The New Agriculture Network's on-line newsletter with seasonal advice for field crop and vegetable growers interested in organic agriculture.
Vol. 4, No. 8 - August 29, 2007 |
| In this issue |
 Compost mixed with lake sediment shows promise Reports from organic farmers |
Next issue will be posted September 11, 2007. Read previous issues through our calendar of issues.
Compost mixed with lake sediment shows promise
Duane Friend, Natural Resources Management Educator
University of Illinois Extension
Compost has long been used as a soil amendment. One of the limitations of using large amounts of compost, particularly with compost made from swine manure, is excessive nutrient loading. Mixing compost with another amendment, such as dried lake sediment, would lessen this concern.
Studies using just sediment (Darmondy, et. al.) have shown to improve soils and crop yield. Several water bodies, such as Peoria Lake and Lake Decatur in Illinois have sediment available, with an opportunity to use this material. However, little field research has been done in the area of mixing compost with dried lake sediments.
Research is being conducted on soil testing, heavy metal concentrations in the sediment, compost analysis, soil microbial activity, weekly soil moisture testing during the growing season, nitrogen plant use and yield.
Testing of the sediment revealed that heavy metal content were at or below normal soil concentrations. Microbial activity was not significantly different between plots, but extractible C, which can be used as a substrate for soil microbes, did show a slight increase in plots where compost and sediment were applied. Soil moisture readings averaged over 11 weeks shows a slight increase in amended plots. The most striking change, however, has been visual. Popcorn stalks in the amended plots have been significantly taller compared to control plots. In early July, the amended plots had stalks 10 to 20 inches taller compared to the controls. The plots will be harvested in early October, and soil tests will be taken again next spring. The study is planned to continue for at least another year. |
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| Compost/sediment amended plots have significantly taller stalks. |
Even at an early stage, the amended plots show vigorous growth. |
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| At tasselling, the control plots are still not as vigorous compared to the amended plots. | |
Indiana
Southeast Indiana, Decatur County – Gary Reding
It’s still hot and dry in southeast Indiana. We have had just one inch of rain for the month of August so far. We are very dry now and the popcorn is firing up almost to the ear. The kernels are turning gold on the ends so it seems to be ripening okay. Our pollination is mostly good, but some areas have blanks in some of the rows of kernels. The soybeans have been hanging in there for now, but I am sure the seed size will be smaller this year, thereby hurting yield.
We started feeding hay three weeks ago and we haven’t baled any since July. There is no re-growth since our last cutting. Hay is very short in our area and calls are coming in frequently for any kind of hay.
There haven’t been any insect issues in the fields to speak of and flies are not a big issue on the cattle this year either.
We started a new enterprise two weeks ago by bringing in 36 young female goats. I intend to graze them with the cattle to help eat any weeds the cattle do not eat. Thistles and multi-floral roses seem to be some of their favorites so far.
Lately we have been cleaning our popcorn and some organic wheat for a seed contract. This seems to keep us pretty busy. It appears the storage insects like this dry and hot weather. If you have grain stored in bins, you need to stay on top of the insect issues.
We are looking at some fall crop contracts for wheat and spelt. It looks like harvest may be a little premature so we should be able to get some of these in the ground this year. Hopefully we won’t have extreme wet following this dry spell.
Question
Does anyone know of a metering device for inducting DE into a flow of grain?
South Central Indiana, Brown County – Dale Rhoads
It has been very hot and dry. Salad greens production has basically quit due to seed germination issues and heat on mature crops. This is fine as we will plant even more for the fall and have a strong fall. Tomatoes have come and are going in a hurry this year. That too is fine as we will pull them out of the greenhouse and put in another crop for very late salad production. Our experiments with crimping rye for vegetable production has shown that it is not so good for us this year with squash, but has worked fine with corn and peppers. The corn and peppers only needed two weedings to keep weeds from coming to seed before crops were mature.
Currently we are fertilizing and planting winter cover crops on squash and corn areas that are finishing up and prepping the fall salad greens planting areas. We just moved our pump into deeper water in the pond.
Over the next two weeks we will start pulling tomatoes out. We will also plant fall salad greens where many beds are planted at the same time for holding in the cooler weather when they will not grow but are not yet frosted out. Please…we hope it is not an early winter on top of the cool spring and dry, hot summer.
IllinoisNorthern Illinois, Kane County – David Campbell of Lily Lake Organic Farm
No field work has been done in the past two weeks due to excessive rains in northern Illinois. A total of 15.3 inches of rain has fallen on my farm between July 26 and August 24 (the past four weeks). Many areas have received well over 20 inches of rain since early July.
The corn continues to look good, although yields will not be quite as good as I had once hoped. Some ear-tips are not filled out completely, and there are also ear-tips with aborted kernels. My guess is that the aborted kernels are primarily due to the very warm evening temperatures we’ve experienced during the month of August.
I will return to cutting hay this week, along with everyone else in northern Illinois and many parts of Wisconsin.
