Tag Archives: Oswego

2013 Fall Planting

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Our fall planting at the Boricua bogs is almost done, which will complete the Oswego renovation. Our team started last Monday, and the weather has been mostly cooperative.

The planting team has been moving faster than ever before, and has even set a new record with over 3.5 acres planted in one day. Team member Casey Koehler attributes this to each team member knowing what their assigned task is in addition to good communication by New Production foreman Kelvin Colon. “We start at 6:30 in the morning and everyone just works,” she says. “Everybody has their job but if they’re needed elsewhere, they’ll step up, no questions asked. We switch off a lot, too; it can be hard on your back sitting on the planter. So people will exchange jobs so there are fresh hands and a fresh back on the planter.” In addition, Casey says, “The guys doing the hand planting are fast and they’re good. If everyone’s doing their jobs, then Kelvin can make sure everything’s getting done that needs to be done.”

Every team member is keeping busy. Casey was tracking the daily averages: daily acres planted, number of trays, and the number of plants per acre, as well as the running total acres, while Waldemar Blanco is in charge of making sure both planters are always fully loaded, the plants are delivered, and all trays are sorted and counted according to planter and/or hand planting in order to make accurate measurements.

Communication has become much more efficient with new technology, as updates in the field can be viewed on the office database. The team is also able to track the plant totals: how many carts ordered per day, how many trays used on both planters, how many carts are left at the end of the day, and how many cuttings are planted per acre. Our target is 60,000/acre. “We leave at least one for the following day,” Casey says. “Once we come in at 6:30, we’re moving. So the night before we’ll leave one ready to go, with a tarp over it to keep the heat in.”

Every day a team member measures the acreage to see if they’ve hit their targets, which started at 2.5 acres/day then changed to 3 acres/day. Some bogs are tougher than others, depending on layout: Boricua #5 has some unusual angles due to topography, which made more hand planting necessary and added to the overall time. But the team has been doing very well and are actually ahead of schedule, expecting to be finished by this afternoon.

All that remains to be done is watering the new acreage. While the mostly sunny and dry weather has been good for getting the planting finished, it does mean that the sprinklers need to be run every day for the new plants. It does serve a dual purpose: in addition to sealing the sil around the plants, the team can check for damaged sprinklers.

Thirty acres in ten days is a fantastic achievement, and our team should be proud of the work they have done. It is this willingness to do what needs to be done that helps Pine Island grow more acres and more fruit per acre, year after year.

Boricua renovation

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Pine Island’s bog renovation team is moving steadily forward on the next stage of our Oswego project at the Boricua bogs, which we will be planting with Crimson Queen this fall. Like the rest of the bogs at the Oswego renovation, they had previously been planted with Early Blacks and had been productive bogs, but “…they were starting to become what we colloquially call ‘mutts’, which means they weren’t true Early Blacks anymore,” Bill says. “Production started to drop off. They were adequate and not necessarily terrible, but definitely no longer up to our standards.”

As we mentioned in January, part of the renovation includes new pump houses. We’ll be installing the larger size double-wall fuel tanks, which have the benefit of better environmental protection (always a concern with water management) and having to be fueled less often, which is more efficient. But first, the bog renovation team had to work closely with the facilities team to get the dog leg and suction line installed.

The installation is fairly straightforward: the team (Facilities supervisor Mike Guest, foreman Wilfredo Pagan, and team member Emmanuel Colon) places an eighteen-inch stone bed at the bottom of the canal. They place the screen (a PVC pipe with slots cut into it) on the stone bed, then add another foot of stones on top. “It’s so much more efficient this way,” says Wilfredo. “We end up using less water with this design, because we don’t need to raise the water as high. And it’s fun to watch!”

While the installation itself is straightforward, it does take some time to make sure it’s done right. The team works with the long arm excavator and a laser level to ensure that the stone bed is properly set, as well as getting into the bed and checking by hand.

Once it’s installed, the stone bed will act to filter out any natural debris that’s in the water, such as leaves, sticks, twigs, and dirt. The stone will stop any debris from entering the system and plugging the sprinklers.

While one team is working on the suction line, another team is installing the main irrigation line as well as laying out a plumb line at Boricua #1 and #2. Plumb line is installed to make sure the layout of the irrigation system is a true grid. Once that’s installed, the team will be able to put in sprinklers.

Bog Renovations manager Joe Colon says all that remains after this is land leveling so that the team can start mapping for the sprinklers and underdrain. “It’s a lot of acreage,” he says. “But we did a lot last time. We can definitely do this.” Wilfredo agrees: “We’re getting better at this all the time.”

