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RE: Request for some practical tips.



Hi there,

Thanks for the good question.

>In Western Australia, Ron Watkins, a successful pastorlist and broadacre
>farmer, uses an organic method too. He allows the weeds to grow to protect
>the soil before he plants a crop, then he chips the weeds lightly to add
>them to the soil as green manure. Into the dying weeds he plants the crop.

My experience here in New Mexico has been very different from what April
mentioned, but I am a smale scale farmer. 
First of all there is here no such thing as dying weeds. 
Plants have very elaborate hormonal system. After being pooled or chopped,
many of them will mature their seed anyway, and reseed. (You can pool a few
and keep them for the experiment sake! Seed will be viable.)
Some will leave small or big pieces of their roots in the soil, which will
be enough to give them another chance. 
Some tall weeds (Pigweed) after being cut will immediately shoot new growth
very close to the ground and go to seed. Boy, they know how to survive indeed.

Presence of certain weeds also means luck or abundance of certain minerals
in the soil, certain irrigation practices, etc.

(You can check this information in "Weeds - Control without poisons" of
Charles Walters, Acres USA)

The miracle of life is very present - many seeds are waiting for their time
in the soil. One germinates, and immediately starts putting chemical toxins
in the soils to prevent other seeds from germination. Chopping, pulling,
mulching does not do any good, because there are more "dormant" weed seed in
the soil. Once you "clear" the space, next seed comes to life, since the
chemical balance in the soil changes slightly, and "signals" to other seeds
to wake up. This can repeat itself 4-5 times at least (New Mexico) so you
constantly have new growth.

>then planting directly in the weedy soil with a tall
>crop, taller than the weeds at harvest time. such as corn/maize, wheat,
>sorghum, etc
>then harvest HIGH not low on the ground, this leaves the weeds intact.
>*This method was used with great success by Robyn Tredwell, (Rural Woman of
>the Year Australia '96) She doesn't worry about contamination of seed as she
>has a seed sorting machine and uses any unwanted seed for fragile and
>exposed areas on her cattle station . She has begun selling seed of native
>grasses and pasture species to other farmers.

On the big scale it works better because you also plant greater amount of
seed pro acre/row (usually twice us much), so part of them survives
"chemical" competition with weeds. On the small scale losses can be
significant, if you plant as recommended 6"-8" apart. Some plants are
stronger in fighting, some, like corn&sorghum, may have delayed germination,
or poor germination in presence of weeds. The general rule here in NM is -
intensive weeding until your young plants (no matter annuals or perennial)
get well established, than you can just monitor the situation, and relax
completely after August 15.

My approach has been to look closely what conditions certain weeds prefer.
Originally what I've got was sandy soil, low nutrient content, no shade
(classic field!), high light saturation, strong wind in the spring, bare
soil between the plants (sometimes in the spring time when wind blows
non-stop for 1,5 month I even wonder why people even try to do anything in
such conditions!)

Weeds are not the plants we don't want. Weeds are the plants which have
better survival chance and thus take over, they are able to deal with very
poor conditions, and it's why they don't produce anything we "want" ( a lot
of what we want is succulent, rich in starch, sugars, vitamins, minerals and
so on). 

I try to develop a completely different approach on my 3/4 acre farm land,
which in my particular climate will provide my plants with following:

1. Cool soil - most our weeds tolerate or prefer high temperature in the
root zone. Most of desirable plants tolerate it not very well. Some die when
T in the root zone reaches something around F85 - don't remember the number
exactly...

2. Light shade - we have enormous light saturations in NM.   
I attend to plant tall light shade trees on the field, planning carefully so
if I ever will have to till again, I can fit the equipment on the field.
Even better if you have a good choice of none invasive nitrogen fixers (I
don't), so you also will bring "free" and rich green manure, biomass to your
land. In my case I use non-nitrogen fixing Honey Locust, the only
none-invasive, tall, fast growing, light shade tree in our climate. 

3. Humus 
Naturally humus won't build in the exposed, bare soil - not enough moisture
and bacterial activity, and all nutrients will be "baked" on the sun, , or
washed away. Light shade will help you to establish humus building process
as well.

3. Good windbreak - to keep top-soil from flying to next state, and to help
my plants keep moisture. (When the winds come to us we cannot replace water
loses by irrigation, so significant they are!)

4. No exposed soil - in our climate we use mixture of Red Strawberry Clover
"Salina"  and white dutch clover. They both are about 6-8" tall, one prefers
cool spring/fall wheather, another tolerates heat better, so in any
circumstances one of them is present and protects the soil (also gives it
shade, keeps moisture, etc). Planting tall nitrogen fixer as alfalfa, desert
grassland clover, and others 2-3' tall for one year can help to fight 90 %
of sun-loving weeds.

5. Extra Nutrients
We use flood irrigation, and try to slow water down a lot, so as it goes it
has enough time to deposit rich silt, so it does not build up at the end of
a row, but is evenly distributed and available.


Charles Walters states :

"BERMUDA GRASS WILL NOT GROW IN SHADE. SHALLOW PLOWING BEFORE THE GROUND
FREEZES IS THE REMEDY OF CHOICE"

Arina Moisinowitch-Pittman,
organic grower, sertified PC trainee




Scott & Arina Pittman

Permaculture Institute
PO Box 3702, Pojoaque, NM 87501  US
*********
Ingenio Patet Campus


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