Adding Crop Task Reminders

VeggieCropper automatically creates planting, seeding, and potting up tasks for you. But what if you wanted to add more task reminders? This feature is available with our the Grow add-on.

You can schedule crop-specific tasks for each planting to show in Tasks.

A great place to start is with one or two bed prep/tillage tasks. These are easy to manage and will help keep your planting schedule on time. 

Each time a planting is added for this crop, these tasks will be scheduled in advance (using a negative 'weeks from' number) or after the planting date (with a positive 'weeks from' number). VeggieCropper uses the 'Weeks from field week' numbers to schedule the tasks for each of your plantings for this crop. 


To add schedule a task to appear for each planting of that crop:

  1. Goto a crop-specific page by selecting the crop on the Crops list (in the nav-bar)
  2. Click on the more dropdown next to the crop name and select Tasks
  3. Add or select a task you have previously added (for another crop) from the drop-down
  4. Enter the number of weeks from the field week, the week the crop goes into the ground  (DS or TP). For tillage tasks, this should be a negative number like -2. To schedule a task the week of planting use zero in 'Weeks from field week'.
  5. Click 'Save'

Note: Seeding, transplanting, and greenhouse tasks are already automatically created for each planting based on 'Crop > Details tab' information.

'Task name' -   Depending on the Crop, common tasks might include rototill, hand-weed, cultivate, prune, trellis, etc.  Tasks are fully customizable and can be added within the dropdown or go to 'More > Crop Tasks' to add, edit, or get more organized with categories and assigning a default crew member.  

'Wks from field date' - This is used to calculate the week the task will be scheduled for in relation to the 'Field week' that determines when each planting goes in the field. A negative number indicates how many weeks before you plant the crop in the field. Use zero to schedule a crop task for the same week as the 'Field week'. A positive number would be used for tasks that happen after planting (ie hand weeding).


How to Import Tasks from another Crop:

  1. Make sure you are in the Tasks tab for the Crop you want to work on.
  2. Click the 'Import tasks' button at the bottom of the page.
  3. Choose a Crop from in the  'Import tasks from' dropdown.
  4. All Tasks from the chosen Crop will automatically be imported and the form saved.

Q & A

How does VeggieCropper organize all of these tasks?

We estimate that there are well over 4000 field tasks to complete on a diversified vegetable farm each year! VeggieCropper gives you a list of “All” and “Current” tasks with some simple features to organize the tasks daily and assign crew members under 'Tasks > Current & All Tab'. Once you schedule a few plantings, you can see the tasks accumulate and you can start forgetting about them.

What if a crop is grown in with spring and fall timelines where weed pressure will differ, so less or more frequent weeding is needed?

Generally, we have found that the Tasks are very similar regardless of moderate weather variations. A key consideration is to make sure you are getting the weeds small and barely visible, VeggieCropper is good at reminding you to get them when you planned to. While weed pressure varies, the timelines to keep the fields clean and weed efficiently stay pretty consistent (with consistent-ish weather). 


Tips

Separating spring and fall plantings

We suggest creating a different crop when crop management differs. For example, spring and fall brassicas may require different row cover routines; create a “Broccoli – spring” and another “Broccoli - fall” crop that would appear in the crop list on the Crops page and could have a different list of field tasks and would have separate greenhouse timelines and details.  

Duplicating crop to save time and repetition

Try setting a crop up, you could call it 'direct large seed template', then set up the crop details and tasks that would be relevant to similar crops in then go to the Crops page in the navbar and duplicate the template crop. Then rename the 'Template Copy' and add your plantings, tweak the tasks and details as needed, and done! Time saved.

Setting up crop templates works well for crops with similar production methods like '3 row - transplant' crops that tend to have similar weeding schedules, methods, and crop details information.

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