Ulli Hack

CONF. MANAGER’S NOTE: this is an extremely technical and detailed description of a workshop program which we preserved from the 2010 Conference.  It was so comprehensive that we felt you would benefit from reading it again.  If you have any questions prior to attending this workshop in January, 2012 at the Guelph Conference, please contact Ulli Hack, at: uhackbd@bmts.com]

Ulli Hack and the family actively farm about 1000 acres of mixed crop land on the shores of Lake Huron. This ‘advanced’ workshop is a variation of others which Ulli previously presented at the Conference (see past Proceedings documents for those summaries).

Organic field crop rotations with high fertility & weed control (ADVANCED)
Managing good fertility and weed control are 2 key elements for a successful organic operation. But the challenge is also in achieving that. Soil life is the key. Soil life needs air, thus soil compaction needs to be avoided, as it can produce years of troubling weeds and reduced fertility caused by the acids of anaerobic fermentation in the soil. Also resulting is the reduced fertility caused by the death of fertility-producing soil life. Soil life also needs food. Some crops use up to 60% of their collected sunlight energy to feed the soil life. Some of the weeds only use 20% of their energy to feed the soil life. So, not all weeds make the soil more fertile. But the most important point is, if the soil is kept bare for an extended period, no entity feeds the soil life. So therefore, it is very important for the grower to keep things growing for the majority of the growing season. The clovers come in very handy in this respect, as their cost of underseeding is minimal compared to that of establishing a grain or brassica crop. Red clover leaves an especially nice soil structure and can add fertility for the next crop. A good crop rotation is the main key to achieving long term fertility – this rotation needs a minimum of 3 different crop years, but ‘more years’ is better. It should also include a rest period, which could be a period of hay or clover for seed. The rotation helps to break the disease cycle, which results in healthier plants and which can provide more food to the soil life. Often is heard the phrase that I can’t afford ‘not’ to grow soybeans 2 years in a row, while it is still permitted to do so. The grower usually ends up needing the crop from 2 years’ harvest, to make the same yield as we get with our system in one year. So it actually pays to rotate crops. Having cows on the farm allows us to have hayfields with the resulting manure, to compost and its resulting carrying back out on the land. That gives a very markèd boost in fertility in that particular field. Also, the weed control is much improved after a hayfield. It is also important to take full advantage of the growing season. Most crops only grow part of the season. Grains usually see the root dying off in July. That extra time left should be used by a green manure crop. Clover is by far our favourite, as it can be underseeded in spring and can start to ‘establish’ as soon as the shading from the grain diminishes. It is by far the cheapest green manure in that the cost of $10-20 per acre can be sufficient. Compare that with the relative cost of just one cultivation ($8-10). If undesirable weeds are in the underseeded clover, they can be cut, and only the clover will re-grow. Clover growth results in one of the nicest soil structures, which can give up to a 10 bushel yield increase in any following soybean crop. Another method to increase fertility is to grow a clover crop for an entire year. This method is more commonly used in the Canadian prairie provinces. In our case in Ontario, we grow the clover for seed, so it still brings an income, while the sales of organic material off that field are relatively minimal.

While the best and cheapest method of manuring a field is by grazing, composting is a necessity when the animals have to be winter-confined. Anaerobic fermentation (in the manure) should be avoided as much as possible. The acids from anaerobic fermentation stimulate certain weeds with the resultant extra vigorous growth.

Other fertility measures:
We use the principle of the ‘Closed Farm Organism’ – which simply means that the fertility created on the farm is used there. Excessive manure-use from bought-in manure can bring a very one-sided fertility, which can lead to a lot of vigorous weeds. However, extra manure may need to be brought in on depleted fields which are barely able to grow a decent green manure. The BioDynamic preparations, especially ‘Hornmanure 500′ and ‘barrel compost’ aid in increasing fertility. In tests, it was shown that the 500 helps build organic matter and humus content, thereby increasing fertility. They also help increase the resistance to disease, as they increase bacterial and fungal diversity in the soil and on the leaf, thus helping the crop to resist diseases better. The use of preparations 501 and 508 (Hornsilica and Equisetum) also help counteract disease – the 501 by increasing the sugar content in the sap (thus also increasing yield and quality) and the 508, being formulated to help prevent diseases in the very early stages. Another, ’507 Valerian,’ helps the plant deal with phosphorus and makes a plant able to grow as if more available phosphorus were actually present. It can be used in homeopathic (i.e. miniscule) quantities of 1 ml per acre and can be stirred and sprayed together with the 501. Cultivating, seeding and scuffling according to the appropriate time in the planting calendar (please inquire during the workshop as to the significance of this calendar) also adds to a yield increase. Keeping the soil loose by scuffling in row-crops also seems (in our experience) to add a bit in fertility.

Other weed control measures:
Seeding as close as possible to the ideal seeding time is recommended. Seeding too early means that the crop is germinating too slowly due to low soil temperature, but some of the cool season weeds still have ideal conditions. Ideally, the best organic seeding times are usually a bit later in spring than the time at which conventional farmers start and those same organic seeding times might be a bit earlier in fall. Good germination is a must, in order to be ahead of weeds, so packing the ground after seeding should be considered, if insufficient moisture is your particular problem. A late fall moldboard-plowed clover field gives our farm the best seedbed in the following spring. If it is chisel-plowed or disked in fall, there are substantially more weeds in spring. However, most of those weeds are not so hard to control with cultivation, so it may be slightly more weedy (in a given field situation), but still be manageable. The most effective harrowing is the ‘blind harrowing’ just shortly before the seeded crop breaks through the ground. It kills all the faster germinating weeds, which are barely visible but which are already through the ground – this happens effectively by pulling them out or covering them. That makes for the planted crop being the first to grow. The weather has to co-operate for blind harrowing because it has to be timed exactly. Later harrowing is mainly effective for weeds that are still in a very small stage. Scuffling is very effective to keep the area between the rows clean. It can be improved by setting the cultivator very close to the row, but that certainly requires more skill in the tractor driving capability. This effort can be helped with a front mount cultivator (loader mount is cheapest), or by using mirrors to see the row underneath the tractor, or alternatively, a guidance system. A late scuffling just before the green canopy closes makes it very hard for new weeds to deal with the competition. Quackgrass has less time to re-establish itself if plowing is delayed into early November. In spring, it helps to do 2 field passes within 24 hours, the first one more shallow and the second a bit deeper. That way, the quackgrass falls on dry soil in the second pass, which lets the hairroots of the quackgrass dry out quickly. Another important tool is that of using crop rotation by alternating crops according to their season (early or late season annual, biennial, and perennial). This helps in that none of the weeds can really take over, as their natural cycles are broken. Good composting helps encourage that acids from anaerobic fermentation do not encourage weeds. On our farm, we mainly spread compost in early September in the (underseeded) clover fields. That way the clover can shade the compost, and help build it into the soil while taking up all the water-soluble nutrients which otherwise would encourage weeds. So, we use the compost to feed the soil life rather then feeding this crop directly. The BioDynamic Preparations 502-507 applied in the compost help to keep weeds at their intended size, namely just large enough to keep propagating the seed, but not really big enough to compete with the crop.