Canola: -- one canola cultivar particularly strikes my fancy,--Extend(sp)/Jensena?. (I'll get the name right later when it becomes a more viable option.) This cultivar is a canola/mustard combination that does well with warm temperatures. It holds flower up to 105 degrees. It matches yield with cooler temperatures, and yields upwards of 25% more in hot temperatures. It is very resistant to shatter. It bolts earlier than most. It doesn't branch out as much as other canola.
Compell, from Basin Organics, is proving to increase yields. This compost material is pelleted so that it can be mixed with grain or applied separately. It apparently can be liquified, and mixed with fertilizer.
AgZyme is another product that shows some promise as a yield enhancer.
Faba Beans hold Jill C.'s interest as an adaptable crop for our area. One caution she mentioned: don't raise another broadleaf crop immediately behind the Faba Bean crop. Broadleaf "weeds" will be problematic. Faba Beans appear to super charge the germination of broadleaf cultivars.
Dezi chickpeas is Jill C's preference over the Kabula for inclusion in a cover mix. They are very efficient P users. (I need more explanation on this) Currently, she stated, there is not a good inoculant for them.
Kenwa(sp) is another cultivar that Jill C. expresses interest in. It looks very much like lambsquarter. Looking down into the branch and/or flower base there is more of a purple color, and I think it aligns seed differently than lambsquarter.
Jill C. showed a new soil analyzing tool for the field. The Tracer, by Bruner, is a hand held photon gun that can be used to analyze soil elements. The device tends to show more of each element than laboratory tests. In the lab, the extraction process is difficult. She, in cooperation with others, is developing a calibration chart that will give meaning to the readings. The gun will give readings from soil cores, or small plastic bags of soil placed on a platform attached to the end of the gun. We all have small areas that do much better, or worse, than most of the field. This may be a tool that could track down the "why's'. This is a very expensive device, so the average operation will probably have to hire a service.
Solvita Soil Life Test Kit was demonstrated. This kit can be purchased through Woods End Research. This is a good test if you can wait 24 hrs for results. Instead of using disturbed soil, Jill C. placed the paddle in the soil near a crop row and placed the cup over the paddle to the recommended depth, marked on the cup. Mark the time on the cup for reading at a later time. Moist soil should be used for this test.
A canola crop will provide a burst of respiration by soil animals,--not soil microbes. This burst of respiration indicates activity of those soil animals that will break down all residue. (I need more information about this. --> this crop may make it more difficult to maintain surface residue cover.)
[pic above] These fields did not have a lot of residue, --somewhere around 40-50% by USDA standards would be my guess. Jill C. is standing is in an area where a combine stopped, leaving the ground covered with residue. You can visualize the fan shape of the chaff and straw spread from the green color. Jill C. commented,--"don't let anyone tell you that residue doesn't save moisture".
[pic above] Difficult to see because of the computer in front; however, Jill C. is demonstrating the Tracer, in a cradle with it's attached platform and a sandwich bag of soil on the platform.
This was a very interesting tour, and one I will want to follow in the years to come. Rhizoterra is adding to the data base on no tillage agriculture and crops to include in a rotation. My only disappointment was that I expected more evidence and information on cover cropping. That does not appear to be an emphasis at Rhizoterra.
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