Lawn Watering - Using Soft Water for Irrigation

QUESTION What do I need to add to my lawn when watering with soft water and how often ANSWER We'll start by answering a couple of commonly asked question What is soft water and hard water Is it OK to water plants with softened water Hard water is water that is high in dissolved minerals -- specifically calcium (Ca2+ ) and magnesium (Mg2+ ) and sometimes iron (Fe) and manganese (Mn). Hard water reduces the effectiveness of soaps and detergents.

On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture

Vermiculture is the culture of earthworms. The goal is to continually increase the number of worms in order to obtain a sustainable harvest. The worms are either used to expand a vermicomposting operation or sold to customers who use them for the same or other purposes. Vermicomposting is the process by which worms are used to convert organic materials (usually wastes) into a humus-like material known as vermicompost.

How to Increase Your Farm's Efficiency with a One-Row Planter

A one row planter is an essential piece of equipment for small-scale farmers or gardening enthusiasts. The best one row planter should have a combination of efficiency, durability, and ease of use. Below are the key features to consider when choosing the perfect planter for your needs.

Top 7 Tools for Cutting Holes in Wood

The carpenter's brace is used for turning such tools as wood auger bits, twist drills, screw-driver bits, countersinks, and reamers. Braces are made either with or without the ratchet device. A ratchet brace makes it possible to bore holes where the handle cannot be turned a complete revolution. This type is also more convenient in boring in hardwood and in driving screws with a screw-driver bit.

Dog-Proof Your Lawn: Best Methods & Moth Ball Alternatives

Maintaining a pristine lawn can be a challenge, especially when dogs are constantly roaming and playing on it. It is important to explore safe and effective methods to keep them off the grass to protect your beautiful lawn. Below are some top strategies to consider.

Lawn Fertilizer Calculator

Use this fertilizer calculator to determine how much fertilizer is needed to cover your lawn according to recommended rates. The information needed is lawn area in square feet , the recommended rate of Nitrogen (lbs N 1000 sq ft), and the fertilizer analysis (or grade) of the fertilizer product that you want to use. To determine how much fertilizer to apply to your lawnMeasure the area of your lawn in square feet .

Best Wheel Hoe: A Gardener's Essential Tool

Gardening can be a labor-intensive hobby, but the Best Wheel Hoe has transformed the way we maintain our gardens, making it easier and more enjoyable than ever. This versatile and easy-to-use tool is designed to cover multiple tasks in the garden, making it a must-have for any avid gardener.

Mastering Curves: Top Tools for Cutting and Shaping Wood

When working with wood, cutting curves can be a challenging task. However, with the right tool, the process can be made simpler and more precise. The best tool for cutting curves in wood is a jigsaw. This versatile, easy-to-use power tool offers numerous benefits that make it a must-have for woodworkers of all skill levels.

Field Efficiency Definition

Field efficiency is usually used to evaluate the performance of tillage or harvesting machines. It is a comparison of the actual amount of work done by a machine compared to what it would do with no lost time or capacity. The maximum rate that a machine can perform is determined by the width of the machine and the speed of travel. When a machine operates with a constant width and travels at a constant speed, it will perform at 100 field efficiency.

Weed Management Objectives

The composition of weed communities should be shifted toward less aggressive, easier-to-manage species. Weed species differ in the amount of damage they inflict on crops and the degree of difficulty they impose on crop management and harvesting activities. Consequently, it is desirable to tip the balance of weed community composition from dominance by noxious species toward a preponderance of species that crops, livestock, and farmers can better tolerate.

The Safety of Microbial Enzymes Used in Food Processing

5.3 Safety Evaluation 5.4 Evaluating Protein Safety Microbial enzymes used in food processing are not pure substances. Rather, they are complex mixtures that include the desired enzyme as well as other metabolites generated by the production strain, in addition to intentionally added materials such as preservatives and stabilizers. Accordingly, safety evaluation of food enzyme preparations poses special challenges that are not typically encountered with other food ingredients. To address these...

The Pros and Cons of Subsidies

Given the central role of fiscal expenditures in agriculture, and the fact that many of them constitute subsidies to the sector, it is useful to develop guidelines to help decide when they are justified. One of the most universal justifications for a subsidy is poverty of the beneficiaries. However, before accepting this argument as a basis for programs and policies in the sector, it is necessary to ask how well the subsidies are targeted on poorer households.

Eradicating wild onions

QUESTION How do I get rid of wild onions in my lawn ANSWER Wild onions are hard to eradicate because they are perennials that sprout every year from bulbs and the thin leaves have a waxy layer that repels herbicides.The most eco-friendly way to try to get rid of them is to dig them. Use a 4 inch blade or thin hand trowel to cut a 3 inch circle around the wild onion plants - remove the core and fill with a divot mix - topsoil + seed.

Equations and Formulas

Equations and formulas are very similar problem-solving tools. Some texts study them separately, but in this section they will be combined. Equations are a way of showing the relationship between different variables in a problem and are usually derived as needed for each problem. Formulas are equations that are used frequently enough or are some how unique enough that they are remembered and used without a derivation. The solution to some problems requires the derivation of a mathematical...

Cover cropping with fall rye? Careful!

Cover crops are invaluable for controlling weeds, preventing soil erosion and preserving soil organic matter. Ideally, growers will vary cover crops from year to year to take advantage of different botanical characteristics such as rooting patterns, allelopathy and nitrogen fixation. Variety also helps thwart the establishment of certain weeds and pests. The hectic pace of the farming season, however, often means growers are scrambling to plant any crop at all by autumn.

Water Resources Conclusion

The number of groundwater wells in India has increased from less than 100,000 in 1960 to nearly 12 million in 2006. With clear signs of aquifer depletion and continued erratic rainfall, local communities as well as governments are turning to local water-harvesting and recharge structures on a massive scale.

