Farming Chitchat 10/10- Now VIRUS-FREE!

Say my name

Lady Haywire wrote: »

Can you not see he's putting mangetout in it as well. Fecking blind so you are.

A mangey wha?

No it's the hole.
Boron deficiency.

mf240

Say my name wrote: »

What's the problem here and what would remedy it?

Cut the hole out.

Jim_11

Say my name wrote: »

A mangey wha?

No it's the hole.
Boron deficiency.

Speaking of boron deficiency, got soil samples back recently, all reasonably good except boron really low, permanent pasture, multi species mix just stitched in for the winter to boost om and improve soil condition. Any way to go about increasing it without fert or folier?

MickeyShtyles

mf240 wrote: »

Cut the hole out.

The hole stretches into the crown. I’ve tried this before.

Say my name

Jim_11 wrote: »

Speaking of boron deficiency, got soil samples back recently, all reasonably good except boron really low, permanent pasture, multi species mix just stitched in for the winter to boost om and improve soil condition. Any way to go about increasing it without fert or folier?

Without fertilizer or foliar?

Slurry or dung or compost then. It'll be in that. But I've a feeling that it's a bit like the p and k. If it's not in the soil in high amounts it won't be in your slurry or dung or compost in high amounts. But there'll be some in it. And if you can build up the organic matter it won't leach away as readily as it would with low organic matter in the soil.

There is a northern Irish company selling granules that are high in boron specifically for the organic farming side.
I was at an organic veg walk a while ago and their soil was low in boron like mine and they used this boron fertilizer from this company on their broccoli.

I can't for the life of me think of the name of the company though.

That sobac stuff probably would have some in it. From what I see from their press releases it's a pelleted compost innoculated with various fungi. It's more so the introduced fungi spores that are supposed to bring the soil benefits. But there'll be some boron in the carrier compost.

Seaweed pelleted fertilizer would have it too. But I doubt you'd get any in agricultural quantities.

Crushed basalt rockdust would have a bit in it too if there were any quarries local to you. But you'd have to careful and only spread mafic basalt as the felsic type is high aluminium which you don't really want if growing forage. Fine for fruit trees.

whelan2

How long after spreading lime can I let cows back on the fields?

whelan2

Friday the 13th and a full moon....

patsy_mccabe

Skidoo Charolais Dispersal sale this saturday;

https://twitter.com/EGAuctioneers/status/1172281504526999552

Reggie.

whelan2 wrote: »

Friday the 13th and a full moon....

The protest thread will be interesting today so

tanko

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Skidoo Charolais Dispersal sale this saturday;

https://twitter.com/EGAuctioneers/status/1172281504526999552

Yet another farm converting to dairying.
I remember SBL being used here in the late 80's/early 90's.

patsy_mccabe

tanko wrote: »

Yet another farm converting to dairying.
I remember SBL being used here in the late 80's/early 90's.

There could be a few bargains there considering the current climate.

grassroot1

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

Skidoo Charolais Dispersal sale this saturday;

https://twitter.com/EGAuctioneers/status/1172281504526999552

Please help our friend to beat his addiction of purchasing pedigree cattle.
Do not sell cattle to this man for his own sake.

tanko

grassroot1 wrote: »

Please help our friend to beat his addiction of purchasing pedigree cattle.
Do not sell cattle to this man for his own sake.

They're the wrong colour and too far away for Patsy.

patsy_mccabe

grassroot1 wrote: »

Please help our friend to beat his addiction of purchasing pedigree cattle.
Do not sell cattle to this man for his own sake.

....Wrong colour for me. If it was nearer, I might go for a look, but that's it.

patsy_mccabe

tanko wrote: »

They're the wrong colour and too far away for Patsy.

Ha, great minds think alike.

davidk1394

I'm not sure if this link was shared here earlier. But I think it’s a brilliant ad.

https://www.facebook.com/175111382597502/posts/2220897458018874?sfns=mo

Water John

Well yesterday was, Aisling Day.
https://www.thejournal.ie/oh-my-god-what-a-complete-aisling-easons-aisling-day-4806540-Sep2019/

Good idea though, engage the wider community.

Castlekeeper

Say my name wrote: »

Jim_11 wrote: »

Speaking of boron deficiency, got soil samples back recently, all reasonably good except boron really low, permanent pasture, multi species mix just stitched in for the winter to boost om and improve soil condition. Any way to go about increasing it without fert or folier?

Without fertilizer or foliar?

Slurry or dung or compost then. It'll be in that. But I've a feeling that it's a bit like the p and k. If it's not in the soil in high amounts it won't be in your slurry or dung or compost in high amounts. But there'll be some in it. And if you can build up the organic matter it won't leach away as readily as it would with low organic matter in the soil.

