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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 9, 2011 10:23:29 GMT -5
From Jo's facebook page:  I wouldn't worry about what the neighbors say, that looks like perfectly healthy corn to me. Corn has thrived for 99.9% of it's existence without 10-10-10 fertilizer. I have made the decision on my farm to grow without importing fertilizers. I intend to tap into energy flows (sunlight, bird droppings, pee, microorganisms) rather than using mined energy deposits (fossil fuel derived fertilizer). Part of my strategy for that is to grow land-race seed and save my seed from year to year, so that I am selecting for those plants that grow best in the conditions found in my garden. Part of my strategy is to use solar energy to grow my own fertilizer (nitrogen fixing legumes). I believe that because energy was so inexpensive in the past century it encouraged plant breeders to develop strains that were highly inbred and thus highly dependent for survival on fossil fuel derived fertilizers and pesticides. I don't think that fossil fuels and mined fertilizers will get any less expensive in the future. Also, if I buy a fertilizer it is taxed, and the taxes are used to oppress me. The fertilizer I make myself is not taxed. It's hailing here. Gotta go put my tomato seedlings under cover. |
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Post by steev on Jun 9, 2011 10:53:51 GMT -5
I import horsepoo from my neighbor's pasture; while I agree with the closed-system concept, my soil is so organic-deficient, itwould take a very long time to raise what it needs to be really productive. I certainly don't ever use industrial ferts.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 9, 2011 11:10:25 GMT -5
I import horsepoo from my neighbor's pasture; while I agree with the closed-system concept, my soil is so organic-deficient, it would take a very long time to raise what it needs to be really productive. I certainly don't ever use industrial ferts. If I hadn't been interrupted by the hail storm, (tomatoes look OK), I'd have written a more nuanced post regarding the differences I see between importing from the neighbors and importing from The Company. But now my reflective mood is broken so I'm going to dry off and warm up. |
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Post by spacecase0 on Jun 9, 2011 18:16:05 GMT -5
I think that the reason that native corn does so well,
and that the english crops and new corn are all so fragile
is that the native americans were horrible farmers,
so the seeds they ended up breeding were able to tollerate almost anything because that is what the plants got,
the english farming traditions they brought to america included how to be very careful with plants and how to keep them growing very well,
due to lack of torture the crops they had became fragile,
and they are working on making corn that way as well
I grow what works,
if think that I need fertilizer, I do crop rotation, or grow something else.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 9, 2011 18:24:45 GMT -5
LOL Joseph, that IS the neighbor's corn! LOL I'll let him know you think it's doing fine and dandy! ;o)
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Post by steev on Jun 9, 2011 19:50:56 GMT -5
Something to be said for benign neglect; the Indians raised dogs; the Europeans raised Pomeranians, Irish Setters, Great Danes, Yorkshire Terriers and such. Being a mutt of diverse ancestry myself, I've always been pretty healthy, even though I've never been taken to the vet. A narrow genepool is inherently unstable.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 9, 2011 21:54:04 GMT -5
LOL Joseph, that IS the neighbor's corn! Definitely over-fertilized.... Corn doesn't have any business being that dark green. |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 10, 2011 8:24:14 GMT -5
Thank you Joseph! =o) I feel the same way!
On a more serious note. Our drought continues and the corn has stories to tell about the situation. That lovely dark green corn is plagued with burned out areas. But, it tells only a single story because it is only one type of corn.
In our own little field, we have several different tales to tell because of the several different types of corn. The flour/feed corn is in very bad shape. The sweets are doing much better. The Astronomy Domini has tassled. The others are preparing to tassle.
I'm trying to get most of the garlic harvested today. But I'll be taking the camera out with the idea of photographing the corn from several different angles. I'll be interested to hear your collective thoughts on the results. I think it will be rather important as knowing how corn responds to the extreme conditions we are currently experiencing could help mitigate future issues. Particularly considering how many of us are experiencing record breaking weather conditions of various sorts.
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Post by seedywen on Jun 22, 2011 9:25:31 GMT -5
Myrows of corn, presprouted, and planted two/three weeks ago are two inches high. Unless the B.C. west coast gets a hot summer, the corn crop could be a bust. However the goats and cows will enjoy it. Maybe the neighbour's donkeys. Some years the neighbour has pulled out the corn stalks in the fall, when I travelled away in the winter and fed them to his donkeys. First the donkeys eat the leaves and stalks. Over the winter as rains gradually wash the soil off of the roots, they eat every bit of those, also. I usually end up placing the corn and sunflower stalks and roots after the goats eat the leaves in the holes carved by one hard-working border collie, running the fence lines. If the holes are filled with soil or even rocks, dollar to donuts, those holes will appear, by the same time next week!
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 22, 2011 9:37:33 GMT -5
Joseph, how did you get the Facebook photo to show up here? I've been trying to figure it out but I'm pulling chicken teeth. I've got potato pics up and I'd really like to put them here as well.
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Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Jun 22, 2011 11:48:21 GMT -5
Joseph, how did you get the Facebook photo to show up here? Downloaded it from facebook. Uploaded it to my web site. Posted a link to it on the forum inside [ img][ /img] tags (without the spaces) It can also be done from the firefox web browser by loading the page containing the picture and then clicking through: "Tools" "Page Info" "Media" and then browsing through the list of images until you find the one you want. Then copying and pasting the link inside img tags into this forum after converting https:// to http:// |
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Post by mnjrutherford on Jun 23, 2011 4:50:16 GMT -5
Wow, that's a lot. I'll have to play with it a little later. Thanks! =o)
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Post by ottawagardener on Jun 23, 2011 9:01:53 GMT -5
I'm in the same mind Joseph. I prefer to use what I have within limits. Afterall, who wouldn't want crops that essentially grow themself in soil that essentially keeps itself in good stead? I am happy to offer stewardship where needed - ie, taking out smothering weeds, pruning out disease, and well... peeing as Joseph mentioned, along with growing covercrops and shaping the land (so a lot) but I also expect a measure of independence from the plants!
P.S. Your landrace of shelling peas is beautiful. I had someone asking after a purple podded one.
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Post by steev on Jun 23, 2011 19:21:53 GMT -5
My farm is on land that suffered ~50 years of take-out with little or no put-back. I don't think it was very rich to start, but that half-century of extraction did it no good at all, zilch organic matter in the silty, yellow soil. So while I certainly won't buy chemical ferts, I glean organic matter whenever I can, knowing that even if all I do is spread it on, it's beneficial. I never drive to the farm without a load of something: horsepoo, rabbit bedding, leaves, whatever. Slowly I'm turning the soil into richer, friable, darker, water-retentive soil.
I'm still taking very little out, compared to what I put in, both because yields are not large and much of what I grow is still for seed increase, as well as just experimentation. It's slow progress, but progress it does and what else do I want to do?
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