Category: Uncategorized

Applying Field Bindweed Gall Mites

Wrapping parts of field bindweed plants from the nursery infected with Gall Mites around field bindweed plants in the South Plains. Introducing the beneficial Gall Mite to help control this noxious weed.

Some time back I wrote a blog post about using some biological methods for controlling field bindweed (click here to read). I liked the idea of introducing the Field Bindweed Gall Mite (Aceria malherbae) to areas of field bindweed and hoping they would help to keep this weed from taking over fields. Sounds easy till you try finding the mites!

Most of the information pointed me to the State of Colorado and Nina Louden Biocontrol Specialist with the Colorado Department of Agriculture. The first thing Nina asked me, “Do you have a USDA permit to allow us to ship “biological control agents” across state lines?” At that time, I didn’t even know there was a need for a permit, but I soon found out you can apply for one online. There was much in the application process I didn’t understand but overall, it was simple and easy. I got my “permit” as you can see below

USDA Permit to ship and apply Field Bindweed Gall Mites

I sent Nina the USDA permit by email and her response back was we will ship you the Gall Mites on Monday of the next week to arrive by noon on Tuesday. The mites are harvested in Colorado from growing field bindweed by simply cutting off pieces of field bindweed that are infected with the mites and shipping them in a cooler with cold packs. My next call was to Carl Pepper, South Plains Organic Cotton Farmer to see if he was able to help me put out the mites on one of his fields.

Field bindweed with the Gall Mites on the plant are harvested and sent to us for distribution.

Carl and his family had a perfect location next to an organic cotton field. The area between the county road and the field was infested with field bindweed and the weed was growing out in the cotton rows where Carl could not plow it out. We put the gall mites into two 10′ X 10′ squares well marked and will monitor their “survivability” and ultimately measure their spread out from the 10′ X 10′ area to the field.

Carl Pepper is applying the field bindweed pieces to the existing field bindweed plants in his field. We did this by wrapping the pieces around the existing plants. The mites will move from the old plants to the new looking for fresh food sources.

Will it work? I don’t think any of us know for sure, but we have to try! The field bindweed gall mite is not going to eradicate field bindweed on the South Plains. But our hope is that as the field bindweed comes out each spring the gall mite is also out and feeding on the field bindweed. This will significantly slow the growth of the bindweed and hopefully keep it in check. Something we don’t have now!

Click on the picture above to read this publication about the Gall Mite and how Colorado State Department of Agriculture ships them out. This service was free of charge and very easy to do. I hope to get more to release in other places soon.

Tyler Cox is the new Texas TOPP Program Coordinator

As many of you know Timber Darnell, our first Texas TOPP Program Coordinator moved to be with family in Nebraska. She did a great job getting things up and running for Texas TOPP but now I am glad to introduce you to Tyler Cox who is starting August 1st. 

Tyler has an undergraduate degree from Tarleton State University in agricultural services and development and he just recently finished his master’s degree in spring of 2024 in agricultural and consumer resources with an emphasis in agribusiness.  Tyler will be down the hall from me at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Stephenville but expect to see him out and about at many Texas meetings.  He is responsible for developing programs that reach out to folks interested in organic agriculture and help any who want to transition to organic.  He will also be working on some organic research and extension programs that help organic producers and increase our overall organic knowledge

Cover Crops in South Plains Cotton – Not possible, or is it?

Carl Pepper Farm Tour – Spring of 2023

I was scrolling through my LinkedIn this morning (Monday, July 15, 2024) and saw a post by Dr. Joseph Burke that I just had to check out!

Just click on the picture to read the full research paper!

I am going to cut through all the information in the full-text and give you a look at the mini version. Let’s start with the abstract from the first page.

Abstract: By improving soil properties, cover crops can reduce wind erosion and sand damage to emerging cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) plants. However, on the Texas High Plains, questions regarding cover crop water use and management factors that affect cotton lint yield are common and limit conservation adoption by regional producers. Studies were conducted near Lamesa, Texas, USA, in 2017–2020 to evaluate cover crop species selection, seeding rate, and termination timing on cover crop biomass production and cotton yield in conventional and no-tillage systems. The no-till systems included two cover crop species, rye (Secale cereale L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and were compared to a conventional tillage system. The cover crops were planted at two seeding rates, 34 (30.3 lbs./ac.) and 68 kg ha (60.7 lbs./ac.), and each plot was split into two termination timings: optimum, six to eight weeks prior to the planting of cotton, and late, which was two weeks after the optimum termination. Herbage mass was greater in the rye than the wheat cover crop in three of the four years tested, while the 68 kg ha (60.7 lbs./ac.) seeding rate was greater than the low seeding rate in only one of four years for both rye and wheat. The later termination timing produced more herbage mass than the optimum in all four years. Treatments did not affect cotton plant populations and had a variable effect on yield. In general, cover crop biomass production did not reduce lint production compared to the conventional system.

