Ok, so I have two spare minutes - which will rapidly disappear in weeds.
I have been doing all the typical things - weeding, seeding, cultivating,
harvesting, and going to markets, (and reducing the varmit population) the
same as most of the other farmers on this list.
Giving Tree Farm is 21 acres, 6 of it in vegetables of many kinds (over 50
different plant varieties this year), and 8 hoophouses. So we do nearly
year round production (mostly greens in the winter). Our markets are local
restaurants, East Lansing Food Coop, two farmer's markets and a small CSA.
I started pulling some potatoes and noted what I thought were alfalfa leaf
hoopers (could have been potato leaf hoopers, I really don't know enough
about the differences yet to identify exactly which it was).
This started me thinking that I also have made other observations, for
instance:
When I pulled quack grass, the soil was still moist, even though everything
else was dry as a bone....
I broadcast seeded rye at the same time I planted summer squash, and the
cucumber beetles didn't even attempt to work on those plants (even though
there was other winter squash about 50 feet away, planted earlier, that was
almost overtaken with squash beetles and cucumber beetles).
So my whole point is : most of us farmers make obeservations like this
daily, and then don't follow through with any action (sometimes I have time
to go look it up, other times I just can't), and by the time I have time to
look something up, I have forgotten what it was I wanted to know.
So, what if this list could maintain an archive, or a collection of
observations, and then either we would have a collection of solutions, or
maybe someone could put them together for research projects. ?
Whaddya think?
Susan Houghton
Giving Tree Farm
15433 Turner Road
Lansing MI 48906
517-482-8885
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