Field Day 2 May 3rd 2012 - Rawsome Crop Management Practices

Week Three - sowing of seeds, involving whole group. Week Four a timetable was devised to ensure the plot was watered every second day. This may have resulted in doubling up on some days and missing out on others, but overall it seemed not to have impacted the plot in a negative way. Every second day we put two watering cans on the plot. Relocation of germinated seeds to bare patches of plot to place a week after sowing. Week Five - watered as with Week 4. Ben had a great idea to add 3 snail and bug traps filled with beer to the southern edge of plot, with egg shells between traps. Traps were only put on south side as there were many plots on the north side. Ben had hoped the bugs had plenty of plots on the north side to attract them away from our plot. We didnt foresee land bugs coming from the north - only the south side.

Photo from Week 5 showing Bens bug traps

Photo from Week 5 showing growth of crop

Week Six - watering as per usual. Each group member also tried to remove weeds and other materials from the plot when they visited. Mid semester break Week Seven - watering every 2nd day with two watering cans. Late into week seven noticed that about 10-15 radishes were growing above the soil line. The majority had skin damage from bugs sampling them.

Week Eight Came up with a plan to cover the exposed radishes with soil gathered near the plot, to protect them from bugs etc. Unfortunately this procedure wasnt followed through, due to illness and laziness. Watering was left to Mother Nature, reasonably generous downfalls during this week. Week Nine - Rain has been quite substantial during the last two weeks so no watering done. The plot has been visited to check for bugs and check progress etc.

Plot coverage- 100% of planned usage of the plot had coverage. Only the little trenches that provided a boundary between the rows didnt have growth. There is more dense growth towards the south side of the plot, but this is not too noticeable. Health of crop- Compared to other plots, we are quite happy with the health of our crop. The exposed radishes may be cause for concern, but the leaves are looking quite glossy and healthy. Bens bug traps seemed to work quite well as we have not seen any snails on the crop. We used minimal fertilizers and only one packet of seeds, so perhaps this has reduced the potential number of radishes we will see, but this did keep our expenses quite minimal. Midway through week 7 the crop leaves were in very good health. The leaves were not as high as some other plots but by no means the worst. Unfortunately about 10 exposed radishes had been bitten by predators. This have provided a valuable lesson to dig the seeds in a little deeper. Unfortunately, we expect this to negatively impact the price of our radishes. Number of radishes on plot-