Cleaning out your greenhouse can save you headaches

Added on 16 June 2023

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Cleaning out your greenhouse can save you headaches

The late weeks of spring, following Memorial Day, often give floriculture greenhouses the rare chance to empty compartments or benches before fall crops go in. Similarly, many vegetable greenhouses extending their growing period are facing their first crop clean out.

Now is the perfect time to consider a thorough cleaning of your greenhouse to prevent pest issues going forward into the new crop. But this can seem like a daunting task.

The Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Vineland Research and Innovation Centre have produced a how-to video on greenhouse clean-out and disinfection that can help you know where to start. As part of Vineland and OMAFRA’s How-To Video Series, this video tackles removing old plant material, cleaning surfaces and sterilizing with sanitizers. This helps to reduce the incidence of both arthropod pests and diseases that like to hide in nooks and crannies, and in water delivery systems. Check it out here.

In addition, Canadian specialists gave a webinar with Michigan State University (MSU) Extension in January on this topic. Click here to be taken to this webinar on the MSU page.

Cara McCreary (Greenhouse Vegetable IPM Specialist, OMAFRA) and Sarah Jandricic (Greenhouse Floriculture IPM Specialist, OMAFRA) discussed the benefits of cleaning and disinfecting a greenhouse (floriculture or vegetable) in-depth, with a focus on the riskiest pathways of pest introductions and opportunities to mitigate these risks.

Image by drobotdean on Freepik

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