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  • From: STEVE GILMAN <stevegilman AT verizon.net>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Managing ground between beds
  • Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:57:39 -0500

Hi Rachel and Bill,

As I responded to Rachel off list: The beds are 52" (rotovator width) and the sod biostrips are approx 2 tractor tires wide -- 14" tires x 2 = 28", wide enough to work in...

and Bill -- All perennial weed species should be clean out of the field first -- quack grass, Canadian thistle, etc. I first started off with a clean field, layed in the beds (with a tractor-rotovator) and basicially let whatever came in grow, mowing periodically. But in a wet spring it was hard to keep up with our typical northeastern hayfield grasses -- so I sowed hard red fescue, which goes fairly dormant in the summer and Dutch white clover as a legume that will tolerate treading -- tractor, wagons and feet. I'd allow the wild herbs/wildflowers that also came in to flower for a nectar/pollen food source for beneficials before mowing. I had problems with Queen Anne's lace being a vector for aster yellows near lettuce but in other areas it provided a wonderful food source for wild pollinators, as the tiny flowers fit their small mouthparts. The only problem species were any perennial weeds that spread by rhizomes -- mowing controlled everybody else...

best,
Steve


On Nov 15, 2007, at 12:07 PM, market-farming- request AT lists.ibiblio.org wrote:

Message: 9
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 10:54:20 -0600
From: "Bill Shoemaker" <wshoemak AT inil.com>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Managing ground between beds
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <002101c827a8$2eba9d30$59088b3f@STCHARLES>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original

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





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