Joel is the ticket, a wealth of information
5 Likes
The bird flu is still going around. They found a case in jackson last week. It doesn’t mean it isn’t overhyped. I noticed the news stations are overhyping stuff.
Alcohol causes cancer now even though there was a study in the 80s that came up with it.
I was thinking about the bird flu and the new ‘uncaged’ law, so there is now no way to isolate it or detect a chicken might have it without killing the whole flock and having to sterilize the whole barn. You used to be able to remove the cage with the infected chicken, and maybe a couple of the surrounding ones, then monitor how much other chickens were eating, and if they weren’t eating, remove those. And because prices went up, there is a higher likelyhood people will have them in their backyards and won’t pay much attention to them… Not sure killing thousands of birds because they might have the flu, isn’t more cruelty then leaving them in the cage.
4 Likes
I missed the no till discussion.
I have tested it in many shapes and forms and the short answer is, like all useable tools, its usefull but not applyable in any situation. I got a bit too marryed to the idea. I think a good combination of mostly no till and some clsssical farming is the winer.
9 Likes
Kristijan,
We have missed your wit and wisdom!
Hibernation completed? 
11 Likes
More like ranting and sputering 
but l missed the DOW family too 
11 Likes
Hi guys, got a question for you. 3 sisters method. Got any tips and tricks to share? I have tryed before but with limited sucsess.
For those not familiar, its a method of growing corn, beans and squash together in a simbiotic sistem.
I will be clearing a new feald when weather allows, about half an acre in size, best soil on on the property (thats why l cleared it last - trees and brush, turns out, like good soil too!). Some will be potatoes but the rest lm thinking 3 sisters. By the planting time l will have quite a bit of donkey manure (got 3 now) so l was thinking of hauling on “islands” of manure about say 5 feet wide and maybee 9 feet apart and plant in that. But lm open to suggestions
8 Likes
I have never done it. But this is a pretty good ‘getting started’ guide from Cornell.
I am still on the very shallow till, feed the microbes and they will feed you kick (and I don’t see that changing until I die because it works.)
4 Likes
I think 3 sisters was traditionally done in mounds about a meter in diameter. I would compost that manure and mix it about 25 percent with native soil and 20 per cent bio-char, but of course proportions are trial and error until you find the right combination for your area. I’m just using JADAM microbial solution for fertilizer now. I recommend it.
7 Likes
Gee. I like it so much when you guys talk dirty.
Especially when the results will be good eating.
S.U.
8 Likes
I did this a few years ago with sweetcorn - not field corn. Sweetcorn stalks are not as tall and strong as field corn and my pole beans grew taller than the corn stalks and started drooping down. The sweetcorn matured before the pole beans and then the stalks dried and hardened which supported the beans pretty good.
All in all it worked pretty good but I never tried it again because the squash ran all over my small garden and choked out other plants.
9 Likes
I’m otherwords it worked extremely well for you.
6 Likes
Tom,
Thank you for this “Lost” information. I have been looking at other presentations on the (link):
website. Lots of gems!
6 Likes
You are welcome Mike. After watching most of the videos on the site I bought the book from Amazon and it’s well worth the money. A lot easier to leaf through pages for information than watch hours of video. I think moving away from print media was another major loss for humans.
5 Likes
Thanks for the input guys.
Got a nother question. KNO3 stump remover. I know what its used for most of the time but strangely l have never seen it used as a stump remover did anyone ever try it on stumps?
Says it rots a stump in 6 weeks is that true?
3 Likes
Wake up, those of you in Indiana and PA. W.E.F. is coming. Watch the rezoning! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZu5vO7swWs
5 Likes
It has been sold here as a stump remover for a long time. I just drill holes and throw good forest soil on mine. I don’t care of it take 6 weeks or 6 months though. Once water gets in the microbes rot it. Free and easy always seems better to me for some reason.
They sell microbes for stump removal but if you have like septic tank microbe packs, I bet they would work too. I would be very surprised to find out they did’t have bacteria in them to break down cellulose and lignins. In fact, they might make a good microbe addition for something like JADAM.
4 Likes
Watched a video today monitoring the length of time seed starts do best under grow lights. 6-12-18-24 hours per day. For plants like tomatoes and peppers, very little difference between 12 and 18 hours. Brassicas seem to do slightly better with 18 hrs. Leafy crops were slightly fuller with 18 rather than 12 hrs. I have always run my lights 16 on 8 off and they have been fine. The plants in the test all did poorly with 6 hours and showed signs of stress with 24 hours.
9 Likes
The feald l mentioned is full of 2-5" stumps and lm not keen of either leting hevy machinery removing them or diging them out by hand. Was thinking if l just use stump remover to kill them and they can rot while the crop grows around it. Shuld be feeding the soil too as it breaks down, also the stump remover is actualy a fertiliser.
Will soil also kill it?
5 Likes
good question. I doubt it. I don’t know if stump remover actually kills it either. I thought they both essentially just rotted it out from the inside where the wood is already dead.
3 Likes
An old farmer told me pounding a penny in a stump kills it.
6 Likes