Expert Reviews: The Best Spokeshave and Travisher for Woodworking

The devil and the travisher share the form of the wooden spokeshave. The devil has been around forever ever since we broke open that first stone and cut ourselves on the sharp edge. The chair maker's devil is a scraper in spokeshave form. As with any good scraper, it doesn't scrape as much as it shaves. The vertical iron is ground at 60 degrees and may be lightly turned to hook forward with a few strokes of a hard steel burnisher. In spite of its name, the chair maker's devil is a sweet-cutting...

Ecologically-Based Weed Management

Industrial agriculture is reliant on a ‘one big hammer’ approach to effective weed control. That hammer is, of course, herbicides. The closest organic equivalent to a herbicide mindset may be tillage. Tillage is not only diesel-intensive, but when used frequently or inappropriately, it can be devastating to soil structure and soil life. Herbicides and tillage both control weeds directly; because of this, they may be less effective when facing a wide array of weeds.

Where Has All The Phosphorus Gone?

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for crop growth. Studies from western Canada and around the world tell us that in many cases soil on organic farms is deficient in available P. Is this a serious problem, or are low levels simply a reflection of the way we measure P Cathy Welsh, a recent M. Sc. graduate from Department of Soil Science, Soil Ecology Laboratory at the University of Manitoba, devoted some of her research to this question. Working with Dr. Mario Tenuta, Welsh studied the size...

Corn Speedwell Veronica arvensis

Corn speedwell is a winter annual weed that is classified by herbicide manufacturers as hard to control . It is not usually found in thick, healthy lawns but can be a problem in thin, weak grass stands and newly seeded areas where it is capable of forming dense mats. The pictures below were taken in shady areas, under pine trees and on the outskirts of highly maintained park lawns. I have also found it overtaking neglected lawns, in landscape beds, and growing in sidewalk cracks.

Scrape alleys and open areas

Two kinds of manure scrapers are used to clean alleys (fig. 10-3). A mechanical scraper is dedicated to a given alley. It is propelled using electrical drives attached by cables or chains. The drive units are often Figure 10-2 Diversion of clean water around feedlot Figure 10-3 Scrape alley used in dairy barns used to power two mechanical scrapers that are traveling in opposite directions in parallel alleys in an oscillating manner. Some mechanical scrapers are in alleys under slatted floors. A...

Functions Of Monk As Water Control Device In Fish Ponds

Prawns Pond Outlet System

D bund landfill volume, compensated (f 1.43, where f expansion factor for loose soil). E number of hours of Caterpillar tractor use (86 HP) needed for construction. F number of hours of scraper tractor + number of hours of Caterpillar tractor needed for construction. Key a collection point b transport channel c flow distribution. Key a collection point b transport channel c flow distribution. anchor blocks), with at least one fixing for every pipe section (typically 6 m). Special care should be...

Broodstock management

Management of broodstock normally encompasses those practices associated with typical pond production in grow-out ponds. However, in temperate climates, broodstock must be either imported or maintained in an indoor brood-stock holding facility. Because of the length of time these prawns must be overwintered, broodstock must be properly managed to ensure their health and survival. In the future, as efforts are made to domesticate and genetically improve M. rosenbergii, holding broodstock will...

Stratification

Stratification is one of the most widely used techniques in finite population sampling. Strata are disjoint subdivisions of a population U , and the union of the strata coincides with the universe U Uk iUi, Uh n Ui 0, h i e 1, , H . Each group contains a portion of the sample. Many business surveys employ stratified sampling procedures where simple random sampling without replacement is performed within each stratum see, for example Sigman and Monsour (1995) and, for farm surveys, Vogel (1995)....

What Is Terminator Technology and Why Was It Created

Terminator technology, as its name suggests, was coined not by proponents but by a Canadian activist, Pat Mooney, from an organization then known as Rural Advancement Foundation International,3 who was seeking to direct negative publicity towards it. In this he was highly successful. Terminator first came to Mooney's attention in 1998 when he saw an announcement that a patent had been granted jointly to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Delta and Pine Land, a major US...

Design considerations

Concretemanure Waste Storage Facillity

Solid waste storage ponds and structures must be designed correctly to ensure desired performance and safety. Considerations include materials selection, control of runoff and seepage, necessary storage capacity, and proper design of structural components, such as sidewalls, floors, and roofs. The primary materials used in constructing timber structures for solids storage are pressure-treated or rot-resistant wood and reinforced concrete. These materials are suitable for long-term exposure to...

Fabric or plastic? Choosing row cover

Fabric, or plastic That's one of the most common questions that I receive about growing through the winter. Inquiring gardeners want to know which is better My experience has shown that a single best cover for low tunnels doesn't really exist rather it varies depending on what is being grown, and even the lifestyle of the grower.

Effects on the Environment

World Population Density Race

The most direct desired effect of perennial polyculture farming is to address many of the environmental problems that are evident in today's annual monoculture approach. These include soil erosion and degradation, water depletion, and water contamination from fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. In thinking about replacing current annual, monoculture farming with perennial polyculture farming, it is important to understand what areas of the world are currently under cultivation. Figure 2...

Description ofSystems

Curve Patch Clamp Rvest

The practice of surface irrigation is ancient and is used on more than 90 of the world's irrigated area. The sustainability of irrigated agriculture depends on improvements and innovations in surface irrigation methods, their appropriateness for the different systems, and their adoption in field practice. Surface irrigation methods include several processes of water application to irrigated fields 16 furrow, basin, border, contour ditches (wild flooding), and water spreading. The two last...

