soil health on organic vegetable farms
TRANSCRIPT
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Soil Health on
Organic Vegetable Farms
Vern Grubinger
February 14, 2015
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Chemical
Physical Biological
Soil Health
You Know This
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What are some soil health
goals and ‘best practices’?
What range of approaches
are farmers are using
to implement those practices?
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Goals
Manage soil nutrients, pH
Maintain passive OM
Supply active OM
Maintain soil structure
Avoid compaction, erosion
Practices
Soil testing
Add soil amendments
Cover crop
Reduce tillage
Rotate crops
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soil tests pH
Plant nutrients: reserve or soluble
Soluble salts (electrical conductivity)
Nitrogen: NH-4, NO-3, mineralizable
Organic matter: active or passive
Biological activity
Compaction: surface or subsurface
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Colorimetric test for pH regular or wide range
~$20 including shipping
http://cnal.cals.cornell.edu/forms/phkit.html
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Field soil test – ‘reserve’ nutrients Labs use different extracts: Morgan, Bray, Mehlich, etc.
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Saturated media or potting soil test:
measures water-soluble nutrients
useful for managing tunnels and GH soils
(especially in combination with field soil test) $15-30 depending on lab
(similar tests are 1:2 dilution, leachate pour-through)
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University of Maine
long term high tunnel soil test
$22
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Cornell
Soil Health Test
$85
http://soilhealth.cals.
cornell.edu/extension/
test.htm
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• Particle size distribution and texture
• Wet aggregate stability
• Available water capacity
• Surface hardness (you do on farm)
• Subsurface hardness (you do on farm)
• Organic matter
• Active carbon
• Soil respiration - new in 2014
• Soil protein - new in 2014
• Root pathogen pressure
• Standard fertility test
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How much of what kind of fertilizers to apply?
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common organic fertilizers
N: dried blood, Chilean nitrate,
some seed meals: canola, peanut, soy
P: rock phosphate
bone char, bone meal
K: potassium sulfate, sul-po-mag,
greensand, wood ash
Ca: lime, gypsum
Mg: lime, sul-po-mag, epsom salts
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New England Extension
vegetable nutrient recommendations vary a lot by state make your best estimate…
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Rutgers Extension
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high
very high
over half Vermont vegetable fields tested high or very high in P
Maintaining OM and adding N without P
…a challenge for many farms
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On soils with ‘excessive’ P
1) Apply little or no compost, manure or
‘blended fertilizers’
2) Use legumes as primary source of N,
plus grasses to maintain soil OM
3) Use bagged fertilizer for N, K as
needed
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N-P-K fertilizers
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Approximate N-P-K
canola meal 5-1-1
Chilean nitrate 16-0-0
blood meal 12-0-0
feather meal 13-0-0
peanut meal 8-1-2
soybean meal 7-2-1
some organic options with relatively high N, low in P
cost per pound of N varies greatly!
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C:N Ratio affects PAN
Sample Name C:N ratio
soy meal 5.5
mustard meal 8.9
sun meal 15.2
canola meal 8.7
pro-gro 4.6
kreher's 5.8
blood meal 3.4
giroux's 14.4
moo doo 18.4
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0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 20 40 60 80
Pla
nt
Ava
ilab
le N
itro
gen
Sampling Day
Mustard Meal
clay
loam
6% N C:N = 8.9
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 20 40 60 80
Pla
nt
Ava
lab
le N
itro
gen
Sampling Day
Soy Meal
clay
loam
8% N C:N = 5.5
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 20 40 60 80
Pla
nt
Ava
ilab
le N
itro
gen
Sampling Day
Sunflower Meal
clay
loam
3% N C:N = 15.2
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
0 20 40 60 80
Pla
nt
Ava
ilab
le N
itro
gen
Sampling Day
Canola Meal
clay
loam
6% N C:N = 8.7
Seed meals released N steadily during incubation studies
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5-5-5 Custom @ $22 = N, P, and K $8.80/lb each
4-3-3 CheepCheep @ $18.50 = N, P, K $9.25/lb each
6-0-6 Custom @$27 = N, K $9/lb each
2.5-.5-2.2 Alfalfa Meal @ $28.50 = $22/lb N, $26/lb K
12-0-0 Blood Meal @t $77 = $13/lb N
8-1-0 Peanut Meal @$31.50 = $7.88/lb N
10-0-0 Pro-Booster @$31.50 = $6.30/lb N
7-1-2 Conventional Soymeal @ $17 = $4.86/lb N
0-0-51 Sulfate of Potash @ $51 = $2/lb K
0-0-22-11 Sul-Po-Mag @ $37 = $3.27/lb K
Cost per lb of nutrient (50 lb bags 2014 NOFA bulk order)
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cover crops
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Cover crop ‘systems’
• Winter and/or Spring Covers (Cool)
• Summer ‘Smother’ Crops (Warm)
• Year-Long Cover Crop (Fallow)
• Interseeding / Undersowing (Strips)
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winter rye is reliable, can be hard to kill
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winter-killed oats
Chapelle’s Potatoes
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Frost-seeded red clover
Wood’s Market Garden
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Canada field pea
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Mowed Sudax cover crop – fallow year
Gildrien Farm
