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SOIL HEALTH IN PRACTICE - REAL SOLUTIONS FROM REAL FARMERS

Growing Hemp Using No-Till and Cover Crops followed up with hand hoeing to get any weeds that were
directly on the row. One key observation was where hairy
I’ve been interested in growing hemp since I attended a vetch was a part of the cover crop mix, the CBD hemp was
meeting back in 1999 regarding its many uses. When it the best! The remaining 47 acres was direct seeded using
was legalized in my state of Pennsylvania, I dove right in! our 30” Kinze no-till corn planter. It is set up with Precision
Not only growing this new—yet very old—crop but doing Planting meters. We used sugar beet seed discs and glued
so using cover crops and no-till. Unlike other cash crops, every other hole shut to get the lower seeding rate needed.
hemp is quick growing and mostly disease and insect resis- This was planted after small grain harvest where the straw
tant, so I believe we can all but eliminate many of the inputs had been baled. As we expected, weed control was lacking
typically used. and there are not any herbicides labeled for hemp. Those

Year 1 fields were weedy and did not amount to much!
Since my whole farm was planted in cover crops anyway, I What We Will Do Different in 2020
had a good start. The various cover crop mixes were sprayed In preparation for the upcoming year, we have increased
with a pint of glyphosate and roller crimped, starting the the percentage of hairy vetch for fields where we plan to
end of May and finishing up the middle of June—the prime- plant hemp. I believe we can all but eliminate nitrogen and
time CBD hemp planting season. herbicides. I still want to try direct seeding, but into a heavy
cover crop this year as we need that for weed control. I’d
like to develop a mower that
will be tractor mounted and
cut between multiple rows at
a time.
I believe hemp holds prom-
ise to help farmers now in
the weak economic cycle
that most of agriculture is
I then planted a mix of clovers (Dutch White, Aberlasting, currently in. But there are
and Red) and some low growing perennial grasses like they dangers associated with a
use for “the rough” in golf courses. The intention was to new industry that is literally forming before our eyes. Learn
keep something growing in the soil and provide both weed all you can. Start small. Be wise in who you deal with in
control and N production from the clovers. Most impor- selling the crop.
tantly the cover crops needed to be low growing so as not
to interfere with the CBD hemp which is planted in a 5 ft by I have launched an educational endeavor that brings in-
terested growers together where we can ask and answer
5 ft spacing. These 23 acres were then no-till transplanted
using my vegetable transplanter that I built in the late 90’s. questions regarding growing this crop that is new to most
of us. Learn more about Hemp Innovators by going to:
www.hempInnovators.com.

Photos by Steve Groff

We then mowed those fields three times using a small By Steve Groff • Holtwood, PA
walk-behind sickle bar mower to control weeds and to keep Steve Groff is a research-based farmer, agricultural
consultant, speaker & author based in Lancaster
the low growing cover crops to a short height. We did have County PA. He has 25 years of experience in cover
an acre where we applied no glyphosate and discovered that crop research and has deep roots in studying cover
we didn’t need that application. Each time we mowed, we crops and hemp planting.

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