There is a northern Irish company selling granules that are high in boron specifically for the organic farming side.
I was at an organic veg walk a while ago and their soil was low in boron like mine and they used this boron fertilizer from this company on their broccoli.

I can't for the life of me think of the name of the company though.

That sobac stuff probably would have some in it. From what I see from their press releases it's a pelleted compost innoculated with various fungi. It's more so the introduced fungi spores that are supposed to bring the soil benefits. But there'll be some boron in the carrier compost.

Seaweed pelleted fertilizer would have it too. But I doubt you'd get any in agricultural quantities.

Crushed basalt rockdust would have a bit in it too if there were any quarries local to you. But you'd have to careful and only spread mafic basalt as the felsic type is high aluminium which you don't really want if growing forage. Fine for fruit trees.

New gen agri

Say my name

Castlekeeper wrote: »

New gen agri

Yea that's the company.

http://newgenagri.com/product/nts-stabilised-boron-granules/

Castlekeeper

Say my name wrote: »

Castlekeeper wrote: »

New gen agri

Yea that's the company.

http://newgenagri.com/product/nts-stabilised-boron-granules/

Also I've been told that nettles can accumulate/synthesise Boron as well, I've no direct the knowledge on this but maybe the nettles on the dungheap weren't all bad!

Say my name

Castlekeeper wrote: »

Also I've been told that nettles can accumulate/synthesise Boron as well, I've no direct the knowledge on this but maybe the nettles on the dungheap weren't all bad!

Any plant that has roots in the soil will take a certain amount of boron up. The same as any other nutrient in the soil.

As long as you're not spreading the seeds with your dungspreader.

I had a bunch of nettles and docks here earlier in the year which I added to the slatted tank for the milking parlour. Nutrient wise I couldn't tell you.
But when on the slurry tanking I'd put the pipe through this bit of crust and take the water below it. I'd just let back in an odd few load just to mix it slightly now and again. I'm also putting any grass mowings off the gardens into the tank and same thing use water below. There'd be no dog dirt in this though.

Any organic material fertilizer is always going to be better than the synthetic. As you'll have the full range of nutrients all plant available straightaway and food for soil life too which means more carbon in your soil which means more drought resistant land.

Jim_11

Say my name wrote: »

Without fertilizer or foliar?

Slurry or dung or compost then. It'll be in that. But I've a feeling that it's a bit like the p and k. If it's not in the soil in high amounts it won't be in your slurry or dung or compost in high amounts. But there'll be some in it. And if you can build up the organic matter it won't leach away as readily as it would with low organic matter in the soil.

There is a northern Irish company selling granules that are high in boron specifically for the organic farming side.
I was at an organic veg walk a while ago and their soil was low in boron like mine and they used this boron fertilizer from this company on their broccoli.

I can't for the life of me think of the name of the company though.

That sobac stuff probably would have some in it. From what I see from their press releases it's a pelleted compost innoculated with various fungi. It's more so the introduced fungi spores that are supposed to bring the soil benefits. But there'll be some boron in the carrier compost.

Seaweed pelleted fertilizer would have it too. But I doubt you'd get any in agricultural quantities.

Crushed basalt rockdust would have a bit in it too if there were any quarries local to you. But you'd have to careful and only spread mafic basalt as the felsic type is high aluminium which you don't really want if growing forage. Fine for fruit trees.

Cheers, trying to cut out chemical fertiliser, not going to happen over night but slowly wean the land off it. No slurry here to be able to use sobac, all dung, a good year to make dung with the straw prices

Are foliars counter intuitive to soil biology like synthetic fertilisers are?

I’ve seen you mention basalt dust before, a huge amount of trace elements in it (like seawater in that sense) would you spread it like lime, 1-2 ton/acre, I think Roadstone in Arklow is a basalt quarry iirc

patsy_mccabe

https://twitter.com/cctv_idiots/status/1172576697998295041

Buford T. Justice XIX

Ready for a few loads of cement on Monday now:)

Say my name

Jim_11 wrote: »

Cheers, trying to cut out chemical fertiliser, not going to happen over night but slowly wean the land off it. No slurry here to be able to use sobac, all dung, a good year to make dung with the straw prices

Are foliars counter intuitive to soil biology like synthetic fertilisers are?

I’ve seen you mention basalt dust before, a huge amount of trace elements in it (like seawater in that sense) would you spread it like lime, 1-2 ton/acre, I think Roadstone in Arklow is a basalt quarry iirc

There's a sobac pelleted fertilizer made from compost with what looks like being inoculated with fungi. Some poster's on here claim some success with it.

