Let the Mulching Begin!

Wednesday, May 30.

Applied second batch of Wet Spent Brewers Grains (WSBG) today.  First a notes about the first mulching, which took place on Sunday 5/27.

Had about 56 gals worth of grain which covered 22 feet of the 40 feet I needed for the first replication.  Some observations:  Wet brewer's grain is stinky...especially as it ages.  The spacing of 8" was a blessing because it makes applying the grain much easier; closer spacing would have made it more difficult because I am trying hard to keep the grain away from the base of the onion plants by about a half inch. 

Some calculations:  The brewer used 165 lbs of dry grain to brew a Belgian Style Beer on Monday 5/21, that yielded approximately 214.5 lbs of WSBG (a 30% increase from dry weight).  This amount of grain yielded approximately 55 gallons of WSBG.  This was the first batch of grain I used to mulch.

The second batch of grain was from a Hefeweizen and 220 lbs dry grain yielded about 286 lbs WSBG...about 66 gallons of WSBG.

Application of the grain is manual.  I suspect a smart farmer with mechanization could find a way to apply it with a tractor, but hand mulching is my method.

Because I'm working to get everything mulched with the grain first, I opted to start mulching the second replication rather than finishing the first. I also wanted to see what type of area this amount of mulch will cover.  Consistent application is difficult, but the first batch of WSBG (214.5 lbs) mulched 22 feet, which equaled 9.75 lbs per foot.  The second batch of WSBG (286 lbs) mulched 32 feet which equaled 8.9375 lbs per foot.

The brewer I am getting grains from is small (nano, actually), so I am now looking to source more grain from larger breweries in the area so I that the mulching can be done in relatively close proximity. 

The depth of grain is approximately 1/2 inch, and I will be adding to it as time goes on to attain a 1" high mulch

I am hoping to mulch with Straw this weekend and have all mulched areas completed by June 9.

After mulching both areas, I am running the overhead irrigation system for 45 minutes to settle the mulch down and to minimize the smell, which smells something like puke. Fun!

Soil samples were taken before planting, but I have yet to send them in.

10, 6, 2

Those are the planting distances on a measuring tape for 8" spaced onions.  Started to plant today for the SARE Farmer's Grant and will finish tomorrow.  Started with a jig, but soon realized it was too hard to use it for the amount of linear footage that needed planting.  Instead, resorted to laying lines, and dibbling with a long tool handle the distances along the line.  Having done this already several times, I knew a pattern would emerge.

Not the only change today; committed to planting two types of onions rather than two shallots and two cippolini.  Reason prevailed: getting an equal distribution of 4 different varieties, not to mention accommodating for 6 different plant ages was a logistical nightmare.  Couple that with the real possibility that I still would not have had enough with the Shallot/Cippolini mix to encompass the entire proposed area.

So, the winners are: Ailsa Craig Exhibition Onion and Red Marble Cippolini's from Johnny's.  The switch will allow me to compare small vs. large onions under a wet spent brewer's grain mulch.

Planting moon tonight: and one that is at perigee, so it will be an interesting anecdotal side study to see if the moon has any effect on plant development.