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Buckwheat summer smother
My former Extension office field
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Sow thickly, grow for 30-40 days, mow at flowering
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Soybeans on 9/15, sown 5/15
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Cowpeas on 9/15, sown 5/15
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Sesbania on 9/15, sown 5/15
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Crotolaria on 9/15, sown 5/15
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Mixed species: Sudax plus red clover
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Fall-sown hairy vetch and rye
Lewis Creek Farm
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Spring-sown oats, peas turnips
Eveningsong Farm
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Strips: white clover between wide-spaced crops
Edgewater Farm
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Ryegrass between plasticulture vegetables
Riverberry Farm
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• Push drop spreader rides edge of plastic
• Seed annual ryegrass at 30 lb/A
• At $30 for 50 lb, cost is $18/A of plastic
• Key is sow early – cool, before weeds
• Use 1.2 mil or thicker plastic, for removal
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Mow with self-propelled
Echo/Bearcat string trimmer
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Strawberry Plasticulture
Darby Farm
• Dwarf ryegrass, 100 lb/A ~$1/lb
• Sow early after laying plastic
• Till or lightly rake in
• Mow or string trim
• Apply straw in second year
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mowing maturing rye to cover plastic mulch
Elderberry Pond Farm
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compost and manure ‘soil amendments’
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manure issues:
food safety, P content, weed seeds
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compost issues:
cost, N availability, P content, herbicide?
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make it or buy it – actual costs?
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Available vocal ingredients?
lake weeds, Foggy Bottom Farm
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Compaction and tillage
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sub-surface compaction is a common problem
usually at just under a foot deep
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subsoiler
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deep zone tiller
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organic weed management within and
between the rows is challenging in this system
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Yeoman’s plow
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reduced till organic pumpkins
Hudak Farm
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permanent wheel tracks
between rotovated strips
Blue Heron Farm, Lodi NY
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crop rotation
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Cash Crop Rotation
Cover Crop Rotation
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crop rotation guidance
Think cover crop/ vegetable alternation
Devote as much land to covers as possible.
Get a winter cover on everything
Create management units thoughtfully
Keep good records
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Three rotation
approaches…
…from real organic farms
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2 out 3 year rotation
• Year 1: vegetables; rye + vetch in fall.
• Year 2: plow rye + vetch early summer; bare summer fallow to control weeds;
oats + vetch in late summer.
• Year 3: plow oats + vetch in late spring; vegetables, oats + vetch in fall
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Alternating years: warm/cool
• Year 1: plow winter rye in late spring,
summer bare fallow*, oats + field peas in fall
• Year 2: disk oats + peas in early spring,
cool-season vegetable crops; winter rye
• Year 3: plow winter rye in early summer,
bare fallow*, rye + vetch in late summer
• Year 4: plow rye + vetch in late spring,
warm-season vegetables; winter rye
*or buckwheat, etc.
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2 years crops / 2 years covers
Year 1: Vegetables,
fall oats that winter-kill
Vegetables,
fall oats that winter-kill
Year 2: buckwheat in early summer;
rye and hairy vetch in fall
red clover and oats in spring,
mow oats at head formation
Year 3: plow rye/vetch in late spring;
summer bare fallow;
oats and field peas in fall
mow red clover 3 times
Year 4: disk winter-killed oats/peas;
Vegetables
plow clover in early spring;
Vegetables
perennial weeds present perennial weeds absent
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Roxbury Farm – 3 groups veggies, every other year
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Back Field - 2007Brassicas Cucurbits 1 Cucurbits
2
Roots Greens 3
4
Brassicas 5
Roots 6
Greens 7
Brassicas 8
9
10
11
Greens Roots 12
13
Solanums Flowers 14
15
Back Field - 2008Greens 1 Early Greens Fall Brassicas
2
3
4
Roots 5 Early Roots
6
7
8
Alliums Fall Cover Crop 9
10
11
12
13
Solanums Alliums 14
15F
all
Co
ver
Cro
p
Perennials
Solanums
Alliums
Brassicas
Roots
Greens
Cucurbits
Legumes
Willow Pond Farm – small plots, diversified crops
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Expert farmer advice: From Planning Guide to Organic Crop Rotations
• Do not have a ‘rigid’ rotation plan.
• Use knowledge of fields and crops, and
rules of thumb that are site specific.
• Have contingency plans, often focused
on what NOT to do.
• Have a clear sense of priorities.
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thank you
www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry