PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — There are a lot of crops growing at the SAD 1 School Farm, including a number of research trials underway in collaboration with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension.
The SAD 1 School Farm hosted a field day on Wednesday, July 26, to showcase field trials taking place this summer in a joint effort with the Cooperative Extension.
There’s “lots of interesting research” happening in the collaboration that’s of use to local potato growers, said Jim Dwyer, crops specialist with the Extension.
Two projects are examining no-till plantings of livestock feed corn with different fertilizer rates and different days-to-ripening varieties. Corn and other grains are among options for higher-value rotation crops for area potato growers.
Another project is examining nurse crops with potato fields, or cover crops planted along with potatoes than are aimed at helping build soil health and reduce erosion.
Nurse crops can “minimize erosion and control weeds,” said Sukhwinder Bali, assistant extension professor with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, who is working on the trial.
The trial at the School Farm is comparing a control plot of regularly-planted potatoes to plots planted with winter rye and oats at the time of potato planting. Some rows with the nurse crop have been “hilled and killed” after potato emergence — receiving row mounding and an herbicide to kill the cover crop — while others have only been hilled, Bali said.
Like a lot of other farming practices, nurse crops can be a mixed bag, with the nurse crops potentially stealing nutrients and affecting yields if not controlled early enough, Bali said. But the research is pointing to potential benefits, including controlling other weeds and aiding in soil microbial activity, she added.