Homemade Fruit Picker

This is a device that is hard to beat for reaching fruit at the top of tall trees. After a little practice, a man can operate it rapidly, far outstripping hand pickers and at the same time not WIRE DETAILS injuring the fruit. The construction is shown in the upper drawing. The main frame is of heavy copper w i r e, to which is attached the strong spring, d. The end, a, is inserted into a wooden handle as long as needed. When the muslin sack is attached, as shown in the picture of the picker in...

What Is Photosynthetically Active Radiation?

Whether you're a seasoned indoor grower or just starting out, some of the terms and concepts associated with the science of this pursuit can be daunting. Unless you have a Ph.D. in chemistry or an M.S. in botany, a little refresher now and then doesn't hurt. One of the most important concepts to understand when growing crops indoors is photosynthetically active radiation commonly known as PAR which is the acceptable wavelength range for photosynthesis.

Calculating Your Garden's Persephone Days

What's the most important factor that limits growth of vegetables in winter You'd be right if you said colder temperatures, but shorter winter days are a close second. Plant growth slows down dramatically in winter, even when temperatures are mild, because most plants require at least 10 hours of daylight for active growth.

Checkrow Planting

Six Row Seeder

The check-row planter, an implement widely used on Corn Belt farms for more than 60 years, made possible the kind of mechanical weed control that many small farmers want. The check-row planters, which disappeared along with work horses on most farms in the 1990s and 1940s, dropped seed corn in hills spaced about 30 inches apart each way. Their main limitation was that they could not be used on fields that were contoured or laid out in other ways that did not provide straight rows. This...

Sorghum And Sugarcane Presses

Pressing the juice from nonwoody plants like sorghum and sugarcane requires only simple tools and yields, a sweet extract wtiich can be processed for use as table sugar. The most common technique for pressing sorghum and sugarcane involves passing the stalk between two rollers, similar- to the rollers on an old wringer washing machine. The weaker units require passing the stalk through a number of times, or splitting or pounding the material with a hammer before pressing. If you're interested...

Rice Hulling

Horse Drawn Manure Spreader

Similar to wheat, rice grows with a bran layer and an outer hull covering the kernel. For the grain to be edible, the hull must be removed in the hulling process. An unnecessary second step, polishing, removes the bran and the germ, ami along with them, much ot the grain's B-vitaniin content. Rice that is hulled but unpolished is called brown rice. Both the hulling anil polishing processes require a milling action, often by two rollers rubbing the kerne between them. Most hullers are designed...

Wheel and Axle

Wheel And Axle

A wheel and axle behave as a continuous lever. The center of the axle corresponds to the fulcrum. A wheel and axle has a mechanical advantage if the radius of the wheel is the applied arm and the radius of the axle is the resultant arm. It does not have a mechanical advantage when the wheel radius is the resultant arm and the axle radius is the applied arm, Figure 4.11. The equation for determining the mechanical advantage is the same as the equation used for the three classes of levers....

Converting Tractor Power Ratings

Manufactures can use anyone of the four power ratings to advertise their tractors. When manufactures use engine or brake power to rate a tractor they are not providing any useful information because the useable power will be less than that. When the tractor is rated by engine or brake power, the PTO power will be less because of the losses in the power train. The drawbar power will be less because there are additional losses in the transmission and drive train and a tractor is not able to apply...

Calibrating Row Crop Planters

Fs19 Grain Vac

Row crop planters are used to plant crops in wider rows than those planted by grain drills. Row crop planters are commonly used to plant large seeds, such as corn, soybeans, and sunflowers, but are used for small seeded vegetable crops such as radishes. Row crop planters will have a speed hopper, a metering unit, a seed tube, a furrow opener and some type of closing or press wheels. Additional hoppers are sometimes used for fertilizer or insecticides, Figure 8.5. The common metering units for...

Sources of tractordrawn drill seeders

Cole 250 Fertilizer Hopper

A versatile planter with interchangeable seed plates for drilling vegetable seeds of all sizes. Special attachments are available for adapting the unit to field crops. Planet junior Division Piper Industries P.O. Box 1188, Freeport Center Clearfield, VT 84106 Planet Jr. 7I3fX Seeder Piper Industries Planet Jr. 7I3fX Seeder Piper Industries The Hassia Model PS is a small plot drill with four, five, seven, or nine hoe-type openers, A fluted wheel meters the seed from either a single or a number...

Sources of handpushed row seeders

Hand Pushed Planter

With this unit, the wheel is the planting disc. It is sometimes called a Dial-A-Seed planter. Countryside Catalog Rt. I, Box 259 Waterloo, WI 53594 Sears, Roebuck amp Co. Farm and Ranch Catalog Wolf Tools for Lawn amp Garden, Ltd, Ross-on-Wye The lightweight version of two-wheel one front, one rear push seeders opens soil, spaces and covers seed, packs soil, and marks the next row in one operation. This unit usually comes equipped with six seed plates and an adjustable ground opener and row...

Felling Larger Trees

To cut a tree with a diameter larger than the length of your guide bar but not twice its size, proceed as follows Make a notch, as before. Each cut of the notch may require as many as two cuts to complete. You can do this by making one half of the upper notch cut on one side and then moving to the other side of the tree to complete the upper notch cut. Do the same with the horizontal notch cut. After the notch is formed, make a plunge cut about an inch or two above the notch and on the opposite...

Shooting Board Donkeys Ear and Miter Jack

Donkeys Ear Mitre Shooting Board

A miter box holds the saw at an angle to the work. A shooting board holds your work at an angle to the plane. Just as the saw must work into the molding, so must the plane. That makes the miter shooting board most helpful in shaping small miters that turn an inside corner. The faces of the angled block hold the wood at the correct angle and support it as the plane rides by in its track. For broad pieces and external miters, you need a donkey's ear. This version of the shooting board holds the...

