Sorry Ken, but this is "dry land
farming". No water available drip or otherwise.
Without water, no growing.
Well Ken, I've been
growing veggies "dry land" for years. It's just not
organic.
Sorry, can't bring "organic matter"
in. Nothing available that I know of. What did you have in
mind and where can I get it? Even if it were available, what would I
use to haul it in and if it were delivered, how would I spread it
out? You are in cotton country. Cotton burrs make
very poor compost but use it for mulch. Horse stables in the
area? Wonderful stuff and free. This just isn't the case. Cotton burs are
loaded with weed seeds. It makes a huge mess in the field unless
you use a lot of herbicide. I was going to compost
some burs earlier this year, since the gin is only a few miles
away, but COULD NOT get them to deliver any, no matter what
I offered to pay. They were only giving it out to the
people who either, gin at their facility or are part
owners.
Cow manure is
available if I take my tractor with a loader to the auction barns and
rent a truck to load it into. But manure has problems with seeds
too. It must be composted. Also, manure has a lot of salt
in it and will salt out your land very quickly. Besides, these
things are NOT organic. Cotton burs have all kinds of
chemicals in them. Manure does too. No organic burs or
manure I know of around here.
Don't know what I could grow for mulch
after the normal crop to leave until next year or what I could grow
before I plant earlier in the spring. Suggestions? Don't
forget, not water again? Nothing because of no
water. I am sure a lot of rain runs off the land but increasing
the organic matter will keep it there. My beds have 0 runoff
even if I leave a hose running all night or we get a downpour.
Guess that's the question, how can I
get organic matter into the soil to hold the water and increase
fertility? Even if I had some in a pile, how would I put it on
land and how do I spread it around?
Also, I can't use regular fertilizer for
the mulch crop, or the regular crop for that matter, so
what should I fertilize it with? I haven't found
organic fertilizer around here? Not sure how many tons per
acre it would take, but how would I get it here or spread that
around? Suggestions? I rarely
fertilizer. Have used cottonseed meal for N. No organic
CSM available anywhere. Ideally, use legumes for the cover
crop. I'd use non organic
cotton seed meal if I could find it in quantity at a reasonable
price. Any sorces you'd like to share? Legumes are nice,
but can't plant them early enough to mature before planting time and
can't plant them late enough to mature before cold weather.
Would have to take the field out of
production.
I've heard of knocking some things like
wheat or oats down for mulch, but again how do I knock it down and how
do I plant without buying a different kind of planter? That kind
of mulch will just pile up on a normal planter.
No-till row-crop planters, no-till vegetable planters, no-till
drills are available. Crimper or mower for knocking it
down. www.newfarm.org
It's only
money.
Hope you can answer some of these
questions. I'd love to grow organic. Have been looking for
a way to do the things you talk about for years. Water
you cannot do anything about. Bring in OM. I would use permanent
beds. 20% of the land would be in walkways and that saves 20% of
the water, seed, etc but yields will actually increase.
How do I go about that on
several acres. Any practical advice on how to manage permanent
beds on that scale? What's OM?
Thanks
TxBeeFarmer (Mark)
West Texas Zone
7b
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2008
7:43 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland]
Future Organic Farmers of America
|
Mark,
The principles are the same whether in a garden or a farm.
It is just a matter of scale. It can be done by hand or using
small tractor and equipment. People are doing it.
Use drip irrigation.
The solution to your soil problem is simple. Add organic
matter. Either grow it and leave it on top of the ground
or bring it in.
Ken
I'm not too far from you,
about 90 miles south. I'm a dry land farmer in cotton
country. I have been trying to work my way into organic
vegetable farming for around 7 years - and believe you
me, I have tried. The biggest problems I face are
equipment, material availability, and man power. Oh
sure I could grow a little postage stamp garden organically,
but to supply local stores and farmers' markets is a whole
nother ball park. Insects, weeds, soil fertility, and
the like all have to be managed somehow and if you can't find
what you need, at a reasonable price, whatcha gona do?
Small garden techniques just can't be used. I've tried
to get what I need to go organic and borders on
impossible. Maybe it's because I live on the ragged
fringes of civilization that makes it so hard. I'd love
to hear how you can grow more than a hand full of veggies
organically around here. I did notice that much of you
wording revolved around the prefix "mini".
Maybe that's what we need first, the materials to grow
more than a small plot. We need an organic farming
infrastructure first. You can't build much more than
a small wood shed without a strong
foundation.
My two cents.
TxBeeFarmer (Mark)
West
Texas Zone 7b
|
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