
 within a high tunnel.

15.  Cantaloupes, honeydews, watermelons or other
specialty melons.
 For higher yields, they need to be trellised
 Require bees for cross pollination.
 Marginally profitable if grown for early markets,
with three to four marketable melons per vine as a
typical yield.
 Melons are more profitably produced using low
tunnels.