Planting in spring

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A year ago this week, we walked you through the process of planting out at Sim Place. This spring, Pine Island Cranberry is focused on the Rainbow bogs at Oswego that we started renovating early last year.

Much like with our fall planting on the High Bridge bog, the bogs at Rainbow (formerly planted with Early Blacks) will be planted with Crimson Queen, a variety chosen for higher yield potential. A major focus for Pine Island is increasing yield while lowering production costs, and renovation is a driving force behind our growth strategy: young bogs are redesigned for efficiency as well as yield.

The process remains as it was for fall and last spring: the planter is loaded with the rooted cuttings, which drop onto a carousel. Other team members follow the planter to make sure the cuttings have been placed correctly.

Bog Renovations manager Joe Colon thinks it’s looking great. “The conditions were bad for a while,” he says. “Every weekend we’d start getting ready, and then it would rain. Or snow. The soil would soak that right up. But this week has been a really good week. The underdrains are working really well. We disced the bog and now Ivan’s land-leveling to get Rainbow #1 ready to go after #2 is finished; by tomorrow it should be drained enough to make planting easier. These are nice bogs to work on; really good soil. But they were cranberry bogs in the first place; we’d already been taking good care of them!” He’s hoping to be finished this bog by the end of the week, if the weather cooperates; in total we’ll be planting about 25 acres. Weather is always a concern, as effective bed drainage is critical; the humid climate can provide a favorable environment for Phytophthora cinnamomi, a known cause of root rot.

As it was the first day, the teams were working out logistics. Both our four-seater and six-seater planters used in tandem can speed up the process considerably by starting at opposite ends of the new bed and meeting in the middle. Kelvin Colon, one of our foremen and a planting veteran, spent some time making sure everything was straightened out in order to do as little hand planting as possible.

Our planting crews have mastered the art of team work. It started a couple of weeks back, building the carts we use to haul the plants on the bog.

Planting supervisor Kylie Naylor has been hard at work since well before this week. Based on our fall average numbers, she set up a spreadsheet to calculate how many plants we would need over how many acres in order set targets for both number of trays per day and number of acres planted per day. But it’s not just about numbers, she says. “Communication is what’s really important. I have to keep in constant contact with Integrity Propagation so that they always know how many trays we need and when we’ll be picking them up. But it’s even more important to communicate with the team in the bog. A lot of the work is between Kelvin and me; we both have to know what’s going on with both planters. If one of us has to walk away, we both need to be aware of spacing and what everyone is doing on each crew while still keeping our targets in mind.”

Kylie and Kelvin have done so well that the team has actually exceeded their target on both Wednesday and Thursday. It’s a great start for a great season!

Bog renovation

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While the 2012 spring planting was being completed, we had already turned our attention to our latest project: renovating our Oswego bogs. Bog renovation is a time-consuming and capital-intensive but necessary project that will increase both yield and quality by improving bog and irrigation design.

Earlier this year, our team first redesigned the layout, deciding how to best work with the surrounding water resources for maximum land use efficiency. They reshaped some beds, removed the old vines, and did the initial leveling to prep the soil.

We’ve previously stated that the three things most important to growing cranberries are water, water, and more water. Currently, the team is hard at work on the irrigation improvements. They’ve begun ditching, which, as we spoke about last month, ensures adequate water flow for both flooding and drainage. Effective bed drainage is critical, especially in New Jersey, where the humid climate can provide a favorable environment for Phytophthora cinnamomi, a known cause of root rot.

According to Joe Colon, Pine Island’s bog renovations manager, we have replaced over twenty of our wooden floodgates with a newer PVC design. While some of our wooden gates have been in use for almost seventy years, the new design will have even greater longevity. They are also easier to install and repair, which will in turn be easier for team members to make the most efficient use of their time.

Other improvements to the water system besides new gates and rebuilt ditches include the relocation of the pumps. As part of our irrigation redesign, and with the redesign of some of the beds, it was necessary to make some changes in order to maximize water flow to the pump. Relocation of the pump houses is also helpful for improved access, both for refueling and repairs.

Even though planting is not scheduled until November, weed control has already become necessary. There are already briars appearing in some of the beds scheduled for planting in 2012-2013 even after rotovation (mechanical tilling of the soil). The current plan is to rotovate again, and then flood in order to keep them from taking root.

Bog renovation is a key component to maintaining Pine Island’s core values of continuous improvement, continuous growth, and protecting the environment. Increasing production over time through bog renovation and decreasing the time to achieve full production is essential to accomplish our growth objectives.