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[Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?
- From: "Glen Eco Farm" <glenecofarm AT planetcomm.net>
- To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?
- Date: Tue, 1 Apr 2008 23:20:18 -0400
I know this question has probably been asked
several times before on this list but i am too busy (lazy?) to go dig it out of
the archives so I am going to ask it again. Just what are certified
organic farmers doing to control quackgrass?
I've been spot spraying with glyphosate for a
number of years now and I may as well quit because it isn't working. The
stuff just keeps popping up all over the place. I lay out my crop ground
in alternating strips with grass so I can have a form of crop--noncrop rotation
and soil building with grass, legumes, and various perrenial weeds growing in
the non crop areas. I keep these areas mowed and rotate them back to crop
strips every couple of years.
I am resolving this year to try and be a better boy
by repenting of some of my past sins of using forbidden materials (even on a
limited basis) such as glysophate (aka Roundup), some salt based fertilizers
(side dressed or foliar sprayed), and some broad spectrum insecticides and
fungicides for the worst infestations. It's kind of like drinking
beer. One can easily justify drinking a little every now and then--after
all beer is not that high in alcohol and it won't hurt you if you don't overdo
it--right? Trouble is after awhile you find your self drinking more and
more. If you really want to play it safe
just stay away from the stuff!
Of course I can go out and diligently dig it up--or
cover it up with several layers of black plastic--yeah right!
It's really getting itself established in the current noncrop strips and is
going to be a real mess in a couple of years when I try to rotate it back to
crop strips. The only thing I know to try right now is to get a better
chisel plow, rip the hell out of the infested spots, and hope for another
drought this summer. If that doesn't work I guess the next thing will be
to look for another farm.
Marlin Burkholder
Shenandoah Valley
Virginia
|
-
[Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?,
Glen Eco Farm, 04/01/2008
-
Re: [Market-farming] Controlling quackgrass organically?,
Marcy, 04/02/2008
- Re: [Market-farming] Controlling quackgrass organically?, bcluton, 04/02/2008
- Re: [Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?, Pat Meadows, 04/02/2008
- <Possible follow-up(s)>
-
Re: [Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?,
STEVE GILMAN, 04/02/2008
-
Re: [Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?,
Shawnee Flowerfarmer, 04/02/2008
- Re: [Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?, Susan Houghton, 04/03/2008
-
Re: [Market-farming] Controling quackgrass organically?,
Shawnee Flowerfarmer, 04/02/2008
-
Re: [Market-farming] Controlling quackgrass organically?,
Marcy, 04/02/2008
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