Soils

May 9, 2016 by M.Infante-Casella

Farm Calls:
Troubleshooting Stunting in a Strawberry Field

This week a grower called to report an area of stunted strawberry plants, first noticed after removal of the row covers in April. There may have been overwatering on occasion.

If you read the 2016 Commercial Vegetable Production Recommendations, you’ve seen the page, Diagnosing Vegetable Crop Problems (A27). Stepping through the diagnostic process with a grower is mutually satisfying – there’s nothing better than getting to the root of a problem so it can be minimized or avoided altogether in the future. The process involves tracing the history of the field and the development of the problem, then closely examining the soil and plants.

Field and Crop History

Our grower said that the field previously had summer cover crop, which was tilled under while green. A couple of weeks later, raised beds were made with plastic mulch applied. The strawberry plugs were set into the beds in late summer. The growth differences that caused him to call weren’t noticed until after the row covers were removed in April.

Plant growth differences in a strawberry field.

Our grower’s strawberry field.

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Filed Under: Articles, Farm Calls, Growing Crops, Soils

December 8, 2014 by J Rabin

Farm Calls: A Winter’s Tale of Two Fields

Last Friday night a leading Jersey vegetable grower asked, “What’s with all the recent media hype about cover crops? I’m getting ads, USDA NRCS promotions and trade magazine articles about something we already know all about.”

He’s not alone in holding this opinion – ag agents have come to similar conclusions. “We know about cover crops. Farmers know about cover crops. Cover crops have been researched, demonstrated, and their costs and benefits established for over a century. There’s nothing innovative for growers and nothing new to teach.”

The thing is, many growers haven’t adopted cover crops. For example, take the fields I came across while driving down to Friday’s meeting. Who can resist checking out other farmers’ fields while traveling, whether it’s your neighbor down the road or fields far from home? On this detour, there were hundreds of acres seeded with a cover crop mix of cereal rye and oilseed radish (AKA Tillage Radish). But, something caught my eye so I stopped to take a look.

Two fields on opposite sides of one road.

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Filed Under: Articles, Farm Calls, Growing Crops, Soils

December 1, 2014 by J Rabin

Selecting Summer Cover Crops

It’s tempting to cash crop every season, but eventually – especially on Coastal Plain soils – you’ll run into problems with disease pressure impacting yields. In addition, farming on Coastal Plain soils with their low level of organic matter makes using recommended herbicide label rates tricky; low organic matter results in a narrow window between efficacy and phytotoxicity, negatively affecting yields.

Cover crops can help remedy these problems. Summer cover crops are an option few Northeast growers use because there is only so much time in-season to cash crop, but it’s an option worth serious consideration. Summer cover crops add versatility to your cropping rotation – another chance to address weed and disease pressure plus build organic matter; another chance to boost future yields.

Don’t miss Cover Crop Field Day
Date: December 11, 2014
Location: Now or Never Farm, 37 Welisewitz Road, Ringoes, NJ
Host: USDA NRCS and North Jersey RC&D
Contact: For Information and RSVP (by Dec. 8) call USDA NRCS 908-782-4614×3

December 1, 2014 by J Rabin

Seven Years of Cover Crops in Rotations

A cover crop rotations study was conducted to determine if Coastal Plains soils could meet the challenge of cash cropping most seasons while also advancing soil organic matter and cation exchange capacity.

The rotations were Sudex-Rye-Soybean-Rye-Corn-Rye-Soybean-Wheat-Corn-Rye-Sudex-Wheat–Alfalfa. Soil organic matter remained unchanged the first three years but started to rise in year four. By year seven, soil organic matter had increased by 40 percent. Soil cation exchange capacity increased by 50 percent during the study period.