Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Steve Diver <steved@ipa.net>]

Hi Terry -

You also shared that you live in NE Oklahoma and the fields
are 5 to 20 acres in size.

But you didn't state what crops and rotations you plan to grow,
the type of equipment you have on hand, and other details
about your farming situation.   That sure would make your
options much clearer.

I'm from NE Oklahoma so I'm familiar with agriculture in the
region.

There is a way to control Johnson grass through non-chemical
approaches but it might take 2-3 growing seasons employing
an integrated approach using tillage and cover cropping, etc...   

Tillage is tricky.  The idea is to use shallow tillage to bring up 
rhizomes to dry them out, then repeat during short fallow
periods.  But these fallow periods are followed with cover 
cropping periods.  Cover cropping is geared to smother 
cropping and shading out the Johnson grass.  

By comparison to all this soil disruption and fallow tillage,
you can just spray the field with glyphosate a couple of
times in one growing season and really control the Johnson 
grass effectively, since glyphosate is a systemic herbicide.   
There are a few perennial grasses that are extremely difficult 
to control and Johnson grass is one of them.   It is known as 
a "pernicious, perennial weed." 

There is no way you can proceed with organic no-till on 20 
acres of land until you've reduced Johnson grass very 
significantly or eliminated the grass altogether. 

A geotextile weed barrier will definitely suppress and smother
out Johnson grass, but it would be limited to a market farm  
scale operation.  I can explain how to grow watermelons and 
cantaloupes very successfully on a half acre to one acre of land 
with weed barrier strips that are 30' x 300'.     

You can do this immediately on Johnson grass infested land and 
produce a nice melon crop while smothering and killing Johnson 
grass at the same time.  But the weed barrier is expensive at 
about $250 per 15' x 300' roll.  

You can also raise tomatoes, peppers, cut flowers, and squash
on the weed barrier.  These high-value crops can be sold at
farmers markets, stores, and roadside stands. 

Feel free to call me at ATTRA if you want to talk about your
farming situation in more detail. 

Steve Diver
Fayetteville, AR 



-----Original Message-----
>From: Terry Boyne <tboyne@email.com>
>Sent: Jul 14, 2006 1:36 PM
>To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
>Subject: [Livingontheland] A No Till Question for Larger Fields
>
>
>I have been following the no till discussion with interest but the question 
>comes to my mind of how would I manage no till on my family farm that has 
>been uncultivated now for over 20 years? The fields are full of johnson 
>grass and I'm trying to figure out how I'd create a no till farm in this 
>environment. Johnson grass is very aggressive.
>
>Any suggestions?
>
>Thanks,
>Terry