Slow Foods News

So this was supposed to be posted Monday. I had a road trip and had the computer set up to type as I was riding but of course something went wrong with that plan and here we are.

We have had some interesting things happen with the grant that we didn't expect. For those of you who are new followers, the grant was of 2 parts raising Old Type Rhode Island Red Chickens and growing Milo as an organic non GMO source of food for these chickens while finding out if Milo would serve as a Bermuda grass repellant the same as Sudan Grass.

This is the photo we took when the milo first started appearing. Johnson grass and Bermuda is in the background.

You can see annual weeds popping up. I was a little discouraged. This was on June 9th.

 

 

 

 

The photo on the right was taken a month later on July 15th, the annual weeds and Milo were about waist high.










Billy and I began weeding and this is what we found;

.

While there were annual weeds mixed in with the Milo, there was absolutely no Bermuda grass. There was Smart Weed, Knot Weed, Skunk Cabbage but when we pulled them out, the ground was bare of Bermuda. It's like this up the row.



























These 2 pictures were taken of this same spot today.
This area has not been weeded since we took the
                    photos on July 15th.

 

Still no Bermuda or Annual weeds and it has been 3 weeks.

 

Now here is a stand of Milo that came up volunteer in a raised bed, broadcast by birds I guess. This picture was taken August 3rd. This bed has been entirely taken over by Bermuda grass. We got some popcorn in it but basically have had to abandon it. Last year we actually burned it out and refilled it with compost from the barn. Still the Bermuda climbed over the side and across the bed this Spring. Here's the amazing thing, look at the area around this Milo. You can see the Bermuda around the back of the bed and annual weeds to the side(that's lambs quarter by the way) but nothing for 6 inches around the Milo plants. I pulled nothing from this bed.

 

So while this is not entirely conclusive, it seems promising and I have been replanting in hopes of furthering the grass control.

 

See you at Tower Grove on Saturday 

TTFN

Sam