Richard Ha Mauna Kea Banana Farm Keaau Banana Plantation Hilo Hawaii

Pest management, smart use of water, low inputs Problem Addressed Banana diseases. A fungus devastated Hawaii's banana industry in mid-1950s, convincing nearly all growers to shift production to pineapples and sugar cane. For the next two decades, these tropical islands imported most of their bananas from South America and Australia, like the rest of America. For U.S. growers to raise healthy bananas, most rely on synthetic fungicides and nematicides. In the 1970s, pioneers like Richard Ha...

10 Reasons Why Low Tunnels Beat Cold Frames for Winter Gardening

In my last post, I shared with you how it's desiccation, not really cold temperatures per se , that is most damaging to cold-tolerant plants. While it's true that cold frames and low tunnels provide a growing environment that is slightly warmer than ambient temperature, the increased relative humidity in these structures and the protection they provide from winter's harsh winds allow plants to survive at MUCH colder temperatures than they otherwise would.

White Oak Black Ash and Hickory Bark Bottoms

Chairs with bent backs and split splats need woven wood seats. White oak splits for baskets and chair bottoms come from the sapwood of a soft, straight, smooth-barked tree about three to eight inches in diameter. Split the log into pie-shaped sections, and then split off the heartwood as close as you can to the dividing line between the light and dark wood. Shave off the bark and any remaining heart, working it down until you have a piece of clean sapwood that is as wide in the plane of the...

Terry and LaRhea Pepper

960 acres organic cotton, 480 acres conventional cotton Cover crops for green manure Marketing cooperative, value-added cotton products Problem Addressed Low cotton prices. When Terry and LaRhea Pepper of O'Donnell, Texas, realized their cotton prices were stuck in the past while their expenses were on fast forward, they solved the problem by adding value, direct marketing and going cooperative. We were selling cotton at the same price my grandfather sold it for in the 1930s when he could buy...

Equalization Basins

Generally speaking, flow equalization is not a treatment process or treatment method it's a method to improve wastewater treatment processes, whether they are physicochemical processes or biological processes. The purpose of flow equalization is to balance out the process parameters, such as flow rate, organic loading, strength of wastewater streams, pH, and temperature over a 24-hour period. This practice is often applied either at the very beginning of the wastewater treatment plant aiming at...

Fodder Plants, Everything you want to know..

Fodder plants are plants which are grown in order to provide the nutritional needs of animals. They are given to animals in the form of wet, dry, grain or tuber, or silaged. These plants can be grown in agricultural fields as well as they can grow themselves in natural meadows and pastures. The easiest and cheapest way to meet the nutritional requirements of animals is to feed them with roughage, i.e. weeds obtained from fodder plants.

Mediterranean Agriculture

Mediterranean agriculture is found in the areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea and in areas with a similar climate, characterized by mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers 5 . There are four land-use patterns that characterize the traditional Mediterranean farming system 5 extensive wheat cultivation extensive grazing by sheep and goats cultivation of tree crops such as olives and figs, grapes, and date palms cultivation of fruits and vegetables, with apples, peaches, and pears as most...

Animal Drawn Harrows

Each section has 15 teeth arranged in five rows. The section weighs 19 kilograms and its working width is 70 centimeters. One or two sections can be used at a time. Massey-Ferguson (South Africa), Ltd. Steel Rd., P.O. Box 677 Vereeniging 1930, South Africa Four types of tooth link are available. These harrows are suitable for preparing seedbeds, covering seeds and fertilizers with soil, spreading farmyard manure, and killing weeds in growing corn. William Aitkenhead, Ltd. Stamford Works, Lees,...

Wire Fence Corn Crib

Agricultural Crib

In the drawing is shown a handy, inexpensive corn crib, which possesses several advantages not possessed by the ordinary slat corn crib. It is made on 4 x 4-inch posts, with pans at their tops, to prevent rats from climbing in. The sills are 4 x 4-inch, the scantlings 2x4, and 2 feet apart. The fencing is nailed to these on all sides, and the door frame is similarly covered. The roof is made wide, so as to shed all possible water. The height, length and width may suit the farmer's convenience....

Control of Lice and Mange Mites in Cattle

In a well managed organic herd where animals have freedom of movement, good nutrition and strong immune systems, the presence of lice and mites may have little impact. However, when conditions favour these external parasites, the activity of lice and mange mites can cause irritation and lower milk production levels, reduce appetite and feed conversion, cause blood loss, damage the hide, and cause stress young animals in particular can be more adversely affected. Organic producers cannot resort...

Mycoprotein Production Quorn Products

Quorn Production

In order to ensure that Quorn is produced according to approved health regulations, the fermentation process is currently supported on glucose (nearly all of which is obtained from maize) and approved inorganic medium constituents and vitamins. However, the process may also be applied with various sources of starch as the carbon source Figure 2 Diagramatic representation of the Quorn air-lift fermenter used by Marlow Foods for the production of mycoprotein in continuous flow culture, (Courtesy...

Lumens Aren't an Important Measure of Grow Light Effectiveness

Many people shopping for LED grow lights are curious as to fixtures' lumen output. And while this question perhaps makes sense when shopping for white lights, when it comes to grow lights, lumens are an inappropriate metric and shouldn't be considered. Why is this The human eye is more sensitive to some colors than it is to others.

10 Vegetables More Cold-Hardy than Kale

If you think winter gardening involves months of eating kale, think again. A wide variety of garden vegetables tolerate freezing just as well as, and some even better than, most kale varieties. On my quest to select the top vegetables for winter gardening, I invited three other gardeners from around North America to share their favorites, based on their experiences growing in winter.

Drying Food With or Without a Dehydrator

At this time of year, my dehydrator is humming almost non-stop, and there are bundles of aromatic herbs drying all along my hallway wall. Although I also can and freeze food for winter (part of how I keep up with my CSA share ), drying food has several advantages Dried foods last pretty much forever, weigh very little, and don't take up much space on your shelves.

