Grow Your Own Seeds

Ira Wallace and Cricket Rakitta of the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (SESE, www.southernexposure.com) in Louisa, VA offered a pre-conference seed-saving workshop, and also an informational session on regional sources for organic seed. SESE is one of nine partner organizations working with Carolina Farm Stewardship Association on a SARE-funded project, Saving Our Seeds. In addition to offering free workshops in February on Whole Farm Planning for Organic Seed Crop Production, the project conducted a grower survey to identify priority seed crops, and will assist 30 growers in producing organic seed this season, as a first step toward creating an organic seed producers network and a secure regional seed supply. (For more information, contact Ellen Gray, 919-542-2402, ellen@carolinafarmstewards.org).

Ira noted that the domination of the seed industry by a few large conglomerates has meant the loss of regionally adapted seed supplies. A growing number of small companies and networks, such as Fedco, Abundant Life and SESE are reversing this trend by creating a partnership of regional suppliers, rather than competing for wider markets. The germplasm is in the hands of farmers, not locked up in high-tech facilities, and this saved the day last year when Abundant Life suffered a devastating warehouse fire in 2003. The company could recover all their most important varieties by contacting farmers who were growing them out.

Cricket and Ira covered basic seed production principles and practices, and provided written materials on isolation distances, seed cleaning equipment, prices offered by several small seed companies, and web sources (they recommended www.growseed.org). "Good seed production requires better soil nutrition than good vegetable yields," Cricket noted. Sufficient humus, phosphorus (P), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg) and micronutrients; and correct pH (6.6-6.9) and Ca-Mg balance are essential. Repeated use of dolomitic lime can upset the soil's Ca-Mg balance. Good pest control is also essential. For example, beans must mature for 45 days beyond the "snap bean" stage for seed production, and must not suffer heavy bean beetle damage during this time. Drying the seed is another critical stage. Seed should be dried as quickly as possible in a cool dry room with a wooden floor, since cement floors tend to exude humidity and promote mold growth. The presenters also covered isolation distances and minimum populations for various crops, roguing, seed cleaning and storage; and went into greater depth on tomato and bean seed production. For more information, contact Ira Wallace (ira@southernexposure.com, 540-894-0595).

Grow Your Own Bugs ­ Beneficial Insects and Microorganisms

Insect bio-control consultant Dr. Richard McDonald discussed the multiple functions of farmscape plantings, a mixture of flowering annuals and perennials that provide food (nectar and pollen) for beneficial insects from spring through fall, and overwintering habitat. With good farmscaping, a farm can grow much of its own pest control. After giving examples of biological management of several pests, Richard emphasized that "the key component is the food plant. A well fed parasitic wasp will lay 500 high-quality eggs, whereas a poorly fed one will lay only 50 eggs of low vigor."

In addition to feeding and sheltering natural enemies of pests, some farmscape plants will attract certain pests as well - which can be advantageous. Richard recommends surrounding a production field with a perimeter farmscape planting that includes a trap crop (example: mustards attract harlequin bug and brassica flea beetle). This way, the grower can spot and soap-spray or remove a pest before it invades the cash crop. When clover or vetch attracts aphids early in spring, however, Richard says, "don't spray! Those aphids become food that attracts lady beetles and other predators, which then eat pests in your cash crop at critical times."

For larger fields, Richard recommends farmscaping the perimeter and narrow strips across the fields at intervals determined by the dispersal range of the main beneficial insects you want to attract. Ground beetles and lady beetles do not move very far, and strips every 50 feet may be needed. Small parasitic wasps may forage up to ¼ mile, while larger wasps and hover flies can range even further.

In scouting fields, Richard looks for evidence of beneficial insect activity (eaten or parasitized pests or pest eggs, and cast-off pupal shells, as well as the beneficials themselves). Beneficial activity on one plant out of four generally indicates sufficient biological pest control. For more information on farmscaping, scouting and biological pest control for different crops, visit www.drmcbug.com.

On the microscopic level, Dr. Jerzy Nowak of Virginia Tech described the important role of rhizosphere micro-organisms in plant health (for more, see Practical Tools and Solutions for Sustaining Family Farms, report on the 2004 SSAWG Conference at www.newfarm.org). Steve Diver of ATTRA discussed compost teas and other biologically active extracts that can be applied to crop foliage, soil, or compostable organic residues. The teas and extracts provide soluble nutrients, bio-active substances that promote crop growth or protect crops from disease, and beneficial microbes.

Steve described two kinds of compost tea, non-aerated (compost and water mixed at 1:5 ratio in a bucket or barrel, and fermented 7-21 days), and actively aerated (compost, molasses and/or other microbial food and water, brewed 12-24 hours under continuous aeration in a homemade or commercial brewer). Compost teas have given good crop yield responses, reduced disease, and helped restore worn-out soils, and are therefore used on one of the largest vegetable farms in California. Unfortunately, current USDA organic standards regulate compost teas as "raw manure," unless derived from all-vegetable matter or tested E. coli-free. Steve is serving on a task force to resolve this issue and propose changes in the regulation. Meanwhile, Industrial Microbial Labs (423-476-7717; www.industrialmicro.com) offers E. coli tests on compost tea at $15 per sample. For compost tea recipes and best management practices, visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/compost_tea/.

In a second session, Steve went "beyond compost tea" to discuss Effective Microorganisms (EM, a mixture of fermentative-anaerobic bacteria, actinomycetes and yeasts developed within the Nature Farming movement in Japan), and Indigenous Microorganisms (IM, a method of propagating beneficial microflora from on-farm sources, developed by the Korean Natural Farming movement). Steve noted that "anaerobic" is not necessarily detrimental, and that three main microbial processes exist. The aerobic processes include thermophilic composting, CMC, and actively aerated compost tea; fermentative anaerobic processes include EM as well as fermented foods like tempeh and sauerkraut; while putrefactive anaerobic processes support pathogens, generate ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and other stinky substances. The fermentative processes support beneficial microbes, not pathogens.

Commercially available EM concentrate ($18/qt) can be diluted at ¼ cup EM, ¼ cup molasses and 1 gallon water, and fermented 4-5 days without aeration until it reaches an acid pH of 3.5. This is further diluted 20 to 100 fold and can be used as a foliar feed, given to livestock (or even people!) as a probiotic, or applied to manure, food wastes or compost piles to control odors and promote a beneficial decomposition process. The use of EM on hog and poultry farms has reduced odors, improved animal health and significantly ameliorated environmental impacts of the effluents. For information and sources of EM, see www.emtrading.com, www.scdworld.com, or www.emrousa.org.

Korean natural farmers have cultured and used indigenous microorganisms (IM) from their soil since the 1960s. Boiled rice is placed in contact with forest soil or leaf mold (very rich in mycorrhizae) for one week, after which the rice (now full of IM) is mixed 1:1 with molasses, then diluted 20 fold and fermented for another week. Various recipes call for fermented fruit or plant juices, fish amino acids, brown rice vinegar, or indigenous herbs to be added, and different procedures for completing the process. Final products are diluted and applied to plant foliage, soil or composting materials. Steve also discussed fermented plant extracts, including biodynamic preparations, nettle and comfrey teas, and a series of complex recipes developed at the Auroville community in India to treat 64 different crop diseases and pests. For more information on these extracts, contact Steve Diver at 1-800-346-9140, steved@ncat.org, or visit www.attra.ncat.org.