Rodale Field Day
Name that Crop
Soil & Fertility Management
Harvest, Wash, Pack
Miscellaneous
100
What are 4 common things that should not go in a compost pile?
plastic, metal, glass, styrofoam
100
When this crop is growing in temperatures that are too hot, the symptoms can include irregular or lumpy heads, and leaves growing up within the heads.
Broccoli
100
Billy Bob was digging a hole to plant something and noticed that the soil was grey in certain spots...what does this mean?
The grey areas are anaerobic
100
Why do we stack bins upside down and in pyramid style rather than choosing to stack them right side up or one inside of the other?
To mitigate the collection of moisture and potential microbial contamination
100
Why do we trellis the crops in the lower field cat tunnels?
Ease of access, ease of harvest, able to fit more plants into the available space, reduce disease pressure
200
What are 2 advantages of using a drone to spread seeds or liquid, such as compost tea or Bt in a large field?
No soil compaction from driving through the field. Can be done when the soil is too wet. Requires little labor.
200
What is a popular crop that we grow that no other growers at the farmers market have this time of year. What is it & how do we do it?
Lettuce. We grow under shade cloth and run the sprinklers several times during the heat of the day. And we grow the most heat tolerant varieties.
200
What is the purpose of adding sugar to a compost tea?
To act as an easy food source for microbes, especially bacteria, allowing them to reproduce and proliferate within the liquid culture more rapidly.
200
We sell to farmers market, restaurants, and CSA customers. From highest to lowest priority, which market gets the highest quality produce and which gets the lowest quality? Explain why.
Resturants, CSA, Farmers Market
200
Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of the direct seeding vs transplanting. In other words, why might someone choose to use one strategy over the other?
Direct seeding eliminates transplant shock but usually involves more soil disturbance, transplanting can ensure more optimal use of available space but involves more labor....etc.
300
When planting soybeans into a rolled and crimped cover crop, which cover crop works best, rye, triticale, or hairy vetch? What happened with the others?
Rye. The others were not terminated as well and vetch did not provide much mulch to prevent weeds.
300
This crop can be picked when green but is typically preferred in it's mature color such as red, orange, or yellow.
Sweet Peppers
300
What is the difference between a compost tea and a compost extract?
Extract pulls a diverse set of microbes from compost that is suspended in water and applied immediately.
Tea pulls a diverse set of microbes from compost that is suspended in water and is then fed to promote population growth of select species, which is then applied.
300
Name 5 crops that are stored in the cold cooler
Kale, Chard, lettuce, carrots, parsley, cilantro, etc
300
Squash Vine Borer
400
What are advantages and limitations of a tine weeder?
It can control weeds within the crop row as well as between rows. It can be adjusted to be more or less aggressive. It does not work well for larger, well established weeds, or when the soil is wet or has a hard crust.
400
This solanacae comes in varieties such as "Diamond" and "Ping Tung Long"
Eggplant
400
Explain the strategy of stale seed bedding
First, disturb the soil to disrupt and kill weeds while knowing that this will cause other weeds seeds within the "Seed Bank" of the soil to germinate. Next, provide a little irrigation over the next few days to get these new weed seeds to germinate. Once they are small thread like plants, do a very light disturbance to kill these baby weeds. Directly after this, you can direct seed or transplant your preferred crop
400
Name 5 crops that are stored in the warm cooler
tomatoes, peppers, squash, basil, eggplant, okra, etc
400
Describe how the farm team decides which crops are selected for the CSA. (hint - this is gunna be a long answer)
Team work makes the dream work
500
How can a small grain crop added to a corn/soybean rotation increase profits even though the small grain is much less profitable than the other two crops? What STC principle does this illustrate?
It reduces expenses for the other crops by helping control weeds and allowing time for a cover crop that can reduce fertilizer needs and improve soil health. The whole is more than the sum of the parts.
500
This crop belongs to the Mallows family and is planted with 2 rows per bed and 1 foot spacing within each row.
Okra
500
Name 3 cover crops we use on the farm. Name the main functions each of them serve to manage soil fertility?
rye, barley, clover, sorghum-sudan, daikon/tillage radish, canola, soybean, corn,
500
What indicator helps us know that it's time to harvest the microgreens.
The emergence of a true leaf and/or they are starting to fall over
500
Leaf Miner