What is drip irrigation ? advantages and disadvantages of this method

The main premise of drip irrigation method is the ability to water the plant using a small amount of water delivered through pressurized pipes and drippers without creating any problems about the lack of moisture in the root zone. One of the most important aspects of the method is that the watered zone is only along the plant line, leaving the rest of the field dry, thus using the least amount of water possible.

When Can I Fertilize a New Lawn? OK to Use Weed and Feed?

QUESTION I have a new Jonathan Green tall fescue lawn (planted 9 weeks ago)and have a ton of weeds. Can I put their weed and feed fertilizer down And also can I lime (my ph is low) ANSWER I have heard their Black Beauty fescue mix is really nice.According the the label you can apply Jonathan Green weed and feed any time weeds are actively growing and after a newly seeded lawn has been mowed 3 times.

Scientific Notation and Standard Form

Scientific notation and standard form were developed to express large or small numbers in a more convenient form. They both use powers of 10 to replace the nonsignificant digits of a large or small number. Standard form uses a whole digit, then a decimal point, and two significant figures. It was primarily used with slide rules because three significant digits was the practical limit. Scientific notation uses the same format. The difference is that in scientific notation the number of...

Reduction in Hunger and Poverty

Culture Poverty The United States

The interconnections among hunger, poverty, and agriculture are manifold and complex. If one divides agriculture into commercial or industrial agriculture and subsistence agriculture, the latter producing enough food to meet basic needs is often equated with hunger and poverty. While the number of people in urban areas who live in poverty and are hungry has been on the rise for several decades, a wide majority of those who are poor and hungry are trying to get by on subsistence agriculture....

Cheating Winter: The Little-Known Truth about Frost and Freeze Tables

My summer garden is beginning to show signs of fading. My poor tomatoes have surrendered to early blight, and my squash are just plumb tuckered-out from cucumber beetles and powdery mildew. But that's okay I've canned quarts upon quarts of tomato sauce and salsa verde, I've run out of room in the chest freezer, and the pantry is full. Besides, I'm not saying goodbye to my garden anytime soon (though I will be putting some plants out of their misery ).

Pollination of Maize

Studies of pollination of maize have mostly centered on the needs of hybrid seed production. This production involves the development and maintenance of inbred lines and the subsequent crosses to produce commercial seed. In the former, self-pollination is mandatory. In the latter, cross-pollination is mandatory. Mechanisms have been developed to ensure each kind of pollination. Breeder seed is usually derived from self-pollinated seed at the F8 to F10 generation of inbreeding. A high degree of...

Replicated sampling

NASS's area frames have been sampled using a replicated design since 1974. Replicated sampling is characterized by the selection of a number of independent subsamples or replicates from the same population using the same selection procedure for each replicate. Each replicate is therefore an unbiased representation of the population. A replicate for NASS's area frame sample design is a random sample of land areas (segments) selected within a land-use stratum. The sub-stratification within each...

Guide to Irrigation method , a featured article

Irrigation is pouring water to the soil using proper methods and in proper times as required by the plant growth as a result of insufficient rain. The success of irrigation depends on the selection of the most proper irrigation method as per the conditions and planning, projecting, establishing and operating the irrigation system necessary for that method. Irrigation methods are divided into two groups according to the features related with deliver and application of water on soil.

Important Microorganisms in Wastewater Bacteria and fungi

Bacteria are the most important and the largest components of the microbial community in all biological wastewater treatment processes. Depending on the biological process and pH, the number concentration of bacteria is different, with activated sludge (aggregates of healthy aerobic bacteria living in colonial structures called flocs) having the largest number concentration of bacteria. Bacteria range in size from approximately 0.5 to 5 m and take one of four major shapes sphere (cocci),...

Guide to Growing Leeks in Winter Conditions

Leeks are a popular winter vegetable belonging to the onion family but they are much easier to grow as compared to onions. They are available for consumption when most other vegetables are expensive, scarce or short in supply. Here is a leeks guide explaining how to grow leeks in winter conditions discussing various aspects of gardening Site and soil Leeks are tolerant plants, which do not require any specific soil conditions except that the soil should not be water logged and freshly manured.

Plan F A Treadle Lathe

Treadle Lathe Plans

This is a good working lathe that makes up in hardware availability what it might lack in historical accuracy. You can build this lathe with common lumber and hardware store materials, but it does require some heating and hammering to bend the crankshaft and forge the drive center. If you are not set up to do this yourself, it's a fine opportunity to support your local blacksmith. The lathe frame is just three right triangles connected by four horizontal 2-by-4 rails. Two rails form the bottom,...

Yellow Wood Sorrel Oxalis stricta

Yellow Wood Sorrel (Oxalis stricta )- commonly called Oxalis or sour grass - is a vigorous grower. A summer annual - sometimes perennial - that thrives in fertile, warm and moist soils and likes shade. See more pictures of Oxalis here. Characteristics Summer annual and sometimes perennial. Reproduces and spreads by seed. Pale green to maroon heart-shaped leaves. Leaves fold up in full sun. Yellow flowers with five petals. Likes moist, warm, fertile soils.

Tapping Sweet Sorghum

Hand Roller Laundry Squeezer

The tedious, old-fashioned production of sorghum syrup is rather like an old soldier it keeps fading away but never dies. In fact, sweet sorghum may be making a comeback. Gardeners and homesteaders know it provides a. tasty substitute for store-bought sweeteners. They also think that sorghum may be a practical cash crop they can grow for a sideline income without loo much competition from big commercial farmers, since harvesting is still a process done pretty much by hand. Now that the IJSDA at...

