Diamond in the Rough
Situated on the Sunrise River, Jewel Lane Farm is a woodsy, relatively flat acreage with a hilly pasture near the house. There are a 60’ by 24’ lambing barn, a 40’ by 60’ machine shed, and a 16’ by 48’ greenhouse. Soils are sandy with a little peat along the river. Deer and other wild animals
roam the farm.
Equipment includes a mulch layer, a three-point mounted machine that rolls out plastic mulch as it digs a trench and covers the edges of the roll. Conventional equipment includes plows, a cultivator, drags and manure spreader.
Foster Mooney and his wife Karen do most all of the work. “Now and then we have neighbor kids come over and wash tomatoes or something,” Foster says. I’ve been doing this at least 20 years, farming my whole life. I’ve been here for 27 years, and we’ve had sheep and vegetables from the start.”
Foster is sold on the benefits of plastic mulch, which he uses extensively for weed control. But he isn’t completely opposed to using chemical sprays. He takes a pragmatic view of his farm. “We spray corn and potatoes because that’s what we have to do,” he says. But, “with the wide variety of crops, it’s hard to get chemicals that work on everything. For the amount of acres we use it on, one jug might last 15 years.”
Combined with the plastic mulch, Foster uses driplines beneath the plastic. The crops use “a lot less water to get the same results,” he says. On the sandy soil this is a plus. “We cut way down on hoeing, weeding and spraying, and get a much greater yield on a smaller piece. Instead of half an acre of cucumbers out in the field, I can do a 250 foot roll on plastic and get the same yield with a lot less labor. The use of plastic is number one. It’s a no-brainer for our situation, for the variety of plants and water (shortage), it solves both problems.” In between the plastic mulch rows, a rototiller is used for weed control.
Foster started adapting the plastic mulch to his farm about 10 years ago. His farm is not organic, he emphasizes. “We use as little chemical as possible,” he says.
In the potato crop, Foster says, “the bugs are there before the potatoes come up. We spray for that. I use commercial fertilizer. Nitrogen is nitrogen. We check our fields every day, from planting to harvest. I think that’s very important, no matter what you’re doing. If there’s a problem coming, you know right away.” The Mooneys also rotate their crops regularly to prevent insect and disease problems. “We like to not put the same thing back in for two years,” Foster says.
Tomatoes are grown in large pots, so they can be located in the same area each year but with new soil. A commercial growing medium is used in five-gallon pots, and blight-resistant varieties are planted. Cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower are transplanted early and late in the season for crops in June and September. “It keeps use from having cabbage bug or worm problems,” Foster says.
“With most crops with a 60 or less day maturity, we multiple crop them – we plant every week to 10 days from May to July.” That way, if any serious weather or bug problems occur, “you can afford to let one crop go, because the next one will be ready in a week or two.”
Foster also uses his greenhouse to get a jump on the weeds. He believes many weed problems are the result of planting too early, before the soil is warm enough for the desired crop. “The weeds are up before the crop ever thought of making it,” he says. “So we start it in the greenhouse and transplant it.”
Spraying for insects has also been minimized through the use of traps to count pests. In 2001, Foster used pheromone traps for corn earworms. “By using the trap for moths, instead of spraying five or six times, I only sprayed twice. I knew when they were here. I only sprayed when there were more than five moths trapped in one night, and it only happened twice.”
The Benefits of Plastic Mulch
“Use of the plastic mulch has cut down on both chemical sprays and labor,” Foster says. “Ten years ago, it was hoe, cultivate, spray. Now, with the plastic, we’re doing a lot less spraying and a lot less hoeing. In high value crops with minimum space, we use the plastic, on cucumbers, muskmelon and peppers, but in high acreage crops, we spray.”
“The results are dramatic,” Foster adds. “There’s no question about it. We notice it in years where
there’s lots of stress, like last year when it was dry. The stuff on plastic did wonderful, and the stuff without plastic was severely stressed. With adequate rain, it saves on weeding, but it’s not a big value difference.”
One of the biggest benefits of the plastic mulch at Jewel Lane Farm is the savings in labor, Foster says. But he also likes the method because he avoids spraying chemicals. “I hate spraying. Of all the jobs out there to do, I don’t like it. I don’t like handling the chemicals. With corn and potatoes, you wouldn’t have a crop without (chemicals). I’d rather go out and hoe all day than spray.”
When asked for management tips and advice, Foster says, “Enjoy doing it or it isn’t worth it. As far as techniques and practices, every farm is unique. It takes time, even with the best of backgrounds. I have a degree in biology, and it’s a continual learning process, trail and error, finding out what works best for you in your situation. Be with it, hang with it, learn from everybody, but learn what works best for you.”
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This article is one in a series which can be found in “A Bountiful Harvest: Minnesota Fruit and Vegetable Growers Manage Pests,” Sept., 2002. The publication was produced by the Minnesota Department of
Agriculture (MDA) with funding provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Chicago, IL. For the entire article please go to the MDA’s web site at:
http://www.mda.state.mn.us/ipm/fandvipm.html