West Central Illinois, Fulton County – Anne Patterson of Living Earth FarmLast week we awoke each day to lightning in the distance with about two inches of rain scattered throughout the week. We were the lucky ones. This kept me out of the market garden for several days. We were working the ground today (August 28) as things have dried. The rainy days allowed us to complete the building of our homemade walk-in cooler in a corner of the barn. This will really help as we have been using two refrigerators and multiple coolers which needed daily upkeep, sorting, etc., all very time consuming.
We are transplanting fall crops: head lettuce, kale and kohlrabi. Now that it’s dry again we will direct seed salad greens, white turnips, Asian greens, arugula and spinach.
We continue to harvest potatoes, winter squash, black eyed peas, and the remaining tomatoes, eggplant, tomatillos, beans, lettuce, herbs and flowers for bouquets. Cantaloupe, eggplant and tomatoes have been the best I have ever grown.
Raised beds on the home garden site grown in summer cover crops have been mowed with the exception of cowpeas. These now need to be tilled in and winter cover crops must be planted in early September. One-half acre on our other property still needs to be mowed and plowed in before a winter cover crop is planted. We have irrigation to pull up and plots to be cleaned.
Over the next two weeks we will plant fall /early winter crops and winter cover crops, prepare new bed area for heritage raspberries, and get all of the potatoes and winter squash out of the fields. We still haven’t deer-proofed the home garden, and now we’re leaning toward Deer Off7 versus an electric fence set-up. We plan to take a few days off next week and get away.
QuestionsI’m curious to know how others build and sustain restaurant accounts. I have picked up a new one, but another one has not developed the way I hoped it would. I really enjoy selling to chefs.
West Suburban Chicago, Will County – Steve Tiwald of Green Earth Institute
The rain finally came. We’ve received eight inches on the farm since August 4, with 2.6 inches coming in the violent storms of August 23. This resulted in fields being saturated, including standing water (drained by the next day). The most apparent damage is in the tomato crop, where thousands of tomatoes have split due to the rapid onset of the water.
Our major activity continues to be ongoing harvesting for our CSA. Some of our 40 vegetable crops are cut-and-come-again, such as Swiss chard, kale, tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and summer squashes. Others are one-time harvest, but there are several sequential plantings, such as beets, carrots and lettuce. Still others are one-time harvest of a single planting, such as potatoes, onions, leeks and fennel. By now, all of these have been harvested. Among other things, we are now harvesting watermelons and winter squashes.
During the next two weeks we will be figuring out our winter cover crop plans and ordering the necessary seed. Our planting equipment is quite limited, so another challenge will be figuring out what method and equipment to use to plant the winter cover crop.
It is time to rotate fields since we are finishing our second year on the current field. We will plant on about 10 of the 24 acres on the west side of the farm, but we have to figure out which 10 acres, taking into account soil conditions, irrigation systems to be established and convenience.
IowaNorthwest Iowa, O’Brien County – Paul Mugge
I have received about 10 inches of rain since it started raining the last few days of July. I haven’t gotten any huge amounts at one time, however, so I have had no damage or runoff. The soybeans look pretty good, although there are still a lot of aphids, but I also have a lot of beneficials. The soybeans are about a month from harvest. The corn has suffered some damage and the ears are tipped back an inch or two. I fall seeded some alfalfa yesterday and it rained 0.45 inches today, so it should germinate pretty evenly and completely.
In the next two weeks I have a lot of weeds to chop or mow that came following the triticale harvest. I also have a lot of manure to haul to the compost windrow, but it will need to dry a lot for that to happen.
MichiganEast Michigan, Lapeer County – John Simmons
Continued rains have supplied enough moisture to finish crop growth. Corn has good color and most fields have completed pollination and are using the moisture for grain fill. Sunflower bloom is progressing to seed fill; flowers are starting to fade. Soybeans range from bloom to pod set. Hay re-growth has been accelerated by the recent moisture and prospects look good for a third cut. Current haying efforts have been hampered by rains. No insect problems have been identified lately. Buckwheat is in full bloom and starting to set seeds.
Over the next two weeks I will complete small grain harvest with oats, start harvest of clover seed and prepare fields for fall spelt/wheat planting.
Question
GMO alfalfa.
Western Minnesota, Lac qui Parle County—Carmen Fernholz
We in western Minnesota have been spared the heavy rains and, therefore, late summer activities are quite normal. We have received about three inches of rain over the past three weeks. The rain has significantly improved the soybean crop and certainly has aided the corn that was planted a bit later this spring.
Currently we are going to start the fourth cutting of hay before September 1. It appears this cutting should be better than the third cutting given the rain and cooler weather. I also have the winter wheat fields ready for seeding. I have the soybeans all walked and will wait until just before harvest to get any last broadleaf skips.
By the end of this week I hope to start seeding the winter wheat and finish up next week if the weather cooperates. I will also do last minute preparations on the combine preparing it for fall harvest.Information about permission to reprint or post our articles. Funding to initiate this network was provided by the American Farmland Trust and EPA Region 5. Web site hosted by the MSU IPM Program. Contact webmaster. |
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