Reading a Philadelphia Rod

Reading Leveling Rod

The most common type of rod is known as the Philadelphia type. This rod has two sections, each approximately 7 ft long that can be extended to give continuous readings from zero at the base to 13.00 ft at the top. The graduations consist of black marks painted on a white background. The black graduations are 0.01 ft thick and are spaced 0.01 ft apart. The size of the graduations allows the rod to be read to the nearest 0.01 ft, directly for distances up to 250 ft. The tenths of a foot are...

Differential Leveling

Differential Leveling Notes

Differential leveling is the process of finding the difference in elevation between two or more points. When the two points are within the sight limits of the instrument, two readings are taken. The difference in rod readings represents the difference in elevation between the two points. When one or more of the points are beyond the range of the instrument turning points are used. One of the most common applications of differential leveling is to run a circuit of sights to determine the...

Grinding And Sharpening Equipment

A few years ago the grindstone was a common piece of equipment on the farm, but, with the great improvement made in artificial abrasives and grinders, it now has been largely replaced by the new and faster-cutting grinders. Although a grindstone cuts much slower (unless it is power driven and considerable pressure is used), it puts a very fine cutting edge on a tool without danger of drawing the temper and is preferred by many for the sharpening of edge tools, mower sickles,...

Principles of Calibration

In Chapter 1, two characteristic of mathematical problem where discussed. Both of these must be applied when calibrating dispensing machines. It would be a rare occurrence for a dispensing machine to distribute the desired amount of material. In this case perfection is not expected. Therefore levels of acceptability must be established. The amount of error that would be considered acceptable varies for each machine and situation. In some cases guidelines or standards have been established, but...

Sawmill Equipment

Tirfor Hand Puller

Gaubert makes a series of electric circular saws with 500 or 600 millimeter blades for both sawing logs and rough-cutting lumber. Tractor PTO and three-point-hitch adaptations are also available. A. Gauberi 16700 16700 Ruffec Bordeaux, France This saw will cut hardwood slabs or logs to 8 inches in diameter at the rate of 120 cubic feet about a pickup load full in 30 minutes time. Three models are available one trailer, one three-point-hitch mount, and one on skids. Speedy Cord Saw Winona...

Types Of Shredders Available

Grinder Wichita Kansas

Think over your shredding needs carefully before von begin to shop for a machine. There are many different shredders on the market today, and rather than trying to list them all, we've decided to describe the basic types available and give some examples of each type. Keep in mind that models change from year to year, and be sure to investigate all the features of the models you're considering. Most of the shredders in this group comprise the classics of the industry the Amerind-MacKissic,...

Sources of cone seeders

Drop Seeder

Cones art' available as single units or moiinted in groups for installation on custom-built drills. They can be supplied with a 7- or 14-inch base diameter and with either knurled or plain base plates. Craftsman also manufacturers a hand-pushed, single-row seeder with single- or doublemetering cones. It has a three-wheel chassis with 12-inch, double-disc openers. Sprockets are available to adjust for row length. The two-cone model is used for simultaneous fertilizer or insecticide treatments...

North American Sources Of Power Threshers

Vogel Thresher

Volunteers in Technical Assistance VITA publishes a number of technical bulletins in response to requests for technical help from organizations and individuals in developing countries. VITA plans include a peanut groundnut thresher, soybean thresher, and Godavari rice thresher, as well as a set of guidelines for portable threshers. A complete listing of publications is available from 3706 Rhode Wand Ave. Mt. Rainier, MD 20822 The Seedburo plot thresher has a 14-inch wide peg-tooth cylinder and...

Using the Screwdriver Bit

Where several screws are to be driven, particularly large screws, a screw-driver bit in a brace makes for faster and easier work. Such a bit is simply a screw driver that, instead of having a handle, has a square tapered end that fits into a brace. Care should be exercised when using the screw-driver bit to keep it from slipping out of the slot and marring the wood and possibly the screw head also. The bit is more easily kept in the slot if the ratchet on the brace is used or if the crank is...

Conclusion On Mushroom Cultivation

Mushroom cultivation is perhaps the most important microbial technology, after the yeast fermentation, in the economic terms. It promises to supply food with good quality protein produced from worthless lignocellulosic wastes of varied origins. In future, newer mushrooms are likely to be added to diversify the portfolio of the cultivated mushrooms and the production of t. and the advancements in the...

The Importance Of Land Tenure

Other than labor, land is the most important factor of agricultural production. Without clearly defined rights of access to land, or land tenure, production is more difficult to carry out and incentives are weakened for long-term investments in land to raise its productivity. Land tenure also is one of the organizing pillars of rural economies and societies that helps define economic and contractual relationships, forms of cooperation, and social relationships.

Apex Organizations

Yet another option is to develop a system of small-scale rural financial institutions, all linked through a central fund or 'apex organization', or second-tier or second-storey institution. Individually, the small-scale member institutions might be exposed to higher covariant risk in their portfolios, but in principle collectively they could disperse risk. Examples exist in Costa Rica, where the apex organization is a US-based nonprofit organization known as FINCA (Foundation for International...

The Degree of Formalization of Land Rights

Apart from problems that may arise during the transition between customary and modern systems of land rights, a fundamental question is whether full land titling is necessary in order to provide the degree of tenure security necessary to encourage agricultural development. It is an issue that still generates passionate opinions.

Windbreaks and Shelterbelts

Windbreaks can be defined as any type of barrier for protection from wind. Commonly, they are associated with mechanical or vegetative barriers for buildings, gardens, orchards, and feedlots. Living windbreaks are known as shelterbelts. These works consist of shrubs and trees that form barriers longer than windbreaks. In addition to reducing wind speed, shelterbelts result in lower evapotranspiration, higher soil temperatures in winter and lower in summer, and higher soil moisture in many...

