Organic Grain Systems Trial. Soybeans [Spelt results start on page 7]

Transcription

1 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 1 Orgnic Grin s Tril Soyens 26 [Spelt results strt on pge 7] Soyens in 26 followed corn grown the previous yer. A mixture of rye nd spelt hd een undersown in the corn in systems 1, 3, nd 4 in lte Septemer. Other systems hd only corn stule over the winter. The winter covers were ushhogged on 21 April nd gypsum spred on system 1 nd 3 plots on 3 My. All systems except 4 were moldord plowed on 3 My. 3 plots were chisel plowed to depth of 13 inches on 18 My to further distur perennil weeds. All plots except system 4 were disced on 19 My nd hrrowed on 22 My. On 23 My, the system 4 plots were plnted to soyens with Kinze no-till plnter set up with ridge scrpers. On 24 My, the rest of the plots were hrrowed gin nd then seeded. The seed rte ws out 19, per cre nd the seed ws dry inoculted efore plnting. 5 received 153 l/a of fertilizer. The seed used ws group mturity vriety, Blue River F41. The plntings cme up well. Becuse of wet soil, we were not le to tineweed the plots t the optimum times or pply pre-emergence hericide in 5. s 1-3 were tineweeded ggressively on 15 June when the ens were 3-4 tll. 3 plots received second pss of the tineweeder in the opposite direction. The following dy, system 4 plots were cultivted with Brillion high residue cultivtor with hilling discs set to lightly move soil wy from the rows. s 1 nd 2 were cultivted with JD row-crop cultivtor with 5 sweeps per inter-row on 19 June ut then it rined. 3 ws cultivted with the sme setup 2 dys lter. The finl cultivtion ws done to systems 1 nd 2 on 7/6 nd the following dy on system 4 using Brillion cultivtor with 3 sweeps per inter-row nd disk hillers set to throw soil into the row. 3 received its finl cultivtion on 7/18 with elly-mounted cultivtor plus the Brillion with hilling discs removed. The cultivtor shovels next to the row were tipped strongly downwrd nd cocked towrd the row in n ttempt to distur weeds in the row. They rn out 4 deep, close to the row. The soyen plnts were 18" to 22" tll t this time nd rely llowed for the trctor tires. In system 5, we pplied on 3 July tnk mix of Clssic (9.4 g/a, Hrmony GT (2.4 g /A), nd Fusilde DX (.19 qtl/a) with.25% v/v of Induce djuvnt.

2 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 2 Soyen stnds over time, Plnts per 6' of row Smpling dte

3 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 3 Weed Biomss in Soyens 26 ABC--sttisticl differences, totl wxyz--differences, nnul rodlefs c--differences, rgweed Dry l per cre yz A Monocots Perennil Brodlefs Other Annul Brodlefs Rgweed x AB y B B B c zw c w c The group plnts dropped their leves y erly Septemer. Hrvest ws on 22 Sep due to wet fields. s 1, 2 nd 3 gve similr yields of out ushels per cre. s 4 nd 5 were lower t round 32 u/cre. 4 hd lrger percentge of plnts tken out with the cultivtor (equivlent to out 1.6 u/cre) nd lso, there were more low ens left on the plnts fter hrvest. This occurred ecuse the 2-row comine we used to hrvest 4 hd wheels tht rode on the side of the ridges nd mintining level cutting r ws difficult. 5 plnts ppered less thrifty thn the others through most of the seson nd my hve een dmged y the lte postemergence hericide ppliction they received. 5 lso hd more weed iomss thn the others. In the djoining field, no till group 1 Roundup Redy soyens yielded 51.9 ushels per cre.

4 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 4 26 Soyen Yield Bu/cre Percent of soyen plnts removed y cultivtor 6.% 5.% 4.% 3.% 2.% 1.%.% On 26 Sep the system 4 plots were scrped with ridge scrpers mounted on seprte toolr. 5 plots received rodcst ppliction of 198 l/cre of fertilizer. 1 nd 3 plots were moldord plowed on 9/27, then system 1 plots received 197 l/cre of n orgnic fertilizer with nlysis.

