1-218-630-5531 Contact Us
Facing Your Fears

Facing Your Fears

by | Dec 13, 2016 | Weeds | 0 comments

Mustard plants were showing up in this oat field of a Pedogenesis customer in 2016. At our recommendation, the farmer treated the crop with a foliar feed of enhancing minerals that gave the crop more vigor to overcome the growing weeds.

Growing organic doesn’t have to mean lots of big weeds

Does making the switch to organic mean you are going to have to have fields overgrown with weeds? The picturesque weed-free field sometimes seems to be in sharp contrast to organic reality, but it doesn’t have to be. All soil has some weeds, but controlling the weeds is the key.

There is a saying that a “healthy soil has no weeds.” The control measures change when you when have an organic farm because you cannot use pesticides to control weeds. Tillage, rotation, and more importantly, balancing the soil, will change the environment so the weeds won’t like it anymore. Foxtail barley and thistles thrive in certain soil conditions because they like those conditions. Change the soil conditions and the weeds won’t like it there anymore.
Organic weed control tools are

  1. First, balance the soil and change the soil environment
  2. Use more tillage tools
  3. Plant in narrow rows, with a higher planting population with some crops
  4. Cultivate row crops and even use other tillage tools as the plant emerges and grows, such as rotary hoes or flex drags over the growing crop after emergence
  5. Use manual labor to clean crops with the highest return
  6. Apply weed-deterring minerals to growing crops.

The real key to weed determent is vigorous crop growth, especially after they have formed a canopy that shades the soil surface. We have worked with organic farmers who have had very successful efforts deterring weeds. Our Premium Growing System is designed to recondition your soil to create the ideal environment to feed your crops. With a vigorous crop, you won’t have to fear a field full of unsightly weeds.

What are your biggest weed frustrations or fears? Comment below.

Call or email us for more information.
1-218-630-5531 Contact Us

Can I make my pastures better?

Can I make my pastures better?

by | May 28, 2016 | Weeds | 0 comments

Many farmers and ranchers spend large amounts of dollars buying excellent livestock and then put them on pastures that receive no fertility amendments. When soil nutrition is compromised, the vigor and stand density of desirable forage species decline, allowing weed species to establish, as forage quality diminishes. Animals tend to graze species they find palatable while avoiding week species. Farmers with weed-dominated pastures need to increase the amount of hay or grain fed to pastured animals, thus increasing their operational costs.

In weed-dominated fields with low soil fertility levels, nutrition available to the animals may be compromised, necessitating the feeding of often expensive supplements to maintain optimum animal health. It seems that many who have livestock on pasture, make the assumption that because they have grown grass on their pastures it is unnecessary to do soil samples and amendments. This type of thinking can ultimately result in costly losses in terms of plant and animal health, and even needlessly limit potential grass production.

The more you rely on pasture as feed for your livestock, the more critical it is to know the actual fertility levels present there. Too many producers neglect the nutrients in the soil. You cannot properly manage what you do not correctly measure this is especially true for assuring correct pasture fertility levels for optimum growth and nutrition.

We can help you make sure that your pasture fertility levels reach their full potential for optimum growth and nutrition to protect your livestock, as well as save on the amount of supplemental feed you will need.

Call or email us for more information.
1-218-630-5531 Contact Us