Organic Fusarium...

[farmaholic]

Hobby, this wasn't intended to pit conventional against organic, if you see it that way, too bad. I am not going to reiterate what I've already said. I'm looking for honest answers and wondering if organics are up against the same problems conventionals are regarding disease and fusarium in wheat, durum and barley.

[BreadWinner]

I don't think heavy trash is the carrier but it provides a cool wet environment for the spores to multiply. I still think the carrier is the wind.

[hobbyfrmr]

Farmaholic,

I apologize, I cannot help you, or anyone on this subject.

[wmoebis]

I wonder if the CGC could shed some light from results of harvest survey.

[freewheat]

I wonder about the lack of a thick canopy of heads in organic fields?

[sumdumguy]

Basically, I don't thimk it matters much where the spores originate. The wind or whatever, but one thing I do know is that the 4 fields that we burned the stubble black prior to seeding had none while the rest had 4% despite being sprayed twice. Makes me think standing straw(and too much moisture) enables Fusarium to establish and attack developing durum. We also grow Glenn wheat near Regina, no Fusarium but it was seeded into Mustard stubble.

[grefer]

I talked to broker today who farms organically as well. I asked him if he has seen a noticeable difference in fusarium between conventional and organic. Absolutely was his answer. He also added that a conventional farming neighbour's durum was a write off. He said this fellow makes every effort to max his yields. Balls to the wall as sf3 would say. He also said that he(the broker)had grown and durum this year organically and it was fine.

[parsley]

Two cents worth...soil has to breathe. Even your lawn needs to be rooted around every once in awhile. Is continuous cropping year after year, a recipe for a breeding-ground for disease? Just wondering. Pars

[LEP]

Don't know parsley wonder what kind of a mess they hadve in the grassland national park on land never broken.

I always wonder when those from the old school says the land needs to be tilled. We'll it was in grass for hundreds of years before it was broken.

I agree that under intensive agriculture to maximize production you need diversity.

I have friends in the banking business that say when farmers says they are going organic,he knows 75% wil have an auction sale within five years. So it isn't the answer to everything.

[Braveheart]

In a word, no. The soil on the plains originated with plants that grew and were consumed by grazing animals. The mirror image of above ground foliage to root mass expanded and contracted with the cycle of growth and grazing. This mineralization cycle left behind the organic matter that produced our soils. It was always covered. It should always be covered.

Continuous cropping without crop rotation will surely lead to disease issues. But, are you suggesting fallow? Disaster for soil as loss of organic matter, erosion, and increased salinity will follow. Also, we're trying to sink carbon in the soil, not release it and burn up fossil fuel in doing so.

They've found fossilized fusarium spores thousands of years old. Conditions were right for it then. Conditions are right now.

I've seen an organic farmer struggle with fusarium so badly he has now returned to conventional farming to access fungicides.

Rotate crops. Hope plant breeders breed or genetically modify plants for resistance.

Endophytes and fungi from pea crops show bio control promise as well.

As far as soil breathing, that's what our earthworms do for us.