This last statement, “cover crops did not reduce lint production,” is hugely significant and yet it is exactly what many organic cotton producers have been saying for years!

Temperature and Rainfall data during the study

To continue the “mini version” of the research let’s turn to the Summary and Conclusions on page 9 of the research paper.

The semi-arid Texas High Plains presents challenging early-season conditions for cotton producers. Cover crops can help mitigate erosion and protect cotton seedlings from wind and sand damage without reducing yields compared to conventional practices if managed appropriately. Effective cover crop management is needed to optimize cotton lint yield compared to conventional tillage systems. We focused on three cover crop management practices: species selection, seeding rate, and termination timing. With regard to species selection, rye produced greater herbage mass in three of the four years. The seeding rate had less of an effect on herbage mass; doubling the seeding rate from 34 to 68 kg ha (30.3 – 60.7 lbs./ac.) did not contribute to increased herbage mass. This change in seeding rate only causes an increase in seed costs, and this trend held true for both species and termination timings. Termination timing had the most significant effect on herbage mass, with a two-week delay in termination timing, increasing herbage mass production from 44 to 63%. At the targeted termination time of six to eight weeks before planting, rye and wheat experienced increased growth as they transitioned from vegetative to reproductive growth. This critical period makes termination timing an essential aspect of herbage mass management. Termination timing can also impact the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio, where higher C:N at later growth stages can increase N immobilization. While water availability or allelopathy concerns are cited as risks for cotton germination and emergence when using cover crops, cotton plant populations were not affected in this study.

Cotton lint yields were not impacted by increasing cover crop herbage mass, except in 2018, when greater wheat biomass resulted in decreased lint yield compared to the conventional system. In each year, wheat or rye at a 34 kg ha (30.3 lbs./ac.) seeding rate and optimum termination timing resulted in cotton lint yields not different than the Conventional Treatment. While yield potentials can differ between years depending on precipitation and temperatures, effective cover crop management can help sustain cotton lint yields when compared to conventional treatments. Rye seed tends to cost more than wheat, but it grows more rapidly and could be terminated earlier to allow for increased moisture capture and storage between termination and cotton planting. (below is the final sentence in the paper and summarizes well the entire study)

“This research demonstrates that with effective cover crop management, the implementation of conservation practices can be successful in semi-arid cropping systems.“

TDA Organic Cost Share Signup

I got an email yesterday afternoon (July 10, 2024) from the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) that they had posted the information for the National Organic Cost Share program. You can go to the website here (TDA Cost Share Program) to get all the information you need including the application. This cost share allows you up to $750 towards your organic certification and the application is fairly easy to work through. The deadline is Thursday, November 1, 2024!

Payment Amount

Payments are limited to 75% of an individual producer’s certification costs, up to a maximum of $750 per certificate or category of certification, per year. Eligible operations may receive one reimbursement per year per certificate or certification scope (if one certificate includes multiple scope certifications). Each certificate may be reimbursed separately. Likewise, each category of certification may be reimbursed separately. Example with one certificate
Scenario 1 
Certificate cost -$1500 x75% = $1125, Cost Share = $750 (maximum) 
Scenario 2 
Certificate cost – $630 x75% = $472.50, Cost Share = $472.50

Farm Service Agency is also taking applications, but I think you might find this a little easier to do.

An Update (2024) to: Can you grow raspberries in Texas?

This is an update to an article written in Spring of 2022 that is now down below. This update is to show how I have taken the information from Jacy Lewis, Extension Horticulturist, for growing raspberries in Texas and adapted it to my home garden. Maybe it will work for you.

I was given some raspberry plants by my Extension Horticulture daughter Kate last year (Spring 2023) and I didn’t cover them – like I should or like Jacy says down below! So, they grew very well but the intense sun and heat last year began to wear them down and by the end of summer I thought they all had died.

