The University of Minnesota Extension fruit and vegetable team and The Grossman lab are hosting a series of hands-on high tunnel field days. Join us throughout the growing season to learn timely and practical skills needed to manage a high tunnel effectively.

Sessions

We will share the address for each event with registered participants via email.

Tuesday June 16, 9:30 a.m. - 12 noon, St. Paul, MN

• Pruning and trellising + scouting for problems.
• Our high tunnel will have cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers trellised in a variety of styles (e.g. netting vs. single leader cucumbers, single vs. double leader tomatoes, a basket weave system for peppers). Participants will be given a set of pruning shears and we’ll practice pruning and trellising so that you are more confident doing so at your own farm or garden. We’ll also practice scouting for problems, talk about tools for identifying what’s going on, and how to manage problems before they get out of hand.

Tuesday July 7, 9:30 a.m. - 12 noon, St. Paul, MN

• Postharvest handling and coolers - How to wash and cool vegetables for postharvest quality safety.
• Washing, packing and cooling produce are critical parts of selling high-quality vegetables. What is the best way to wash your vegetables, and what should not be washed? Come to this field day to learn all about postharvest handling and cooling. Practice using a variety of wash tanks, spray tables, a homemade barrel washer for roots and a low - cost cooler. We will wash and pack collard greens, salad mix, beets and cucumbers and pack into a cooler for demonstration to show proper handling to improve safety and shelf life of fresh vegetables.
• Bonus: bring problem plants for identification. We’ll set up a problem ID table with microscopes, entomologists, and plant pathologists to help you diagnose problems in your plants.

Friday August 7, 10 a.m. - 12 noon, Afton, MN

• On-farm field day: summer cover crops and succession planting for fall and winter growing. Visit a farm that grows vegetables nearly near-round using well-planned successions in their high tunnel. Learn about the tools and strategies that they use to maintain soil health and extend the growing season.

Cost

Our goal is for these workshops to be as accessible as possible, while providing opportunities for growers to practice hands-on skills. Please request interpretation at least three weeks before each event so that we have time to hire an interpreter. Each session is $10 to help us cover the cost of food and presenter travel, but there is a sliding scale option if the cost of registration is a barrier to attending.

These field days are supported with a grant from the USDA Organic Research and Extension Initiative, but the goal is to make our high tunnel program self-sustaining when the grant runs out. You can use the following codes when you register for discounted registration:

• No code: $10 covers some of the food and travel costs for presenters.
• HT50: Covers 50% of the cost of registration.
• HT100: Participants in our Introduction to High Tunnel course should use this rate, as these field days are considered part of your course registration. Other participants are welcome to use this code if registration fees are a barrier to attending.

Event contact

Natalie Hoidal, hoida016@umn.edu

Registration questions

Extension Registration, ext-reg@umn.edu

If you experience difficulties logging in

Contact the University of Minnesota IT Help Line at 612-301-4357. Please mention you are using a "guest account" to register for a non-credit event.

Register below. When you register for a High Tunnel Field Day session, you'll be prompted to create a UMN guest account. This will be your login for most non-credit UMN events. Your password needs to be 16 characters long. For ease, use a sentence or title plus a number and allowed character. If you have an existing guest account you have not used in over a year, please perform a password reset to reactivate your account.

Registration someone other than yourself or multiple people, select "I am registering one or more people."

To register by phone

Paying online using our registration portal is secure, available 24 hours a day, and provides immediate enrollment. However, if you wish to register by phone, Extension registration professionals are here to help. Please contact us using one of the following methods. We will be in touch within three business days.

• Use this link to request phone registration: z.umn.edu/registrationhelp (preferred)
• Or leave a voicemail at (612) 626-5174.