I wouldn't really buy into foliars being harmful to soil biology. If you were using natural products like seaweed juice and molasses, you'll have a good amount that'll reach the soil anyway and it'll definitely feed the biology.

Yea roadstone arklow is a basalt pit. And I reckon the real good stuff too. 1 or 2 ton to the acre would be no problem at all and probably would be a good figure at which just to try it. Maybe you might be lucky but when I contacted them a few years ago and I told them my plans they just never called me back. It's sold as quarry dust. I think theirs is 4mm to zero.
If you did get it though you'd get a bigger bang for your buck by mixing the basalt into your dungheap and let the microbes in the dung do their thing on the dust and then spread the whole lot together later on.

https://twitter.com/REMIN_rockdust/status/1171445169574445057?s=20


You're dead right though to bring the boron up in your soil. If you bring the boron up, the less nitrogen you'll need to apply. And also dead right to slowly make the change on cutting back fert.
I think though you'll have to be bringing something back onto the farm to compensate for nutrients leaving the farm whether it be going with more straw in the future or bringing in woodchip or bought meal etc.

Keep us informed how the multispecies crop goes on.

Edit :Just thinking about the multispecies crop just being established. I'd seriously consider putting out a fert now with a bit of p and k and n and boron. It'd be the same as anyone sowing beet. The boron in the conventional fert will do no harm to soil biology.

whelan2

Buford T. Justice VI wrote: »

Ready for a few loads of cement on Monday now:)

Do you have to order the concrete far in advance?

Castlekeeper

No, I'm talking about the ability of different plants to bio-accumulate or actually synthesise particular nutrients from minute quantities or even from other elements, and thus become a source of this nutrient which is scarce to non-existent in the soil.

Castlekeeper

Jim_11 wrote: »

Say my name wrote: »

Without fertilizer or foliar?

Slurry or dung or compost then. It'll be in that. But I've a feeling that it's a bit like the p and k. If it's not in the soil in high amounts it won't be in your slurry or dung or compost in high amounts. But there'll be some in it. And if you can build up the organic matter it won't leach away as readily as it would with low organic matter in the soil.

There is a northern Irish company selling granules that are high in boron specifically for the organic farming side.
I was at an organic veg walk a while ago and their soil was low in boron like mine and they used this boron fertilizer from this company on their broccoli.

I can't for the life of me think of the name of the company though.

That sobac stuff probably would have some in it. From what I see from their press releases it's a pelleted compost innoculated with various fungi. It's more so the introduced fungi spores that are supposed to bring the soil benefits. But there'll be some boron in the carrier compost.

Seaweed pelleted fertilizer would have it too. But I doubt you'd get any in agricultural quantities.

Crushed basalt rockdust would have a bit in it too if there were any quarries local to you. But you'd have to careful and only spread mafic basalt as the felsic type is high aluminium which you don't really want if growing forage. Fine for fruit trees.

Cheers, trying to cut out chemical fertiliser, not going to happen over night but slowly wean the land off it. No slurry here to be able to use sobac, all dung, a good year to make dung with the straw prices

Are foliars counter intuitive to soil biology like synthetic fertilisers are?

I’ve seen you mention basalt dust before, a huge amount of trace elements in it (like seawater in that sense) would you spread it like lime, 1-2 ton/acre, I think Roadstone in Arklow is a basalt quarry iirc

Sobac powder can be added to the dung heap or the bedding over the winter. Pellets can be spread through a fertiliser spreader but are more expensive.
Foliars are recommended all proponents of biological agriculture and horticulture so I doubt that they're harmful especially in their diluted and buffered tank mixes.
You can put out the basalt with a lime spreader and it will break down over time with weathering and biology.

Base price

I'm really surprised that there is feck all discussion about the knackery strike on F&F considering that as livestock farmers we totally depend on their service. I bet if we fast forwarded the clock to March 2020 it would make the headlines.

https://www.agriland.ie/farming-news/3000-dead-cattle-left-in-fields-and-yards-aca/

Say my name

Castlekeeper wrote: »

You can put out the basalt with a lime spreader and it will break down over time with weathering and biology.

You're preaching to the choir here.
The best result I got for spread basalt was spread on a field and dung spread on top.

That's why I say better bang for your buck by mixing it in your dungheap and using that heat and those microbes. They go well together.
And I ain't alone in that thinking.
https://m.facebook.com/story/graphql_permalink/?graphql_id=UzpfSTExMjYyNzE3MDc0Njg1Mzg6MTQ4NjEzODY1ODE0ODUwNg%3D%3D

All the early studies of using basalt was as an amendment to tropical soils and it did well because of those warm damp conditions.

If a thing works better in a certain way, then do it in a certain way.