Lance Gunderson explains the science behind the Haney and PLFA soil health tests, and how to interpret test results. The Haney Soil Health Test measures the nutrient needs and overall health of your soil. It also evaluates soil health indicators such as soil respiration, the water-soluble fractions of organic carbon and organic nitrogen and the ratios between them. A soil health score is calculated based on a combination of these different soil health indicators, and a cover crop mix is recommended, to help you balance your C: N ratio to improve your soil health. The PLFA test provides a snapshot of your microbial community structure and abundance at the time of sampling. As environmental conditions such as pH, temperature, moisture, organic matter, and tillage change, so does your microbial community. You can use the ability of microbial communities to change rapidly as a tool to compare different management decisions, to see how your decisions affect soil health and fertility.
There are many situations where cover crops are a good idea, but there are many other situations where they are not. The complexities of each particular farm, farmer, their available resources and their goals make mandating cover crops everywhere a bad idea.
I don’t think any one practice should be a one size fits all best practice. I plant many different cover crops depending on what’s going in the bed after some chop and drop, some living mulch, some tilled in for biomass. I will always plant winter rye in the fall and chop and drop in the spring before planting melons and pumpkins mostly for the mulching purposes and after the harvest cover with a silage tarp. It all comes down to proper crop rotation on your bed and what you are trying to accomplish.
I am interested in how much water your system uses (Rainwater and city water combined ) per cubic meter of input. I am exploring static pile composters for use in greywater removal for tiny houses. The idea would be to exclude rainwater and substitute with greywater. Any help is appreciated.
The aerated static pile at Long's is not watered very frequently as it involves dragging hoses from a distance. I'm not sure how much water you can apply to the pile without an adverse effect. With greywater, one thing to be aware of is the additional phosphorous and nitrates that may be in greywater from soaps and other household chemicals. Applying greywater to a pile could add these nutrients to the compost, which may or may not be desirable.
200w solar powering a 500w portable battery. 3.2A/120V (standard plug) Blower plugged into Timer with battery backup. Portable LiFePO4 batteries have gotten cheaper and with better storage capacity even in the last year than when we got this one. MC4 (solar connectors) and MC4 to 8mm adapter (goes into battery generator).
Had the same question. I manage an active composting program for a large community garden. We don’t have power at our farm but want to incorporate ASP to our composting program. Thanks for sharing this info along with the video.
Love the focus on sunlight harvesting!! All new energy here on earth comes from our sun, and photosynthesis is the (people's) gateway to accessing free power!
I believe that is spelled correctly. Ray was a regenerative producer in North Carolina and is where Ray Archuleta (Ray the Soil Guy) was introduced to numerous different practices on the farm, that he went on to discuss as part of his teachings. I believe that Mr. Shires passed away a few years ago.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I am studying Natural Resources at Oregon State University with a minor in soil science. I am most likely going to be moving to the Denver area June 2024 and trying to learn more about the management of Colorado's soils.
It costs around $300 per prairie dog to trap and relocate them. Traps need to be opened, checked and closed daily. Trapped prairie dogs must be vaccinated for plague before moving to a new location, according to State regulations. Additionally, Colorado State law requires that you must receive approval from the receiving County's government to move prairie dogs across County lines in Colorado.
This video is the most comprehensive explanation for the use of cover crop, no tillage methods I've ever seen. Thank you so much, Dale!! You are awesome for your expertise and explanation of saving the planet. I also practice deep mulch, no till and some cover cropping in a half acre garden. We have cows which are rotated in paddocks, broadcast clover, and no medication. Our cows are too fat, and are very tasty. I'm still building up the garden with leaves, wood chip paths, and all the mulch from grass, weeds, and compost from kitchen and chickens. I attribute the most of my garden success to some cover cropping, and wood chips, giving aeration and material breakdown of chips. I'm sure the microbiology is more pronounced because our plot gets better each year. Thanks again!
That will only last for so long. I frequently see geese repeatedly land on the same farm fields the next day, yes some would likely be from different flocks but many seem to be from the same flocks. Having a longer term solution for wild geese could be dogs or laser systems that are designed to scare away birds.
@@Nightowl5454 In 40 + years, that's not been my experience. If by chance it's a major flyway, I think it's possible...Hunters are still the best option as a simple solution. Many are even willing to pay the landowners for the privilege to hunt private properties, another win win. Most states have very strict law's governing the 'harassment" of wildlife, especially federally controlled waterfowl.
@MTpockets Woodenickle yes, hunters can be a useful if they're smart and safe. The dairy farm where I grew up and worked on had many reckless, disrespectful and probably shouldn't ever be allowed to hunt anything because of the horrible choices they repeatedly make. For example shooting too close houses, 2 rifle bullets have landed inside nearby houses, bird shot landing in my backyard from a hunting that was shooting at ducks, hunters that repeatedly cut the farmer's fences, 1 used a tractor without permission to knockdown a tree that he wanted for firewood that he didn't have permission to take, they stole tools from the barn and gasoline from the personal pump he had for the farm. The list of bad stuff goes on and on, I'm sure there's stuff I haven't heard about either. It goes to show you can't trust just anyone on your property and the farmer had to stop letting people onto the property even though they were paying for the use of it because of the problems they would frequently cause. There was 1 guy that was very good at woodchuck hunting and would shoot them while sitting in his truck, he had very good aim and very rarely missed with his rifle, that guy was freely allowed to go shoot woodchucks where and when he wanted on the property.