Fortunately, they returned with a vengeance this spring and are spreading like wildfire. But unfortunately, the intense heat and sun of the last ten days of June/July has begun to “fire” them up. Tips were browning and I knew I had to do something. This tunnel below was put up in minutes with the help of my wife holding things up till I could “hammer” them in or tie them down. This is more tunnel than I need right now but eventually I will let them grow to fill it up.

I built this tunnel from some materials I use for winter gardening. I like to use 10-foot electrical conduit as “hoops” for plastic tunnels in the winter. You can bend them on a shop table easily into half circles. This makes a nice 10′ half-moon for a tunnel or in this case a shade cover. I bought a 10 X 13 50% shade cloth in black since I couldn’t find red and white was in sizes too big. This was only $30, and you know gardeners spare no expense to grow plants!

Since I use these tunnels a lot, I built me some stakes that are quite handy. I just weld a cut chain link onto a 3/8ths rebar about halfway up. Half goes in the ground and the other half is sticking up to put the conduit on.

You can see in this picture below that some of the shoots are showing the burn injury of intense sun but since putting up the shade cloth almost all the shoots have new tip growth, and that young growth is really looking good even in 100-degree temperatures. Hard to see but in the back of this picture are lots of new raspberries on about 4 shoots!

Last thought to consider! This idea does have a big drawback, but I didn’t have a choice. How do you pick the raspberries? Right now, it is really easy to just crawl in and pick but eventually that won’t work. But it is July, and the sun is intense so do what you can when you can!

Growing Raspberries in Texas? Yes, you can!

The rest of this article below was written in Spring of 2022 after a tour of the Fredericksburg facility. I was quite impressed with the idea so knew I had to try my own. Read about the research below:

If you have lived in Texas very long you will learn that you can’t grow raspberries here! They struggle with our hot summers, both heat and intense sunlight are tough! I know, I have tried…

That was the way of thinking till Jacy Lewis, Program Manager at the Extension Viticulture and Sustainable Fruit Applied Research Program in Fredericksburg began to experiment with a very different environment for raspberry growing. For the last couple of years, she has looked at many different varieties grown under 3 different colors of shade cloth.

The experiment is continuing but so far, the fruit has outstanding flavor with intense sweetness, yields are good, and the plants are doing very well. Most raspberry plants, Dorman Red is the most recommended, perform very poorly and eventually just die. These plants are doing just the opposite with good fruit set, great limb growth and lots of vigor. The experimental shade cloth colors are red, black and white and so far, the red is looking slightly better, but the experiment is far from over.

Organic growers pay attention! There are very little disease or insect issues growing raspberries and they love organic fertilizers. The organic market for raspberries is $3 for conventional 6-ounce packages and $5 for organic 6-ounce packages. My sources say they can sell all the organic they can get!

Great Article on Growing Raspberries in Tunnels in North Carolina

Just click the picture to read it!

Breaking Berry Boundaries by Simon Gonzalez 

Where are the Organic Farms and Organic Handlers located?

The maps below are an attempt to help you see and know what and where organic in Texas is located. There is a lot going on in this well over $1 Billion dollar a year industry! You can click on the individual maps to see a larger picture.

This map of the 418 organic farms/certificates across the state of Texas gives you an up-close look at where organic farms are located. As you can see there are 278 farms or 66.5% of all organic farms located from the South Plains to the High Plains. These farms are mostly cotton and peanuts with a huge concentration of dairies located in an area west and north of Amarillo. The rice belt includes farms on either side of Houston and these farms do other organic crops in rotation with rice. Vegetable/fruit farms can be found in many places in the state but there is a concentration in the Rio Grande Valley.

This handler group buys farm products from organic producers or perhaps they manufacture an organic product for use on an organic farm. Basically, they are in the organic business and are regulated like an organic farm. Organic begins on the farm in the soil and stays organic till it is packaged!

Most folks don’t even think about organic handlers or what their business might be. I will call your attention to a blog post I wrote about organic handlers a few years ago. Organic Handlers The majority of these handler companies are located in or around cities but notice the 117 at the Rio Grande Valley. The majority of those companies bring in organic imports from Mexico and either store them or package them for delivery into the United States.

Currently (August 2024) there are 577 Organic Handlers up from 428 just last year. Why the jump? Well, we now have Strengthening Organic Enforcement (SOE) in place and those rules are demanding that the organic value chain be certified, completely certified! That has meant that brokers and even truckers have had to get an organic certification to ensure that they were held accountable for the organic products they “touched.” The consumer likes to be able to trace the products they buy and now certified organic is traced from the farm to the consumer.

Other Organic Program Information