EXPERIMENT
Maize sown in vetch
Now I know rye and vetch will flower simultaneously I’m going to add some rye to the vetch next year. There were severe problems with pucerons in the pure vetch stand. In part no doubt due to the poor state of the soil, but I think in part due to a lack of diversity and physical support for the viney vetch. I used the same sowing schedule and techniques as for the soya.
Vetch at the beginning of flowering. Heavy presence of aphids, leading to the need to mow large areas in an attempt to save what remained.
Same vetch sown the same day but where it had chicory as a support. Same fence post as in the above photo. No aphids.
The band across the middle has been killed by aphids. In all the farm fields I inherited enormous populations of dock and thistle. By this stage, hundreds of docks were coming through the vetch. I decided to stick with it on the basis that if this system is going to work it needs to work in conditions that are not optimal. I also hoped that most of the docks might also be in flower when I rolled the vetch, and then maybe they would be eliminated before seeding.
Vetch after rolling and sowing the maize.
Maize 23rd June
Maize 7th July
Maize 23rd July
RETURNS COMPARISON
Maize in Vetch | Maize Control | |
---|---|---|
Profit (€) | 729 | - 73 |
Yield (tonnes) | 5.50 | 4.00 |
Sale price (250 €/tonne) | 1375 € | 1000 € |
Production costs | 646 € | 1073 € |
PRODUCTION COST COMPARISON
based on the official price list for field operations
PRODUCTION COST | Maize in rolled vetch - €/ha | Maize control - €/ha |
---|---|---|
TOTAL | 646 | 1073 |
Vetch seeds | 99 | 99 |
Maize seeds | 250 | 250 |
Cultivator | 50 | 48 |
Discs | 50 | 52 |
Sowing of vetch | 57 | 57 |
Rolling & sowing of Maize | 60 | |
Mowing vetch | 51 | |
Discs | 52 | |
Rotary hoe | 60 | |
sowing of Maize | 42 | |
Tine weeder | 29 | |
1st inter row hoeing | 55 | |
Tine weeder | 29 | |
2nd inter row hoeing | 55 | |
Tine weeder | 29 | |
3rd inter row hoeing | 55 | |
Manual weeding of Datura | 30 | |
Harvest | 80 | 80 |