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Recent Posts
- At last, the soil podcast is here! November 3, 2017
- Don’t count your weeds before they hatch: update on occultation vs. solarization for weed suppression in no-till cabbage August 24, 2016
- Tarps for killing cover crops: mid-project update June 22, 2016
- Trading tillage for tarps: an effective way to kill weeds and cover crops? May 26, 2016
- Phacelia is a bumble bee paradise July 8, 2015
- Cover crop mixtures: new factsheet May 25, 2015
- If you can see it, it’s too much May 13, 2015
- No-till transplanted onions in New England April 12, 2015
- Trying high-residue no-till on a budget March 19, 2015
- Maine is the first state to pay tribute to soils during the International Year of Soils March 12, 2015
- The website will go on, but this project is ending… March 9, 2015
- Under Cover: Rotational No-till and Mulching Systems for Organic Vegetable Farms in Germany February 2, 2015
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Category Archives: Soil temperature
Tarps for killing cover crops: mid-project update
UPDATE 8/24/16: Please see follow-up post on this experiment. Initially, the title of this post was “The answer is clear: solarization is outperforming occultation for killing cover crops.” At the time I originally wrote it, clear tarps were killing cover crops … Continue reading
Posted in Cover Crops, Equipment, Rye, Soil temperature, Vetch
Tagged solarization; occultation; tarps; roller-crimper
1 Comment
Under Cover: Rotational No-till and Mulching Systems for Organic Vegetable Farms in Germany
It sounds like there was a great turnout for Jan’s eOrganic webinar on the cut-and-carry mulch system he and his colleagues are using for organic vegetable production in Germany. My favorite quote: “You can completely screw up the system and … Continue reading
Posted in Cover Crops, Rye, Soil, Soil health, Soil moisture, Soil temperature, Vegetables, Vetch
Tagged cover crop economics, farm economics, high-residue cover crop, mulch, rotational no-till, silage mulch, under_cover
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When cover crops die
I awoke to very frosty fields this morning, as is expected this time of year in Maine. The basil died long ago, the peppers have been limping along through light frost after light frost until they finally died last night. … Continue reading
Posted in Cover Crops, Phacelia, Radish, Rye, Soil temperature, Vetch
Tagged frost tolerance, winterkill
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No-till vegetables in New England
If I had a dollar for every time someone told me no-till vegetables aren’t possible in New England, I’d be… well, I’d have about $5. Still, if I had a dollar for every time someone told me it is possible in New … Continue reading
Posted in Cover Crops, Nitrogen, Nutrient Cycling, Radish, Soil temperature, Vegetables
Tagged no-till vegetable production
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Two ingredient cover crop cocktails
Someone branded cover crop mixtures as “cocktails” and it has stuck. Even NRCS has adopted the “cocktail” label: Regardless of what they’re called, the new multi-species mixtures are very exciting, results are intriguing, and these cocktails are probably the cover cropping … Continue reading
Posted in Cover Crops, Nitrogen, Nutrient Cycling, Radish, Rye, Soil microbes, Soil moisture, Soil temperature, tomatoes, Vegetables, Vetch
Tagged cover crop cocktails, grass-legume, rye-vetch
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Sometimes, less is more when it comes to cover crop residue
Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow in Maryland, and fields are neither drying out nor warming up quickly. Unlike a living cover or mulch that prevent the soil from drying in spring, low-residue winterkilled cover crops can facilitate faster … Continue reading
Posted in Cover Crops, Phacelia, Radish, Soil moisture, Soil temperature, Vegetables
Tagged biodrilling, infiltration, low-residue cover crop, subsoil moisture
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Cover crops change everything.
There was a nice summary of Joel Gruver’s 12 ways to manage cover crops in Farm Futures. Joel has been working on cover cropping in the Midwest at Western Illinois University, but got his start in Maryland. One of his … Continue reading
Posted in Cover Crops, Nitrogen, Nutrient Cycling, Radish, Soil microbes, Soil moisture, Soil temperature, Vegetables
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