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  • From: <sunnfarm AT netscape.com>
  • To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] no-till and farming with horses
  • Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 06:48:47 -0700

Back in the 1980's I grew 20 acres of pumpkins using various vegetative strips between rows. I experimented with grain rye, rye grass and legumes without herbicides. They all work if you don;t mind pumpkins buried in weeds. IMO, the idea looks better on paper than in real life. I found that perennial weeds like nutsedge and thistle love rye strips. So do velvet and jimson weed. I feel that with large vined varieties like Howden, finding a good cover between the very wide rows is a good idea. If I did it again I would try a living mulch of ryegrass. This grass does not compete and keeps weeds down better than the legumes. Today I only plant an acre and I mostly grow bush and semi vined varieties in an intensive fashion that grow on 6ft rows. I use conventional tillage and herbicides and get a very good yield. On a very small planting I would stick with clean cultivation...Bob.
Sunny Meadow Farm
Bridgeton, NJ.

--- jachambe AT gmail.com wrote:

From: John Chambers <jachambe AT gmail.com>
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] no-till and farming with horses
Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 17:23:47 -0500

Bill, do you have any more information on this production system?  We're looking to do pumpkins organically in central Illinois, and the rye/tilled-strip system is intriguing.
 
John 
Ridgeview Farm
Shelbyville, IL 
 
 
 
Message: 2
Date: Sat, 15 May 2010 09:23:56 -0500 (CDT)
From: Bill Shoemaker <wshoemak AT illinois.edu>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] no-till and farming with horses
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Message-ID: <20100515092356.CFB55487 AT expms6.cites.uiuc.edu">20100515092356.CFB55487 AT expms6.cites.uiuc.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
You need equipment that is really beefed up to handle the residue. Steve Groff in Pennsylvania is who you're referring to I believe. We've been using tilled strips in rye for cover cropped pumpkins. Then you can run a regular transplanter or seeder down the rows, use plastic mulch, etc. It really makes it easier but you still gain a lot from the rye mulch mat, including weed control, moisture retention, clean pumpkins and reduced fruit rot potential. Another big benefit is that PYO customers in the Fall can walk out onto the mulch to pick up fruit, even after a rain. We have a large grower in N Ill who has adopted the system and seems pretty happy with it.
Bill
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