5 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 5 All plots except system 4 were disced nd hrrowed on 9 Oct. nd 2 nd 5 plots which hd not een plowed were disced twice. Then dehulled spelt ws drilled t 12 l/a. 4 plots were re-ridged with JD no-till cultivtor, then plnted t the sme rte with the grin drill set out 4 higher thn norml. A cultipcker ws then run over the system 4 plots. 3 plots were drilled with n dditionl 6 l/a of spelt seed the next dy Spelt stnds Novemer Plnts per cre A preliminry finncil nlysis ws done of the soyen crop in the vrious systems sed on NYCO estimtes for vrious field opertions nd other expenses. Also included were comprisons with the nery Roundup Redy field nd higher yield figure for system 5, s if it hd yielded t the sme rte s the neighoring field. Since this yer of the tril represents the second trnsition seson, conventionl prices were used. This shows net loss for ll systems, except system 2 which rely roke even. The iggest loss ws in conventionl soyens t 32 u/cre yield. If the conventionl ens hd yielded up to wht my hve een their potentil, they would hve een profitle. However, these finncil losses my e well worth while, s under orgnic prices ll orgnic systems were more profitle thn the est conventionl scenrio. It should e noted tht these reltive profit vlues hve some mening, ut tht they my not pply to rel frm opertion.

6 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 6 Conventionl Field Roundup Redy Yield (u) Lor Hours Income Growing Expenses Hrvest & Delivery Overhed Opertor Lor Net Income Soyen Economic Dt, per Acre Bsis. Soyen Price, $6.4/u Yield (u) Lor Hours Income Growing Expenses Hrvest & Delivery Overhed Opertor Lor Net Income Soyen Economic Dt, per Acre Bsis. Soyen Orgnic Price, $11.25/u.

7 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 7 Spelt 25-6 It ws very difficult to estlish spelt on this site in the fll of 25. After soyens were hrvested in lte Septemer, it rined for out month (on 18 of 31 dys in Octoer), nd the soil ecme sturted. At the very end of Octoer, without ny more tillge, we driled Oerkulmer spelt seed on the soil surfce with the grin 145 l/cre. 3 spelt ws seeded t hevier rte (25 l/cre) with the ide tht weeds would e etter suppressed tht wy. Fertilizer ws spred on the dy of plnting nd likewise left on the surfce to lech in. Fertilizer ws pplied to system 5 t pproximtely l/cre N-P2O5-K2O, nd with n pproved orgnic fertilizer on system 1 t l/cre. In spite of snow cover in Decemer, during n extended thw in Jnury the spelt hd visily grown to 3 tll. However, y spring it ppered tht significnt proportion of the spelt plnts hd died over winter. The living spelt ws mostly in strips where it ws protected y soil ridges left from cultivtion. The poorest stnd ws the conventionl, where the soil hd not een cultivted nd ws nerly flt. 3 hd the est stnd, due to oth ridges left fter previous soyen cultivtion nd higher seeding rte. Spelt Stnd, 4/2/ Stems per cre c c c 2 1 s 1 nd 5 were topdressed on April 26-28, received n pproved potssium sulfte product t rte of out 43 l/cre K2O plus 23.5 l/cre N s Chilen nitrte. 5 received out 28 l/cre N s mmonium nitrte. Totl nutrients pplied to system 1 in oth fll nd spring were nd to system 5,

8 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 8 Medium red clover ws frost seeded in systems 1, 2, nd 3 on Mrch 31 nd mde very good stnd. It grew while the spelt ws mturing. Common knowledge holds tht undersown clover hs little, if ny, effect on smll grin yield. Crimson clover ws rodcst over system 4 on April 19 nd performed poorly. It germinted in resonle numers, ut lmost completely died over the summer. Crimson clover is sid to e impeded y wet soils nd high ph, oth of which it experienced in the summer of 26 on this site. Overll, the spelt ecme significntly weedy y the end of the seson in ll systems. 5 ws spryed with 2, 4 D (Weedr 64,.75 pt/cre) ginst rodlef weeds on My 1. However, rgweed still produced considerle iomss. Perennil rodlef weeds were minor in this system. Rgweed ws lso the dominnt weed species in the orgnic plots, ut perennil rodlefs such s Cnd thistle nd perennil sowthistle were lso importnt. Dry Biomss t Spelt Hrvest, L per cre c c Weeds Clover Spelt grin Spelt strw 1

