For those who may be within spitting distance of the Snowy Mountains (NSW) this coming weekend, Upper Snowy Landcare is holding a Field Day at the Dalgety Travelling Stock Reserve (Dalgety-Jindabyne road) on Saturday, starting about 10am. The Dalgety Food Fair is on the same day - in the village a kilometre away.
The TSR Soil Care Project is 60 hectares of compacted weedy heavily overgrazed pasture which has never been farmed in the normal manner of such things. The aim of the project is to demonstrate three methods of revegetation - using biodynamic agriculture (BD), conventional agriculture and what we call resource recovery (or compost assisted) agriculture (RR) - and to produce a benchmark or best practice method for farmers in the district. Since February of this year, 19 Ha of the BD paddock has been sprayed four times (at roughly 2-month intervals) with Vortex Flowform mixed BD500 and manure concentrate; a fifth spray should take place during the Field Day. A single ha in this paddock has been segregated and is being treated with potentised BD500 at the same intervals. The RR paddock has been treated once (in June) with a 70:30 ratio of carbon:nitrogen compost, at approximately 2 cu m to the ha, spread using Marshall Multi-Spreaders. Unfortunately there has been insufficient rain since then to activate the compost and so we are switching to specially formulated liquid composts at an application rate of around 84 litres to the ha. Some of this has been made in situ and will be on display. The Conventional paddock was scheduled for preparation for a spring sowing but the whole region is so dry this has been postponed until autumn. For those on bdnow, the Rivers of Time story I sent earlier included mention of underground creeks sweeping in from the south. One is marked by a line of african lovegrass about four metres wide for most of its journey, a second of similar width but without lovegrass follows the western edge of the conventional and RR paddocks. From study of soil analyses conducted by James Hedley, there is a hypothesis that the lovegrass river or creek is carrying aluminium into the area, the aluminium is locking calcium up in the soil (or the creek is carrying Ca away) and the lovegrass is being generated by those conditions. Similarly, but without the benefit of a soil analysis, the fenceline creek which aboveground is marked by a veritable forest of Great Mullein is hypothesised to be carrying sulphur and calcium away. For further information please contact me using email address [EMAIL PROTECTED] unless it is felt that other members would benefit from your enquiry. roger First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win. _________________________________________________________________ Send and receive Hotmail on your mobile device: http://mobile.msn.com
