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  • From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Managing ground between beds
  • Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:54:20 -0600

I enjoyed the article you referenced Steve. Sounds like you're long on experience with the system of biostrips. I'm curious if, other than Queen Ann's Lace, you've found other plant species which can cause problems for the system. Is the biostrip plant profile heavily weighted toward bluegrass, or another grass species, that dominates the biostrip?

Bill Shoemaker, Sr Research Specialist, Food Crops
University of Illinois - St Charles Horticulture Research Center
www.nres.uiuc.edu/faculty/directory/shoemaker_wh.html

----- Original Message ----- From: "STEVE GILMAN" <stevegilman AT verizon.net>
To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 9:41 AM
Subject: [Market-farming] Managing ground between beds


Hi Martin,

I never used much plastic but I got fed up with the waste of time
and energy keeping the pathways between beds weed-free. Years back, I
launched into a method that includes establishing "biostrips" --
green strips sown to dutch white clover, hard red fescue as well
allowing the natural field wildflowers (from dandelions to Queen
Annes Lace) to come in. They provide pollen/nectar sources and
protective habitat to breed up populations of beneficial omnivores so
they will be in place to take on pest species when they come along.
The sod-based biostrips also provide a below ground repository for
beneficial mycorrhizae fungi, whose extensive hyphae networks are
pipelines bringing far flung nutrients and water resources to the
crop plants. You need to cut the biostrips periodically, especially
in the Spring, and you can "mow and blow" the biomass into adjoining
beds for a no-handle mulch source. Biostrips help prevent erosion --
fully 1/3 of the field is in permanent cover and it gives harvesters
a muck free working area after heavy rains.

Here's a write up:
http://scnyat.cce.cornell.edu/vegfruit/articles/biostrip.htm

best,
Steve
On Nov 14, 2007, at 11:36 PM, market-farming-
request AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:43:45 -0500
From: "Glen Eco Farm" <glenecofarm AT planetcomm.net>
Subject: [Market-farming] Managing ground between plastic mulch rows
(was Rotor Tiller)
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <005401c82731$5841d7d0$837a0440@glen971c42bff0>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

While some of you are discussing equipment to till space between
plastic mulched rows I want to share some of my efforts manage this
space: Even if I have the right equipment I can only do limited
tillage between the rows anyway because some of my plastic mulched
crops are vine crops like squash and cucurbits that want to run
into this space.
a.. Spread corn gluten meal to suppress weeds (didn't work)
b.. Mulched with spoiled hay (works somewhat but is labor
intensive and I have to push it off on to someone else because of
my need to be careful with mold exposures)
c.. Let the weeds grow (you can get away with it but it is an
ugly mess I wouldn't recommend)
d.. Sow crimson clover after laying the mulch (Clover came up ok
but fizzled out with the arivval of hot weather and drought. Then
came the grass and weeds.)
Next year I'm thinking of planting something that will grow more
aggressively in hot weather, make a thicker ground cover, feed
nitrogen to the soil, and yield some crop to those who want them-- cowpeas. What do some of you think? Will it work? Has anyone
tried it? I'm not concerned about crop compitition for water and
nutrients because I have drip irrigation under the plastic, the
plastic keeps competing plants far enough away from the crop and I
am prepared to foliar feed if necessary.

Marlin Burkholder
Virginia zone 6

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