9 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 9 Spelt Weed Dry Biomss t Hrvest, 26 L per cre Monocots Other Brodlefs Rgweed 4 2 x xy xy xy y Mturity ws somewht delyed due to the lte plnting dte. At hrvest on August 6, systems 1, 3, nd 4, nd 5 were significntly higher thn system 2 y roughly fctor of 2. Fertilizer nd stnd count seemed to hve ig effect on yield. However, unfertilized system 4 yielded lmost s well s the fertilized system 1 even though it hd similr stnd. Yields in the etter systems were out third lower thn wht locl orgnic frmers usully get. Becuse of the weedy fields, high mounts of weed mtter in the hrvested spelt rised the moisture content nd would hve required extr clening nd drying for commercil frmer. Spring 26 Stnd Count (stems per cre) Yield (l/cre) Weed iomss (l/cre) Clover Biomss (l/cre) Tle 1. Spelt stnd nd hrvest dt Anlysis of the components of the spelt heds llows for insights into these yield numers. Stems from systems 1, 4 nd 5 hd lrger heds, with more spikelets nd lrger totl numer of grins thn those from system 3. Hed size in system 2 ws

10 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 1 intermedite. Fertilizer dded to systems 1 nd 5 ppered to llow them to compenste for their lower stnds. Even though system 3 hd the highest stnd count nd 1nd 5 the lowest, yields were similr. 2 with low stnd nd low fertility hd intermedite-sized heds nd yielded lowest. 4, which did not receive extr fertilizer, yielded with the top systems perhps prtilly ecuse it hd the second highest stnd. It is worth noting tht oth system 4 nd system 5 hd no clover competition which my hve helped it, contrry to usul experience. Spelt iomss t hrvest Comprison with NEON Dt 12 1 weeds clover spelt grin strw 8 l per cre Sys 1 Sys 2 Sys 3 Sys 4 Sys 5 Mrtens 22 Mrtens 23 Myer 22 Myer 23 It is useful to compre 26 s Tril performnce with dt collected from outstnding orgnic frms in pst yers. The NEON Project trcked severl spelt fields on two centrl NY orgnic frms in 22 nd 23 (verges given here). These frms were chosen s exemplry representtives y NEON reserchers with the dvice of NOFA-NY. Grin nd strw production were higher in these NEON frms in oth yers, while clover iomss t hrvest ws less. Weeds were similr on one frm nd lower on the other in oth yers. 22 ws n excellent yer for spelt in NY, while 23 ws

11 Orgnic Grin s Tril 26 results, pge 11 verge. Totl dry iomss production of 6,-1, l per cre over roughly two thirds of the growing seson shows high level of productivity. We mowed the red clover nd/or weeds in ll systems on Septemer 8, setting the mower t out 5 inches. The oject ws top ny rgweed nd to set the perennil weeds ck ut not hurt the clover too much, setting it up for strong regrowth. The clover did not grow well in the fll, however, nd nodultion on few smpled plnts ws wek. Clover iomss y lte fll ws similr to wht it hd een t the time of spelt hrvest, 3 months erlier. Note: clover in system 4 is crimson clover; tht in system 5 is volunteer red nd white clover. Clover Biomss fter Spelt, Dry l per cre Clover t Spelt Hrvest Clover in Lte Fll 5 Tke home lessons: We hd fir yields from most systems even though the spelt ws plnted under poor conditions Medium red clover estlished well Crimson clover did poorly Added fertility incresed yields A higher stnd without dded fertility lso resulted in improved yield Rgweed ws key weed in ll systems. Perennil weeds were minor in system 5 ut importnt in the orgnic systems Clover regrew wekly fter mowing; resons for this re uncler