July 23, 2010 - Deer Browse Contained

Today, I visited the plot and the situation is improved. It appears the deer browse has ceased (incredible!). The deer deterrent (Invisible Fence) Ian and I sprayed two weeks ago worked. The willow are starting to recover and I noticed new growth. The plants are still small (2-3 feet on average). The tallest were about 5 feet tall. The field is loaded with Queen Anne's Lace. It was raining today and I will go back and get better pictures once the rain clears.

June 2010

June 8, 2010 - Post by John Pumilio

Today, I took some photos of the willow plot. Click here to see them.

Here is an overview of what I observed:

• The field was full of weeds/plants including thick growth of wild strawberry, raspberry (in places), wildflowers, some quack grass, and other types of vegetation I did not identify.
• The willow were heavily browsed. It appears the deer are targeting the willow and leaving most of the other plants alone. This creates a double-whammy as the willows are forced to complete with weeds while undergoing selective browsing by the deer.
• The average willow plant appeared to be between 1-2 feet high (a few may have been approaching 2.5 feet.
• The willow were attempting to branch outward (bush-like) but in a few places it appeared single stems were growing. This may be in response to try and out-reach all the competing weeds/plants.
• In some places it was difficult to find willow plants. They may not have taken or they were completely overwhelmed by other growth.

June 8, 2010 - Reply from Dennis Rak to John Pumilio

There was a very good population of willow there this spring when we coppiced. There had been a lot of deer browsing last year but I thought that they could outgrow it this year. I did not expect the plot to be weed free but with the browsing the plants cannot get ahead and shade anything out. Let me ck my schedule, I may have to come up and try to do some mechanical tillage to set the weeds back until the willow gets ahead of it.

June 25, 2010 - Dennis rototilled the plot
Today, Dennis Rak came with his rototiller and uplifted the weeds between the rows that were competing with the willow shoots.
We'll need to apply Stinger in the next week or two to get further deal with the rest of the weeds.
Dennis is concerned about the deer browse (said he has never seen anything like it!) and left us some deer deterrent to spray on the field. Dennis even said deer were eating on one end of the plot while he was rototilling the other.

For more information on the Willow Biomass project and sustainability, go to Colgate's main renewable energy website at: http://www.colgate.edu/about/sustainability/renewableenergysystems

Spring 2010 - Coppicing

March 25, 2010
I spoke with Dennis Rak this afternoon and he is going to try and bring his sickle mower towards the end of next week. Colgate will have to get the tractor. Dennis will call me back to confirm date.

April 5, 2010
Talked with Dennis Rak today and he will be out this week to cut willow shoots. He will bring tractor and sickle-bar mower.

April 6, 2010

Based on the weather and schedule we are going to come out and coppice on Friday. Ken Blitz will drive up Thursday night so he can get started early Friday and get the job done. He will also be able to do an assessment of the field at that time and decide if we need to do any tillage or herbicide work. He will be bringing the tractor and sickle bar mower so we will not need anything from you.

The early spring has made us scramble a bit here but we are dealing with it. I am actually going to come along with Ken Blitz and work with him on the coppice and may do a bit of inter planting if necessary. If we coppice a little higher that will not be a problem. Since the plants are growing it is too late for pre-emergence herbicides but we can do some tilliage or post emergence work if necessary. We will also want to fertilize this spring in the next few weeks.

I expect to be at the field by 8am on Friday (April 9).

-Dennis J Rak


April 9, 2010
The field was coppiced!

April 22, 2010
My suggestion would be to apply Assure II herbicide at a rate of 12 OZ per acre. There is also a surfactant called for on the label. This should be applied when the quack grass is 6-10 inches tall. For Fertilizer I would apply 200 lbs of 46-0-0 per acre in the next few weeks. That should take care of the primary week problem and get the willow growing rapidly so it can overtake any other weed competition.

-Dennis J Rak
www.doubleavineyards.com
www.doubleawillow.com

April 22, 2010I, John Pumilio, called Tom at Carovail, Waterville, with the label for Assure II and they will come to campus early next week to apply the herbicide. I will have to call them again (mid-May) for the fertilizer application.

April 30, 2010
Tom from Carovail applied Assure II herbicide to kill off the quack grass.

May 19, 2010
The willow plants themselves are regrowing and leafing out after the cutting. They range in height from about 3" - 12". I'm going to move ahead with an application of fertilizer.

May 19, 2010

Today, Carovail applied fertilizer (46-0-0) to our willow plot.

November 2009

Ian’s summary of Willow Plot planting based upon GPS observations (November 25th, 2009)

• The double row parallel to and closest to Hamilton street is 650 feet long.
• The full-length double row parallel to and farthest from Hamilton Street is 580 feet long.
• The right side of the field extends less far back than the left side, and in general the double rows are in some places rather difficult to distinguish amidst all the other competing growth. Moreover – and this is big – the identifying markers that were placed by Dennis Rak on the right side of the field to distinguish the 3 varieties have disappeared. I had difficulty distinguishing the dividing lines between the three species in their absence, although I could return to attempt that task (it will be obvious in the spring). I BELIEVE that the 3rd of the field closest to the road consists of Fish Creek willow, the second 3rd of SV1, and the 3rd farthest from the road of Tully Champion (this is based on the receipt and memory).
• Walking from the right side row closest to road to the right side row farthest from the road there are, to my best count, 106 rows (53 double rows).Walking from the left side row closest to road to the left side row farthest from the road there are, to my best count, 126 rows (63 double rows).

Next steps: I think we need to create a map/diagram of the field, as well as to re-identify the species and number of rows devoted to each species. We should also reconfirm the numbers (the foot-length measurements are solid).

September 2009

I talked to Dennis Rak this afternoon (September 10th, 2009). He will be sure to make it to campus in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, he reiterated his confidence that the willow is established and our plot is in good condition (despite the growth of weeds).

August 2009

On August 18th, 2009, I called Dennis Rak to get his input on next steps for the willow plot. He was on vacation on the West Coast. He will be back in town in a couple of weeks and will come and visit the plot. He didn't seem overly concerned about the deer browse or weed growth but wants to see the plot for himself to be sure. I inquired as to whether or not I should just go forward with the cultivation but he said a couple more weeks wouldn't make a big difference and it would be ok to wait.

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.