Goldenrod

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Monday, October 5. 2009

This old hillside pasture is worn-out, but it does produce a good crop of Goldenrod. Unfortunately, there is no market for it.

Posted by Bird Dog at 05:03 | Comments (13) | Trackbacks (0)

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Really? City people in Wisconsin buy it as a flower at the farmers' market. I look at it and think, "weed."

#1 class factotum (Link) on 2009-10-05 09:44 (Reply)

Ahhh. Ahhhh. AAAAAHHHHHCHHHOOOOOOO! sniff Where's my ROUNDUP?

#2 j on 2009-10-05 11:22 (Reply)

I really should drink more coffee before posting.That "j" is me.

#3 JoeC on 2009-10-05 11:23 (Reply)

JoeC, goldenrod is not a source of allergens. Its pollen is too large to act as a sneezemaker. People tend to associate it with their ragweed allergies in late summer and autumn, because goldenrod blooms about the same time, and ragweed is so nondescript it is essentially invisible.

#4 Dan D on 2009-10-05 11:54 (Reply)

If it's marketable commodity you want:

have the extension service give you a soil analysis

Lime and fertilize to recommendations

Plow down old pasture and reseed with good hay seed mix

Or kill the old pasture and no-till drill seed into it

Cut and sell hay, or have someone do it for you on shares.

#5 CT on 2009-10-05 12:13 (Reply)

Yeah, that would work. Expensive, though. Not worth the trouble for a 15-acre field with a lot of rock ledge.

#5.1 bd on 2009-10-05 14:57 (Reply)

Do as you wish, but there are several options if you would care to maintain productivity. The least costly is to topdress with fertilizer and mow it repeatedly to encourage grass and discourage weeds. Frost seed some clover into it.

Topdressing lime would be handy, and if the price bothers you then consider it is amortized over 10-15 years. balance that against the cost of semi-annual mowing to keep the brush out.

You should make a profit, and if you do it on shares you should at least cover your taxes.

You know why I work at reclaiming land as a farmer? because some old gentleman, now departed, worked hard to clear timber and dig stumps. Just seems respectful provided there is a nickel in it for me.

#5.1.1 CT on 2009-10-05 18:36 (Reply)

You may want to check around because just as you can dig and sell ginseng roots so too can you sell goldenrod.

#6 Kurt on 2009-10-05 12:42 (Reply)

Keep the goldenrod around to help conceal your pot plants

#7 hayman on 2009-10-05 20:05 (Reply)

If it's anything like my fields, I bet there's a bunch of bees. butterflies and moths that find it very suitable.

But if you want to replace it, see the extension service and ask about trees. They're a long term project for sure but very low maintenance.

#8 joated (Link) on 2009-10-05 20:09 (Reply)

If you do as CT suggests and start selling a hay crop from it, would not all your inputs be tax deductable? At least you would be sending a little less money to Obama in the short run. It's a shame to see a field grow up to weeds.

#9 feeblemind on 2009-10-06 12:09 (Reply)

You know, the Goldenrod used to be the state flower of Alabama. After many years, someone finally told the legislature that the Goldenrod is technically a weed. Now the state flower is the Camelia.

#10 Granddaddy Long Legs (Link) on 2009-10-07 11:31 (Reply)

Golden rod is an ideal biomass feed stock for making grass pellets for heating. The grass pellets burn in wood pellet stoves and can be a source of carbon neutral local heat. In fact, the average house can be heated on between one and two acres of fallow land. One large bale of gold rod is the equivalent of about 40 gallons of heating oil. You can see some videos documenting this at: http://thinkingglobalactinglocal.com/heating.html
(Disclosure: it's my website) Also look at:
http://thinkingglobalactinglocal.com/heating/making-grass-pellets.html

#11 Stan Hirson (Link) on 2009-11-02 18:42 (Reply)

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Monday, October 5. 2009

Goldenrod