Weeds! Weeds! and More Weeds!!!

Hilltop Hanover Farm  and Environmental Center 

Lower Hudson C.R.A.F.T.

Tuesday, 27 Julio, 2010

Even with the privilege of having access to any piece of literature and just needing my finger tips to peruse the internet, there is still nothing more enlightening than picking the brain of the well-versed living. Head Farmer at Hilltop Hanover Farm, Maryellen Sheehan, is just a wealth of knowledge about farming. It is unfortunate that sometimes farming gets in the way of being able to tap into it, but none-the-less I am still learning.

Our workshop offered an abundance of information on the operations that make up HHF and our field management strategies. Like most CRAFT workshops the evening opened with a round-circle name share followed by an overview of the facility. Of course, it was quickly mentioned that we are Westchester County owned and at risk of losing our budget. Dressed in a “Corn Star” t-shirt, Maryellen encouraged the group to reach out to Westchester County legislators.

HHF property houses a school for home-schooled children Something Good in the World or “Earth School” for short, a Cornell Cooperative Extension Butterfly Garden, the regional Watershed Agricultural Council headquarters, and our working farm and environmental center.

The tour was quite similar to what we offer the general public. It started in front of the office building and barns, historic structures that need protection as such. We continued on to the Farm-at-Home Garden, a space that I have responsibility over this season. Then, walked about to the school’s backyard to find a 60 year-old Bald Cypress tree that had been planted by previous owners when ornamental conifers were trendy. Bordering the schoolchildren’s play area is the chicken coop, a living building with a green-roof covered with hardy desert plants and a soil-like medium. Even though it does not take much structural adjustment to create a living building, it does take proper ecological forethought. The building was originally facing a south slope for maximum solar input and as a defense against wind erosion, but the building has since been rotated and is now dying.

(Taking a pass beneath the brambling branches of the Bald Cypress)

We carried on to the greenhouses, two hoop structures. Being a public facility we are mandated to accept the lowest bid for every project, which plainly put is not analogous to the best work (hinting at our drainage problems). Still we are fortunate to have them to extend our growing season. We have also been housing some of our tomatoes in the greenhouses as one means of defense against Late Blight.

At this point in the tour Annie Farrell - remember the Guru Organic Farmer and as it turns out the mastermind behind the concept of Hilltop Hanover Farm - asked about Maryellen’s spraying regimen. Conventional tomato growers have a wide variety of fungicides to choose from; organic growers have only Copper-based fungicides. Copper residue can build up in soils and have a potentially toxic influence.

Maryellen has chosen to not yet spray any fungicides, but we have been applying a regular treatment of a foliar spray that coats the leaves with beneficial microbes. This specially designed blend comes from Lancaster Ag. If Late Blight does arrive in the area, we will then take up a regular spraying of Serenade every few days. Annie, on the other hand, is strictly a market garden and relies heavily on revenue from tomatoes to keep her operation viable. She has been spraying her tomatoes regularly from germination with an alternating treatment of OxiDate and Serenade.

(At our feet we discuss a clover ground cover)

Sharing the history (i.e. land-use and ownership) of Hilltop helped explain where we are today. First settled by Europeans in the 1750s Hilltop has since been under agricultural use with not much being given back to the land. The Underhills owned the property for a century and a half, and the myth is that the steel plow was first trialed on this property. In the recent century it was a prize winning dairy farm, and according to aerial photo imaging the fields were corn row after corn row year after year. Thus, today we deal with issues of compacted, easily erodible, and nutrient poor soils, which bring us to the role of weeds.

(Intern Michelle displaying Vevet Leaf)

Weeds are scorned in conventional mono-crop fields for disrupting aesthetics. It too is true that weeds can be quite bothersome in organic systems; however, we recognize weeds as a functional part of a farm’s ecology and indicators of soil health. There is a change in weed populations each year. In the ’08 growing season yellow nutsedge was dominant; in ’09 lamb’s quarters; and in the present ’10 season purslane. Purslane is an indicator of low organic matter and deficient active carbon levels. There is also a scatter of pigweed, plantain, bindweed, Canadian thistle, velvet leaf, amaranth, ragweed, dandelion… The list goes on.

(Thistle in the twilight)

Weed management is about timing. It is important to properly identify weed species, understand how they grow, when they go to seed, and how they propagate. For example, velvet leaf is a major pest even in conventional systems, especially in Midwest cornfields. The seed is viable for 50 years. Weeds should be cultivated before they go to seed, and dismembering the roots from the shoot is important to cut off the energy reserve that may allow the pant to re-establish later in the season or in following years. Weeds tell a story, thus learning how to read the story is important for weed management.

Maryellen recommended the following reading material:

• "Weeds of the Northeast"

by Richard Uva, Joseph Neal, and Joseph DiTomaso

• "Weeds and What They Tell" by Ehrenfried Pfeiffer

• "Weeds, Control without Poisons" by Charles Walters

• "Weeds" by Walter Muenscher