Terminology around crop management can be confusing. Some crops do best when they are planted as seeds while others are more successful when planted as seedlings, tubers, cuttings, creepers, or many other presentation (which we collectively refer to as “seedling or planting stock” in LiteFarm). These presentations also introduce complexity around whether something is being “planted” or “transplanted” if it’s not a seed. The purpose of this document is to highlight some of the key terms we’ll use in crop management plans and narrowly define them. It should also help clear up the timeline that most crops will proceed through in their life cycles.
In order from earliest to latest:
Event name | Details | Data and presentation | Shown for… | Associated tasks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Seeding | The seeding date is the date a seed is placed in a substrate (e.g. ground or a container). Crops that are not put in the ground by the user as a seed will not have a seeding date, instead they will be planted. For example, stone fruit crops such as apples and peaches are rarely put in the ground as seeds outside of nurseries. Instead, they are purchased by farmers as 3 - 4 year old seedlings and planted. | A seeding date will not be provided in the data for LiteFarm (since it’s heavily dependent on region and climate). Instead, the user will either provide this date (for crops planted as seeds), estimate this date from the perceived age of seedlings or planting stock, or leave it blank. All of the following dates (with the exception of planting) are generated based on offset (in days) from the seeding date. | Crops started from seed only | Seeding |
Germination | The germination date is the date the seed ceases to be dormant. This is often used interchangeably with the emergence date, which is the date the crop breaks through the soil. We’ll use the term germination here and in the app, though we’ll almost always be referring to emergence in LiteFarm. | The germination date is stored in the LiteFarm data set as an offset (in days) from the seeding date and will range from a few days for crops like lettuce or beans to several months for more complicated crops. The user can override the germination offset when creating a management plan to better match their situation. | None, instead this is a reality check for the user. | |
Planting | The planting date is the date a non seed is put in a substrate (e.g. ground or a container). Crops will have either a seeding or planting date, but not both. | Typically, the planting date is entered by the user when they are creating a plan for a seedling or planting stock. In this case, they may be able to estimate the seeding date, not know the seeding date, or it may be irrelevant. An example of the first case is when buying a tomato that is 6-weeks old. Based on knowing it’s 6 weeks old, the system can use the estimated seeding date to generate dates (from database offsets) for harvest. In other cases, the seeding date is irrelevant and can’t be used to estimate other timeline dates. For example, whether a cutting is from a 5-year old or 50-year old philodendron will have little impact on it’s other attributes. | Crops NOT started from seed | Planting |
Transplanting | The transplanting date is the first day a crop that has been seeded or planted can be moved from its starting location to its final location on the farm. A crop cannot be transplanted without having been either seeded or planted first. For crops that have been seeded on the farm, they will often be transplanted from a greenhouse or nursery once they become seedlings to a location in a field. | At the database level, transplanting is stored as an offset (in days) from the seeding date. This offset can be overridden by the user. | Crops where user indicated they will be transplanted | Transplanting |
Termination | The termination date is the first day a cover crop can be tilled under while still allowing the farmer to realize the benefits of the cover crop. Some cover crops, such as alfalfa, can be grown either for harvest or as cover crops. For this reason, the user will specify for any crop type designated in the database as a cover crop whether the crop is being grown for harvest or as a cover crop. Only cover crops grown as cover crops will have a termination date. A cover crop can’t have a termination and harvest date. | At the database level, crop types will either be classified as a cover crop or not. For these crops, the user will specify whether the crop is being grown as a cover crop or for harvest. For those grown as cover crops, the termination is stored as an offset (in days) from the seeding date. This offset can be overridden by the user. | Crops that are cover crops AND are being grown as cover crops | Field work |
Harvest | The harvest date is the first day a harvest is likely possible for this crop. For some crops, such as corn where the harvesting process destroys the crop, this will be the only harvest date. For others, such as tomatoes or blackberries the farmer may get several harvests in a season for the crop. In tropical areas, a crop may be continually harvestable. LiteFarm only documents the first harvest date. Users can document additional harvest dates in their crop management plan manually as they’d like. Cover crops planted as cover crops will not be harvested. For existing perennials or wild crops, harvests may be the only events in a crops management plan. | At the database level, harvest is stored as an offset (in days) from the seeding date. For some crops such as letuce, this can be 20 - 30 days. For others, this can be several thousand days (10+ years). This value can be overridden by the user as well. | Most crops, except those being grown as cover crops | Harvest |
Open questions
Q: For seedlings or planting stock can we estimate any of the above dates from seeding date offsets?
A: Probably not. For example, a seedling will have already emerged while a tuber will not. Knowing the age of the parent plant when taking a cutting is irrelevant to the next harvest of the cutting. In these cases, it may be preferable to display
Q: Is planting a different task from seeding?
A: Probably. Some attributes of a seeding task, such as seeding depth, aren’t relevant for planting. Planting is probably a simplified version of the seeding task.