July 2009

July 10, 2009

Stinger Herbicide Application

Spoke with Will at Carovail, Waterville. He is interested in spraying the willow field with Stinger. We will work out exact date for spraying sometime next week.

July 15, 2009

Stinger Applied on Willow Field

Today, Will at Carovail applied Stinger to the willow field.

July 17, 2009

Site Visit after Stinger Application

This afternoon, I (John Pumilio) took Ede Walker (a local farmer from Smyrna, 10 miles from Colgate) to the willow plot. She currently grows willow - mainly for the florist trade (curly willow) - but expressed interest in possibly growing bio-mass willow varieties on her 159 acres. She has upwards of 70 acres that could be used for willow biomass to support Colgate's energy needs. We had a nice visit and will keep in touch as to the development of our plot and a possible relationship sometime down the road.

This was my first visit to the willow field since June 25 and have not seen the property since the application of Stinger was applied (two days ago). Three things were obvious:

1. the weeds were pervasive and covered the entire plot (dense and forming a blanket in some sections). They were wilting since the spraying a couple of days ago but it is clear that the second spraying of herbicide was a necessary step in this process. [We were considering pulling weeds by hand with volunteers but this would have been a herculean task given the spread of the weeds].
2. Deer browse was on all three strains (they chewed off the tops) covering the edges and parts of the interior of the plot. We'll have to keep an eye on this to see how problematic it becomes.
3. The willows that we hand planted on June 25th were growing leaves and appeared to be doing quite well.

July 23, 2009

Site Visit with Dr. Timothy Volk and Dr. Thomas Buchholz of SUNY ESF

Tim and Thomas met John Pumilio at the willow plot this morning. Here are the key observations/recommendations from our visit:

• The Tully variety was the most heavily browsed by deer. This variety was quite stunted and is facing serious competition from other weeds.
• The Stinger application (from July 15) has wilted the goldenrod and is having a serious impact on this potentially troublesome plant (for our purposes). Stinger is not slowing down the milkweed, wild carrot, yellow mustard, and grass. As long as the willow stays above these weeds and continues to build a solid root system we should be ok. Tim was most concerned about the grass and the yellow mustard as they can grow fast and take over the site.
  

Next Steps:

1. watch and wait: need to keep an eye on the weed growth and the amount of browsing.
2. invite Tim and Dennis Rak to re-visit the plot in early August
3. Tim suggested that we consider mechanical weed control sometime in mid-August. Any farmer with a cultivator should be able to dig up the weeds between rows.