The Penman Monteith ET0 Equation

The grass reference crop in the above definition can be fully described using the PM approach. The grass reference crop is probably, together with alfalfa, the best-studied crop regarding its aerodynamic and bulk stomatal characteristics 2, 21, 59, 60 . The aerodynamic resistance ra (Eq. 5.4) can be calculated easily because the zero plane displacement height can be estimated from the crop height h, d 0.67h the roughness height for momentum transfer can be given by zom 0.123h and the roughness...

Arnott and Kathleen Duncan Duncan Family Farms

Wholesale vegetable and fruit operation on 2,000 acres, about 400 of them certified organic Diverse agri-tourism educational and recreational opportunities Problems Addressed Spending time with family. Kathleen Duncan, who had worked outside the home, became unhappy with the time she spent away from her young sons. She and her husband, Arnott, wanted to combine their careers farming and education with raising their two sons in a family enterprise. Public education. We realized that we were...

Soldering And Sheetmetal Work

Draw Bar Solder

Soldering is the process of joining pieces of metal by fusing their surfaces together with solder, an alloy of tin and lead. (An alloy is a mixture of metals, brought about generally by melting or fusion.) The solder commonly used is composed of equal parts of lead and tin and has a melting temperature of 401 ,* which is lower than that of either lead or tin. If molten solder is placed on a piece of metal that has been cleaned, fluxed (that is, treated with...

Rotating Biological Contactor RBC

Rotating Biological Contactors (RBCs) are used in the treatment of wastewater as a secondary treatment process. The RBC process involves allowing wastewater to come in contact with a biological medium in order to remove contaminants in sewage before discharge of the treated wastewater to the environment, usually a river. The construction of an RBC consists of a series of plastic discs, the media, mounted on a driven shaft that is contained in a tank or trough. Commonly used plastics for the...

References On Agricultural Meteorology

Allen, L.H., Valle, P.R., Jones, J.W. and Jones, P.H. 1998. Soybean leaf water potential responses to carbon dioxide and drought. Agronomy Journal 90 375-383. Amissah-Arthur, A. and Jagtap, S.S. 1995. Application of models and geographic information system based decision support system in analysis the effect of rainfall on maize yield stability. Sustain Africa 3 2-15. Boggess, W.G. and Amerling, C.B. 1983. A bioeconomic simulation analysis of irrigation environments. S.J. Agric. Econ. 15 85-91....

Irrigation by country

Because of land quality, only 6.1 of Belize's area is dedicated to agriculture. Still that area contributes 19 of GDP. Of total agricultural area, only about 5 or 3,500 ha is irrigated, supporting about 177 producers, as shown in Table 6.3. Table 6.3. Belize irrigated area, irrigation methods, supply sources and main crops by district, 2005. (From Ministry of Agriculture of Belize, 2005.) Table 6.3. Belize irrigated area, irrigation methods, supply sources and main crops by district, 2005....

Early Sedentism in the Near East

Abu Madi Neolithic

Anna Belfer-Cohen AND Ofer Bar-Yosef The emergence of sedentary communities in the Near East, as reflected in bioarchaeological data sets, occurred between 13,000and 10,000years ago. The process involved two major archaeological entities, the Natufian and the earliest Neolithic period, termed Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA). These were followed by the cultural entities of the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period (PPNB) with extensive evidence for sedentary village communities as well as domesticates...

The Farm Blacksmith Shop

A blacksmith shop is of immense practical value on a farm. To those who have one it is almost as essential as live stock, farm tools and crops. One does not need to be a professional blacksmith. The elementary practice in welding, upsetting and tempering is easily learned with a little practice. Nor is it necessary to have many tools. An entire equipment may cost but a few dollars. An old railroad rail will do for an anvil. But after getting the real article one is better satisfied and can do...

Bermuda Grass or Wire Grass Cynodon dactylon

Bermuda Grass or Wire Grass (Cynodon dactylon ) is a warm-season, perennial grass weed that is very aggressive and hard to control once it becomes established. It invades lawns, landscape beds and gardens as far north as Minnesota. This grass weed is often mistaken by homeowners as crabgrass because the seed heads are similar. There are several cultivated varieties and hybrids that are grown as lawns, sports fields, and golf courses in the southern and transition zones.

Spawn Production

Spawn Preparation Schem Diagram

The term spawn is used for vegetative growth of mushroom mycelium on a suitable medium, to be used as inoculum or seed for the substrate in mushroom cultivation. Right kind and quality of spawn is very important in the cultivation of edible fungi. The technique of spawn preparation witnessed many developments before Sinden developed the currently used grain spawn on hard winter rye grain after addition of calcium salts and patented the process in 1932 and 1937. However, wheat grain is now most...

How To Install Drip Irrigation Using a Simple Sprinkler System Conversion Kit

It is easy to install drip irrigation by converting an existing automatic pop-up sprinkler system. We recently moved into a new home. In addition to an automatic lawn irrigation system, the builder installed pop-up sprinklers in the shrub beds. I have never liked watering landscape plants with sprinklers.

One Year - One Ton of Fresh Food: Fall Garden Review

Big numbers can be hard to understand. When I tell folks that I've grown a ton of produce in a year from our 1 10th of an acre garden, their jaws drop. There's no doubt that 2000 pounds of produce is a lot of food enough for our family to have fresh vegetables year-round, enough to share, and enough to sell or barter when we really have excess. That said, let me tell you something I haven't done anything that extraordinary here, folks.

The Garden Survives a Record-Breaking January

There's a saying out there that all gardeners are optimists if that's true, then winter gardeners are down-right Pollyannaish. Truly, how can I be anything but an optimistic soul after seeing how well my garden has come through this record-breaking winter Again, I'm using no greenhouse, no heat, no expensive structures just low tunnels (waist-high hoops covered with fabric or clear plastic) and cold-hardy plants.

Fava Beans in Appalachia?

