Howdy! I hope everyone has had a good week. I am loving this weather and all the beautiful flowers it brings with it. The farm is full of color and I am enjoying every minute of it! This week we worked on cleaning up the field rows. The rows were filled with sorrel and nut sedge, the two most frustrating weeds to get rid of. Nut sedge is the worst in my opinion. It is hard to locate the nut underground and if you have to be sure to completely remove it from the bed. The sorrel is pretty bad as well because you often break off pieces of the giant taproot. If any of these pieces are left in the soil a new sorrel weed will grow. Neither of these can be composted as they risk the chance of spreading the weeds back into the garden. The weeds have quickly come back in the field, we should be cleaning them up next week. The beans are doing pretty well. They have some damage from pests and what I think may be a disease on the some of the organic beans. There are a significant amount of leaf damage on both types of beans, however the organic seems to be slightly more severe. The conventional seeds seem to have a better germination and vigor, with a 96% germination rate compared to the 91% germination for the organic. I was not able to measure the heights of the plants, but the conventional beans are visibly larger. I am hoping that the beans will continue to grow normally despite the pest damage.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorHi! My name is Gabrielle Melchor and I am a senior undergraduate student in the horticulture science department. After graduation, I hope to pursue a career in nursery management and production or urban green space development. If you have any questions about my internship or would just like to talk plants, you can find me at the Howdy Farm. Gig 'em! Archives
April 2019
Categories |
The Howdy Farm at Texas A&M University | Gabrielle's Blog |