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Water Hemp & Palmer Amaranth
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Deaner
Posted 3/25/2018 15:02 (#6664658 - in reply to #6662842)
Subject: RE: Water Hemp & Palmer Amaranth


Northern Ohio
Rotating crops that get planted and harvested in various times of the year help break the weed cycles. For example winter wheat planted in the fall allows for some fall tillage that helps germinate spring weed seed that will die from frost therefore eliminating that seed in the seed bank. When a hay crop gets cut during the summer, weeds get cut also. Many weeds, especially annuals that grow with corn and beans can't survive being cut so they are eliminated.
Tillage done in the spring, preparing for spring crops, is often done early, then weeds germinate and tillage is done again to eliminate them. This can often be done a few times before a crop is planted. This delay can cause a reduction in yield, something not all farmers are willing to do every year.
Using cover crops to build soil and nutrients can help with loss of soil from tillage. As the ground builds in tilth from crop rotation and cover crops the ground is held together and is less likely to erode. The better the tilth the better the ground can handle tillage and adverse conditions such as working ground slightly too wet or harvesting when the ground is too wet. Compaction can cause grasses to germinate, so working ground to wet can cause compaction and grass problems. This will be worse on ground with poor tilth and lower live organic matter.
Many weeds grow at there best in certain conditions such as lack of, or too much of certain nutrients. Many have seen examples of this but may not make the connections. Velvet weed, or button weed, likes to grow where there has been hog manure applied. Some weeds like a low PH, some like a high PH. Some like areas where there is excess organic matter that isn't breaking down properly, i.e. Gypson weed growing around an area that had a grain spill or growing around bale feeders where there is more food for the microbes than they can eat.
I think there is more to organic farming than most people think, both conventional and organic farmers. There is a lot to learn. Not everybody is good at it, just like not everybody is good at conventional farming.
No system is perfect and we still have our disasters even after 25 years, such as constant rain during cultivating season. I can say the same for conventional farming with herbicide resistance weeds, and herbicide volatility.
So may a different approach to your weed problems might help. Learn about them, find out how/why they grow. Maybe they can be handled differently than the current approach.
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