#PASA2024, Sessions
- Ben Mearns
- Feb 29, 2024
- 3 min read
Sessions I attended at PASA 2024:
No-Sweat Marketing: Create a Realistic & Effective Plan Today / Plants as medicine*
High Tunnel Systems for Diversified Crop Production / How Specialty Tree Crops Can Help Restore Mutualism With Forests*
Winter Market Gardening: Advanced Session
Harvesting Techniques for Small to Medium-Scale Vegetable Farms
Cover Crops & the Soil Food Web: Building Soil Through Biology
Seeds: Optimizing your systems
Compost Tea: Brew and Use Liquid Compost Amendments With Confidence
Poultry-Centered Regenerative Agriculture Systems Design & Deployment
* indicates two or more sessions attended same time-slot
I've added my unformatted and unfiltered notes below -- I hope to have time to clean it up so it's more legible.
A few of my favorite images from sessions:
Harvesting Techniques for Small to Medium-Scale Vegetable Farms
paint markers for tub ID
SOP for frequently picked
dunk tanks with bubblers for lettuce heads
lettuce varieties for season
Spring: red butter, alkidus,
winter: adriana
summer: monte carlo mini?
individual nail bags for each worker
harvesting with sharp knives
Winter Market Gardening: Advanced Session
start seeds in bigger containers during the winter
more space between rows (on 30” beds 10 row to 6 row, 12” aisles), no ground visible on mature crops .. double rate within row fewer rows
2x irrigation per week for 20 min, no irrigation nov-jan 8” emitter spacing
fert – feather meal works for quick uptake, side dress and water in
tubes blowing air close to crops helps with fungal disease
sulfur – powdery mildew
planting healthy, very mature plants helps with disease
freeze greenhouse over coldest part of winter 2-3 weeks
heating tubes in isles for heating
aerothermal energy, pits and pipes in ground
good crops
salad mixes without lettuce – sorrel, spinach, kale, etc.
green onion does not grow in fall/can plant in february
celery – cut per stalk
tokyo bekana – direct seed
komatsuna
senposai – vegetable rolls for chefs
chrysanthemum – different than flower -- greens for ramen
Cover Crops & the Soil Food Web: Building Soil Through Biology
soil food web:
Different crop families in mix, different root structures
Soil structure/porosity
C/N > for fungal, less is bacterial
cover crop chart: https://www.ars.usda.gov/ARSUserFiles/30640500/Images/Page1%20from%20CoverCropChart%20V.4.0_April%202023.jpg
Soil biology which supports forests has ~same bacterial count, but greater # fungal
Weeds are pioneer species which thrive on disturbed soils
Improve soil structure by improving biology
Cover crop after disturbance
ask about power harrow
compost tea
tea vs. extract
tea: brew time, less diversity bacteria, more protozoa, immediate use (24/48hr), foliar/spray
extract: no foods added, no brew time, for soil application, better for drip (tea too sti, better diversity
materials
aquarium pump (thrift shop) – or commercial air pump (“6 outlet blower”) for 50 liter/hr per gallon brewed (so 2500 liter hour?)
fork for weight – uses pvc thing he built to hold hose in place (air needs to travel up column)
3-5 gal bucket (frosting bucket?) – or 50 gal food grade barrel – or conical brewer
brew bag – paint strainer bag – brew bag from earthfort for larger containers
water at ambient tempurature of plants being fertilized
if chlorine: off-gas 24-48hr (or 12 with air pump) – humic acid binds chlorine
Bacterial foods: molasses for example (tspn for 5 gal, 3 tblspoon 50 gal)
Fungal foods: humic acid, fish hydrolosate – or kelp (needs to be fresh?), feather meal
Handful of straw for protozoa (waded up golf ball size) for last 6 to 12 hr
compost: vermi 1 cup, regular 3/5 cups for 5 gal bucket
brewing
tea Brew times: if 40-65 dgf: 72hr, 66-80: 48, 81-90: 24, 90+: 12
forest pastured poultry
6 grain mix .. much higher protein when grown on chicken field
germinated in enriched water?
Sunflowers, corn, sudangrass all work to create canopy
Seeds: Optimizing your systems: pellets often fail to germinate because of watering techniques, your seed rep (and sales rep in general) if you are having problems (as with germination)
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