I have been captivated with the idea of growing fava beans ever since my introduction to them in Italy a few years ago. Their farmers markets were overflowing with piles and piles of this strange, large bean that I had never seen before. GARDENING NUTS TAKE PICTURES OF PRODUCE WHILE ON VACATION. I inquired with the grower about their identity, and made sure that I tried them in restaurants later that week.

Is Clear Plastic Necessary? Success with Fabric Row Covers

The groundhog saw his shadow today, but my garden and I don't mind. What about you Or is there something keeping you out of the garden in winter Certainly it can't be all the extra work that a winter garden entails freezing temperatures discourage bugs, plant diseases, and weed growth, after all. And an expensive greenhouse surely can't be keeping you away, since we've already established that most of the United States is mild enough for winter growing under a cold frame or low tunnel.

The Garden Survives Another Record-Breaking Winter

Go ahead you can blame me for this winter. Again. I've already fessed up to you about last year, and how I sort of wished for a dip to sub-zero temperatures. Whoops The Polar Vortex arrived. Last year's wish was for a good reason, though. If I was going to sell vegetables through a winter CSA, and encourage fellow market gardeners to do the same, I wanted to make sure that the unheated low tunnels could adequately protect my plants.

One Year - One Ton of Fresh Food: Spring Garden Review

Today's blog entry is one of a four-post series that highlights my garden favorites over the past year one post per season. I hope you'll come back and see more stories from the past fall , winter, and summer, highlighting my year of growing ONE TON of food for my family on 6 100ths of an acre. In a funny twist of fate, I was born on what is perhaps the most celebrated day on a gardener's calendar the first day of Spring.

The New Year's Garden and Winter Gardening Tips

It's officially winter here in the mountains of eastern Kentucky, but the garden is far from bare. Of course, you wouldn't know it from walking by, as much of it is under cover LOOKING DOWN AT THE GARDEN ON NEW YEAR'S EVE. But just look at what lies beneath those tunnels THIS LOW TUNNEL, PLANTED LABOR DAY WEEKEND, IS PACKED WITH VEGGIES READY TO BE HARVESTED PICTURE TAKEN JANUARY 4TH. AN ASSORTMENT OF BABY GREENS, INCLUDING KALE AND ASIAN GREENS LIKE TATSOI, MICHIHILI CABBAGE, AND PAK CHOY.

The Secret to Growing Beets: Five Tips for Success

Do you have trouble growing beets You're not alone. Here are five tips for getting fresh-from-the-garden beets on your table. 1) thinOf all the mistakes that are made growing beets, failing to thin seedlings is probably the most common. Even if you're obsessive about seed spacing as you sow, you'll still need to thin once seedlings emerge.

Your Living Refrigerator: Low Tunnels

For many people, Labor Day weekend heralds the end of the gardening season. The garden is cleaned up, and a cover crop is planted (hopefully). For me, Labor Day weekend is when I begin preparing my family's winter meals in earnest. I've done my fair share of freezing and canning through the summer, for sure. And I just finished curing 223 lbs of winter squash for storing in the crawlspace under our house. Then there are all of the sweet potatoes and cowpeas that we harvested.

One Year - One Ton of Fresh Food: Winter Garden Review

Today's blog entry is one of a four-post series that highlights my garden favorites over the past year one post per season. I hope you'll come back and see more stories from the past fall, spring, and summer, many of which I've never shared before, here or elsewhere. winter's gardenWinter is my favorite season in the garden. I know that sounds crazy and unbelievable unless maybe you're a winter gardener, too. ON A MISSION TO HARVEST DINNER (AND CARROTS FOR THE SNOWMAN) ON FEBRUARY 3, 2013.

How to Build a Low Tunnel

In my last post, I described how I am growing cold-tolerant plants under the protection of low tunnels in the late fall and winter months. Today's post will show you how to construct your own Living Refrigerators, potentially allowing you to grow and or delay the harvest of vegetables all year round depending on your plant hardiness zone.

What Makes Perennial Polycultures Different

Many of the fruits and nuts we eat come from perennial plants and trees. Further, polycultures are common in modern industrial farming and particularly common in small, subsistence agriculture around the world. Farmers have even combined perennial crops (usually trees) with annual polycultures. In virtually all cases, however, there is a period during which there is, at best, only partial ground cover. Perennial polycultures with mixed intercropping have continual ground cover throughout the...

What Is the Evidence That Perennial Polyculture Farming Could Work

There is research being conducted on perennial polycultures at The Land Institute and The Rodale Institute.30 The Land Institute, for example, is experimenting with polycultures involving warm-season grasses (such as eastern gamagrass), cool-season grasses (such as mammoth wild rye), legumes (such as Illinois bundleflower and wild senna), and composites (such as Maximilian sunflower) all growing together in mixed intercropping. To answer this question more specifically, it is useful to replace...

Sharpen Shell Bits For Brace

Screw Bit Patterns

If we take an outside-beveled gouge and begin twisting it into a board, it will dig deeper and deeper, making a hole. Shell and spoon bits work just this way. Soup would run out the end of a shell bit, but spoon bits are turned up on the end just like their namesake. They cut on their rims and have to be scraped sharp on the inside with the ground-off corners of a triangular file. Chair makers greatly prefer them. They can begin a hole at right angles to a surface, then allow you to tilt the...

Plan B The Carpenters Tap

While Roubo offers advice on the tools for making smaller screws, the following translated excerpt from Bergeron's 1792 Manuel du Tourneur (chapter 1, section 3, plate 7) addresses how to make big screws for bench vises and presses using the carpenter's tap taraud de charpentier. Bergeron was the pen name of Louis-Georges-Isaac Salivet, a prominent lawyer and official in the French Ministry of Justice. When he wasn't considering the fate of the miscreants of Paris, he was treadling away at his...