organic no-till establishment of hairy vetch as a cover crop into hay sod and sensitivity to carbon amendments

organic no-till establishment of hairy vetch as a cover crop into hay sod and sensitivity to carbon amendments

Summary

We are exploring woodash treatments and the factors that create conditions for success. To do this we are performing replicated trials with other high carbon amendments like biochar as well as separating out the liming and potassium sources by only applying lime and lime and K as well as compare that with a simple tillage plot. The intention of this project is increase the success rate of organic no-till practices and therefore increasing the adoption, effectiveness and geographic reach of the practices in New Hampshire.

It is clear, based on our experience that the success of organic no-till techniques are highly dependent on generating enough biomass from the covercrop. In the case of no-till establishment of the cover crop itself, the correct soil conditions are critical to enable the no-till vetch to out compete the sod and to also create enough biomass so that when crimped create a thick enough mulch to keep the sod from pushing through until the primary crop can help further shade out the between the rows.

The disadvantage of vetch is that it is more succulent than crops like rye and we have noticed that we need and especially heavy crop because the higher lignin crops like rye break down more slowly. Rye, however, doesn’t have the nitrogen benefit and does not “cap” over in the spring growing to smother and further weaken the sod before crimping. In our informal trials, we have also not been able to get rye to establish well into sod without tillage.

The replicated trial plots were planted in the first week of September 2011.

Objectives/Performance Targets

For this project we ended up doing 13 amendment treatments. The planting process and soil preparation was consistent across all the plots with the exception of one tillage plot in each of the four replications. The treatments were as follows:

a. no amendment
b. 1 ton wood ash
c 2 ton wood ash
d 4 ton woodash
e 8 ton woodash
f 1 ton biochar
g 2 ton biochar
h 1 ton lime only
i 1 ton lime & K
j tillage & no ammend
k 2 ton sawdust and fast lime
l 4 ton sawdust
m fast lime

These treatments will attempt to isolate the carbon, K and pH effect and compare it with the woodash, and also set an upper bound of the effect of woodash with up to an 8 ton treatment.

Accomplishments/Milestones

There are four primary stages in the project –
Stage 1) Planning and procurement of appropriate varieties and amendments
Stage 2) Plot layout, planting and treatments
Stage 3) Observation and data collection
Stage 4) Analysis reporting and outreach
Stage one: Planning and procurement of appropriate varieties and amendments

Stage one and two are complete, and stage three and four are under way with field tours, and photography of plots already started. Five UNH faculty, and two USDA and two farmer tours were conducted in the fall 2011. There was also a presentations of the project at the NH farm and Forest Expo in early February, and at Soil Health Workshops conducted in four counties in January. Additional field tours this spring along with data collection and analysis are the primary tasks ahead followed by dissemination of the analysis. Spring field tours will be critical in developing farmer dialog and much of the outreach and impact will be from first hand farmer to farmer observation of the results in the field.

Impacts and Contributions/Outcomes

This project has already shown the success of no-till oats and vetch into haysod, with substantial growth shown in plots especially with some of the amendment treatments. This provides an indication that the project will be successful in providing data for further analysis. Fall observations showed some initial variation between plots showing promise for variability based on treatment will show up when data is collected in June. Plots were photographed, three times in the fall and the plots were toured several times by UNH faculty, farmer and student groups.

Regardless of the data collected, the observational value of seeing no-till establishment of annuals into perennial sod has already had value in farmer to farmer and faculty discussions. It has also opened up new lines of inquiry, which will be expanded during the spring field days, which will also provide more dramatic observation than were possible in the fall growing season.

Collaborators: