Controlling Invasive Species without Chemicals

By Thembi Borras

Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) and prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola) serve a purpose. Adjacent to our land, they were some of the first opportunists that colonized the acres of disturbed soil, which were bared during the course of development. When the housing market crashed in 2008 the development stalled, then stopped and will soon be in foreclosure. In the meantime, these species have done what they do very well…spread.

Canada thistle can spread 12’ to 15’ per year, vegetatively, via horizontal stems; located 6” to 12” below the soil surface and which send up frequent vertical stems. They are also very effective seed producers; a single plant produces an average of 1,500 seeds. Bull thistle and prickly lettuce are even better at producing seed. Mature bull thistle can produce up to 4,000 seeds per plant and prickly lettuce may produce more than 46,000 seeds per plant. In another adjacent area that is grazed, diffuse knapweed (Centaurea diffusa) has become prevalent. A single diffuse knapweed plant can produce up to 18,000 seeds, which are dispersed, in part, after the plant dries out, breaks off, tumbles assisted by the wind dispersing seed as it rolls until it gets stuck against a fence or shrub where it drops more seed. If I was not so busy trying to keep these species in check, without using chemicals, I would marvel at their mechanisms for survival; producing large quantities of seed, thriving in disturbed soil or in over-grazed pasture, growing aggressive root systems that spread long distances and producing seed that is effectively transported by wind, water, birds, animals and humans.

Per RCW 17.10.140 it is the landowner’s responsibility to eradicate all Class A noxious weeds and to control and prevent the spread of designated Class B and Class C noxious weeds from their property. Diffuse knapweed is identified as a Class B weed and Canada thistle and bull thistle are identified as Class C noxious weeds on the Kittitas County Noxious Weed List. Canada thistle is given special attention given the importance of the export hay market in Kittitas County and the adverse affect of Canada thistle on it. Prickly lettuce is not classified as a noxious weed; we choose to control it because we would prefer to replace it with a native plant that does not have stiff bristles that get lodged in fingers like splinters.

Chickens around the perimeter of our property are our ultimate plan; acting like little soldiers keeping the weed seeds out. However, until we find the time and money to build enough fence to realize this vision we continue to use somewhat conventional control methods. We control each plant depending on its life cycle. Using tarps and recycled pool liner we cover the patches of Canada thistle. Since Canada thistle readily propagates from stem and root fragments plowing or other soil disturbance is ineffective and can increase thistle densities. Mowing Canada thistle is effective if repeated at 7-28 day intervals for up to 4 years; mowing Canada thistle once a year is not effective. To prevent production of viable seeds, stems must be mown before the flowers open; stems with flowers that have been open 8-10 days can develop viable seeds. The bull thistle is the easiest to control, it has a two year life cycle. Plants grow vegetatively their first year as rosettes and in the second year the stems elongate and flower. Digging out or pulling up the taproot and disposing of the seed heads, if they have already gone to flower, is an effective control method. Prickly lettuce is an annual, which, this year, I pulled and weedeated before the flowers opened. However, after doing research for this narrative, I realize the plants I weedeated may produce new stems and flowers. So next year, we may have a sheep do the work for us or emphasize pulling and maybe some tarping over weed eating. Diffuse knapweed is a biennial, annual or short lived perennial that reproduces by seed. This year I pulled the plants and if the taproot did not accompany the pulled plant, I dug it up. Rototilling or plowing are effective methods of controlling knapweed if you don’t mind disturbing the soil. However, mowing is not, plants are able to resprout and flower again in the same season and plants that are regularly mowed can persist as short lived perennials or flower below the level of the mower. Grazing is not an effective control method for diffuse knapweed because it is generally unpalatable to livestock, and the spines around the flower heads may injure the mouths and digestive tracts of grazing animals. Also, the ground disturbance created by grazing creates ideal habitat for knapweed to spread. As a precaution, anyone working with diffuse knapweed or other knapweed species should wear protective gloves and avoid getting knapweed sap into open cuts or abrasions. Workers should wash their hands and exposed skin with soap and water following contact with this plant.

A word about disposal, if you can remove the plants before they go to flower, they can be left on the ground to be desiccated by exposure. If they have gone to flower, there is a chance that even after being cut or pulled, they can go to seed. It depends on the species and how long the flower has been open. To be safe if a plant has gone to flower I treat it as if it has gone to seed. This year, I took the removed plant and/or seed head to the local compost facility, where they get their piles hot enough to kill weed seeds. Last year, I bagged the material in 30 gallon heavy duty black garbage bags and let it cook in the sun for a year.

The proverb, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, is worth repeating in bringing it back around to the disturbed soil that started this narrative. If you bare the soil, and don’t take care to restore cover, nature will and it probably won’t be with desirable species. Preventing soil disturbance, in the first place, is far more cost effective than eradicating the invasive plants that may occupy it. Finally, the Kittitas County Weed Board is an excellent resource for information about identifying and controlling noxious weeds. Following is their contact information along with other relevant resources.

Kittitas County Noxious Weed Control Board (509) 962-7007 http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us/noxiousweeds/laws.asp
http://www.co.kittitas.wa.us/noxiousweeds/Weed-list.pdf

Washington State Noxious Weed Control Board. http://www.nwcb.wa.gov/

Invasipedia houses information on invasive plants and especially how to best manage them. http://wiki.bugwood.org/Invasipedia
http://wiki.bugwood.org/Cirsium_arvense
http://wiki.bugwood.org/Centaurea_diffusa

King County Noxious Weeds Index to Specific Weed Pages for Identification, Photos, Control and Other Information
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/animalsAndPlants/noxious-weeds/weed-identification.aspx
http://your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library/water-and-land/weeds/BMPs/bull-thistle-control.pdf
http://your.kingcounty.gov/dnrp/library/water-and-land/weeds/BMPs/Diffuse-Knapweed-control.pdf

University of Washington Herbarium Image Collection: Plants of Washington
http://biology.burke.washington.edu/herbarium/imagecollection.php

Washington State University Extension
http://extension.wsu.edu/nrs/noxious/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.whitman.wsu.edu/documents/Weeds/PricklyLettuce2006.pdf.

A portion of this production was gleaned from the above listed resources.

I welcome responses as well as ideas for future Forestry and the Homestead narratives. You can also get an email version by contacting me at thembi@mcn.org.

Thembi Borras is a forester and aspiring permaculturalist living and working in Kittitas County, WA USA.

Energy Conservation, Solar and Wind in Kittitas County

By Thembi Borras

Introduction
There are so many reasons to reduce your energy consumption and then meet that consumption with renewable energy. Since we purchased our home in 2007, we added insulation, replaced windows, sealed leaks and installed a solar water heating system. We took these steps to insulate ourselves from rising energy costs and because it made economic sense; the solar water heating system we installed will pay for itself within 11 years, based on the energy saved, and is expected to last 30 years. Whatever your reasons, the following suggestions for prioritizing will help you decide where to begin.

The first and best way to reduce the energy footprint of your home is to design it to work with the environment instead of against it. If your house already exists, energy conservation yields the largest reduction of energy in exchange for your time and money. The next biggest bang for your buck comes from directly heating water with the sun. Ironically, the most excitingly appealing improvement, a system that generates electricity from the wind or sun, is the last thing to consider, based on return on investment.

In Kittitas County, people have done all of these things and, for the most part, what they have done is working. They have built passive solar homes, they have built energy efficient homes, they have retrofitted homes to be more energy efficient, they have installed solar water heating systems and they have installed systems that produce electricity from the sun and wind. The purpose of this article is to share information and resources associated with these options based on what they have learned.

Passive Solar Design
Based on the national average, heating and cooling constitute 44% of home energy use. This amount can be reduced by half or more (even in cold climates), with little or no increase in construction costs by building a well insulated, well designed passive solar home. The goal of passive solar design is to manipulate components of the home to use the environment to heat and cool your home, without motors. The latitude of Ellensburg is 47 degrees N. At this latitude, the winter sun rises in the southeast, is low in the south sky at midday, and sets in the southwest. The summer sun rises in the northeast, is high in the south sky at midday, and sets in the northwest. This means the winter sun can be utilized and the summer sun excluded. The following are the practices that constitute passive solar design.
1. Orient the south face of the home to within 15 degrees of true south and choose a building site with no obstructions to the low angle of the winter sun.
2. Maximize exposure to the south by running the long, narrow axis of the house east west.
3. Install enough south facing glazing (e.g. windows and glass doors), but not too much, and balance it with thermal mass. The south glazing should constitute between 7% and 12% of the floor area (e.g. the square footage of south glazing should be between 70 sq. ft. and 120 sq. ft. for a floor area of 1,000 sq. ft.). Glazing in east and north facing walls should not exceed 4% and west facing glazing should not exceed 2% of the total square footage. Note: Windows with a low solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) are readily available, but look for windows with a high SHGC (at least 0.52) for the south wall.
4.Install thermal mass, a 4 inch thick slab or 8 inch free standing wall, matte-textured and dark in color is ideal. A rule is to allow 6 sq. ft. of slab floor available to the sun for each square foot of south glazing beyond 7% (e.g. A 1,500 sq. ft. house with the maximum recommended 12% south facing glazing of 180 sq. ft. would require 450 sq. ft. of slab floor available to the sun).
5. Properly size overhangs (e.g. roof eves and awnings) to fully shade south facing windows in the summer and fully expose south facing windows in the winter. Sustainable by Design provides a Window Overhang Design tool at http://www.susdesign.com/tools.php making sizing overhangs easy.
6. Insulate beyond code requirements and eliminate air leakage.
7. Ventilate because a well insulated house in which air leakage has been eliminated, also minimizes air exchange between the inside and outside, which may result in poor indoor air quality. Conventional vapor barriers, venting and exhausting may not be enough. In the summer, in the evenings, ventilation can be achieved by opening windows to allow for cross ventilation, but when it is cold, this is a poor option because you lose precious heat. An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) or heat recovery ventilator (HRV) are options, they are devices that keep heat in the house while moving stale air out of the house.
Passive Solar Home, East of Kittitas
One local couple that now lives in their recently completed well insulated, passive solar house, located east of Kittitas, is very satisfied with its performance. Last summer, they reported an interior temperature of 70 degrees F, when the exterior temperature was 95 degrees F. Tools they found useful were Google SketchUp that they used to create a 3D model of their home, which they added to Google Earth. Using these tools they were able to track the movement of the winter sun and the summer sun through the windows of their 3D model home.

For more information on passive solar design, fundamental resources include The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling by Dan Chiras and The Sun-Inspired House: House Designs Warmed and Brightened by the Sun by Debra Rucker Coleman.

Energy Conservation
If your house already exists, energy conservation is the first thing to consider. One element of energy conservation is energy efficiency improvements, including reducing air leakage, adding insulation, and upgrading windows. However, before beginning, hire a professional to conduct an energy audit or learn how to do it yourself. An energy audit will help you prioritize energy efficiency improvements. According to the advertising of one local energy auditor, the cost to audit most homes is $135.00 per thousand square feet. For low income households, free energy auditing services are available through the HopeSource weatherization program. We hired an energy auditor after buying our home when we began to receive $400 electricity bills as winter approached. He did a field visit and created a report for us, in which he recommended a number of energy saving actions including sealing the opening below the tub (which we didn’t even know existed), sealing around the pipes and wires, adding a vapor barrier and adding insulation. He addressed my concern regarding adequate ventilation, as air leakage is reduced, by stating, “we can reduce air leakage of many old houses by as much as ½ and still have good combustion safety and ventilation, but that we should continue to use good spot ventilation to clear our kitchen and shower steam and minimize indoor toxins.”

Once you know where to begin, the choices can seem overwhelming. The Efficient Windows Collaborative (http://www.efficientwindows.org/) offers a free window selection tool to compare the U-values, SHGC, and energy costs for windows from various manufacturers. There are two cities in Washington for which calculations have been made, I suggest choosing Spokane. Regarding insulation, the Oak Ridge National Laboratory offers a free Whole Wall R-value Calculator (http://www.ornl.gov/sci/roofs+walls/AWT/InteractiveCalculators/rvalueinfo.htm) for direct comparisons of different wall technologies.

Other energy saving actions, our energy auditor recommended, included replacing standard bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs, he said, are number one in the effort to control global warming) and purchasing energy efficient appliances when they need to be replaced. Based on the national average, lighting, cooking, and other appliances (including the refrigerator) constitute 42% of home energy use. Energy Federation Incorporated (http://www.efi.org/) is one leading residential distributor of energy efficiency related products that provides information about these products and sells them through their on-line store. The ENERGY STAR program (http://www.energystar.gov/) identifies products that have earned the ENERGY STAR label by meeting energy efficiency requirements. And soon TopTen USA (http://www.toptenusa.org/default.htm) will help users find and purchase the most energy efficient products in the U.S. marketplace.

The other equally important element to conserve energy is to be thrifty, like clipping coupons where you save money with a little bit of effort, by doing things around the house a little bit differently, you save energy. Things you can do to save energy include using the clothesline instead of the dryer, taking short showers, turning the thermostat down, turning off lights not needed, eliminating phantom loads and closing and opening windows and covering them to employ the sun and wind for heating and cooling.

Solar Water Heating
After energy conservation the next lowest hanging fruit is installing a solar water heating system. Based on the national average, water heating constitutes 14% of home energy use. Installing a properly sized solar water heating system can save 60% to 90% of the energy used to heat hot water per year.

The best resource to learn about solar water heating, especially if you plan to install your own system, is the book entitled Solar Hot Water Systems Lessons Learned 1977 to Today by Tom Lane. According to him, “only two types of active systems can survive in climates that experience freezes every year …: closed-loop drainback systems and closed-loop anti-freeze systems with well thought out heat exchange… systems...” More specifically, his favorite system is a double-pumped drainback system with a heat exchanger in the drainback reservoir. Another resource, that is free, is the Department of Energy’s 2003 Consumer’s Guide entitled, “Heat Your Water with the Sun” (http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/34279.pdf).

Systems that have been installed locally include a double-pumped drainback system coupled with flat plate collectors, pressurized glycol system coupled with flat plate collectors and pressurized glycol system coupled with evacuated tubes. Their owners are pleased with their performance, each of these systems are designed in such a way that they are not adversely affected by our cold winters.

A comparison of solar water heating systems is provided in Home Power’s 2008 Solar Water Heating Systems Buyer's Guide (http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP125_pg92_Marken). If you want to compare thermal collectors, the performance of different flat plate collectors and evacuated tubes is listed in Home Power’s 2008 Solar Thermal Collector Guide (http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP123_pg66_Marken).
Flat Plate Collectors; Part of a Double-Pumped Drainback Solar Water Heating System
I discuss our 2008 investigation into solar water heating in detail in the 04-22-08 entry of this blog.

Generating Electricity from the Sun and Wind
Once you have shrunk the energy consumption of your home as much as possible, you can consider installing a system that generates electricity from the sun and/or wind.
Wind and Solar Combined to Produce Electricity
Topics including evaluating a site for solar PV potential, photovoltaic system types, system components, putting the system together, system design considerations and cost considerations are covered in the free Washington State University Extension Energy Program publication entitled “Solar Electric System Design, Operation and Installation An Overview for Builders in the U.S. Pacific Northwest” recently published in October 2009 (http://www.energy.wsu.edu/Documents/SolarPVforBuildersOct2009.pdf).

Topics including practicality of wind energy, wind turbine sizing, basic parts of a small wind electric system, cost of wind systems, installation and maintenance support, energy production of wind systems, evaluating a site for wind and connecting a wind system to the grid are covered in the free Department of Energy publication entitled “Shortcut to Small Wind Electric Systems-Washington Consumers Guide” published in August 2007 (http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy07osti/41391.pdf).

Another valuable resource are Home Power magazines regularly published Buyer’s Guides on different components including the 2009 PV Module Buyer's Guide (http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP128_pg78_Sanchez), 2009 Grid-Tied Inverter Buyer’s Guide (http://homepower.com/article/?file=HP133_pg58_Mayfield) and 2007 Wind Turbine Buyer’s Guide (http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP119_pg34_Sagrillo).

Home systems that have been installed locally include independent and grid-tied photovoltaic and grid-tied wind. The types of wind turbines include the Skystream 3.7 on 33 ft. and 45 ft. monopoles, Bergey Excel-R (7.5 kW) and Bergey Excel-S, (10 kW) on a 100 ft. free standing tower.
Bergey Excel-S, (10 kW) on a 100 ft. Free Standing Tower Photo taken by Eric Irwin

The latter wind system is large enough that it produces the power required to run the home and more. The owners are compensated by the State of Washington for the excess electricity they produce at a rate of $0.12/kWhr up to $2,000/year.

One important thing to keep in mind with wind systems is investments in increased tower height can yield very high rates of return in power production. Ground drag is a significant adverse factor affecting production when located less than 66 feet from the ground.

Incentives
Incentive programs can substantially reduce installed costs. To view current state and federal incentives the Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (http://www.dsireusa.org/) is the best resource. There are four types of incentives for residential renewable energy in Kittitas County.
1. Residential Renewable Energy federal personal tax credit for 30% of qualified expenditures for eligible technologies including solar water heat, photovoltaics and wind. It is set to expire on 12/31/2016.
2. 100% exemption from Washington State sales tax for eligible technologies including solar water heat, photovoltaics and wind. It is set to expire on 06/30/13, but may have already expired for solar hot water.
3. Production incentive between $0.12/kWh and $1.08/kWh (depending on project type, technology type and where equipment was manufactured) up to $5,000/year for eligible technologies including photovoltaics and wind. It is set to expire on 6/30/2020. Northwest Solar Center (http://www.northwestsolarcenter.org) lists eligible technologies manufactured in Washington.
4. Net metering; utilities are required to allow homeowners to hook eligible technologies including solar and wind to the grid. If you have questions about Washington State's Net Metering Law, the Washington State University Extension Energy Program created a Q & A sheet about it (http://www.energy.wsu.edu/documents/renewables/netmeteringlaw.pdf).

Permits
Contact the appropriate permitting entity to determine if a permit is required for you project.

Resources
For more information on passive solar design, fundamental resources include The Solar House: Passive Heating and Cooling by Dan Chiras and The Sun-Inspired House: House Designs Warmed and Brightened by the Sun by Debra Rucker Coleman.

Sustainable by Design provides a free Window Overhang Design tool at http://www.susdesign.com/tools.php

Google SketchUp is available to download for free at http://sketchup.google.com/download/index2.html

Energy-10 computer software is geared toward the professional. It can identify the best combination of energy-efficient strategies, including daylighting, passive solar heating, and high-efficiency mechanical systems. It can be purchased form the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council at http://www.sbicouncil.org/storeindex.cfm

Publications such as Home Power and Solar Today are excellent resources that cover all of the topics discussed in this article in greater detail. Attention to K-12 School Libraries, Redwood Alliance is offering free subscriptions to Home Power for K-12 school libraries. To complete the short online application go to http://redwoodalliance.org. To access the Home Power articles referenced in this article you must become a subscriber.

HopeSource Weatherization Service http://www.hopesource.us/html/weatherization.html

Efficient Windows Collaborative offers a free window selection tool to compare the U-values, SHGC, and energy costs for windows from various manufacturers http://www.efficientwindows.org/

Energy Federation Incorporated is a leading residential distributor of energy efficiency-related products that provides information about these products and sells them through their on-line store. http://www.efi.org/

The ENERGY STAR program identifies products, separated into categories, that have earned the ENERGY STAR label by meeting the energy efficiency requirements set forth in ENERGY STAR product specifications. http://www.energystar.gov/

TopTen USA will soon help users find and purchase the most energy efficient products in the U.S. marketplace. http://www.toptenusa.org/default.htm

The best resource to learn about solar water heating, especially if you plan to install your own system, is the book entitled Solar Hot Water Systems Lessons Learned 1977 to Today by Tom Lane.

Heat Your Water with the Sun, a free 2003 Department of Energy Consumer’s Guide http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy04osti/34279.pdf

2008 Solar Water Heating Systems Buyer's Guide http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP125_pg92_Marken

2008 Solar Thermal Collector Buyer's Guide http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP123_pg66_Marken

I discuss our path to solar water heating in greater detail in the 04-22-08 entry on this blog.

Solar Electric System Design, Operation and Installation An Overview for Builders in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, a free Washington State University Extension Energy Program publication recently published in October 2009 http://www.energy.wsu.edu/documents/renewables/SolarPVforBuildersOct2009.pdf

Shortcut to Small Wind Electric Systems-Washington Consumers Guide, a free Department of Energy publication published in August 2007 http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy07osti/41391.pdf

Home Power Magazine 2009 PV Module Buyer's Guide http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP128_pg78_Sanchez

Home Power Magazine 2009 Grid-Tied Inverter Buyer’s Guide http://homepower.com/article/?file=HP133_pg58_Mayfield

Home Power Magazine 2007 Wind Turbine Buyer’s Guide (http://homepower.com/view/?file=HP119_pg34_Sagrillo)

Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency http://www.dsireusa.org/

Q & A About Washington State's Net Metering Law produced by the Washington State University Extension Energy Program http://www.energy.wsu.edu/documents/renewables/netmeteringlaw.pdf

Northwest Solar Center
http://www.northwestsolarcenter.org

Identifying, Testing, Enriching And Preparing Soil For Producing Food

Soil Function
The purpose of this entry is to briefly review soil function, introduce resources that identify soil, cover soil testing, interpret soil test results, share typical data for soils in Kittitas County, how to enrich them and prepare them for growing food and finally, soil conservation.

Soil provides nutrients, water and physical support for plants, air for plant roots and a medium for microorganisms. An idealized soil may contain 45% soil mineral particles, 5% organic matter, 25% air and 25% water. Individual particles of sand, silt and clay tend to cluster and bind together forming aggregates called peds. Aggregation is a function of biological activity (e.g. earthworm burrowing), root growth and organic matter, which acts as a natural glue that stabilizes and strengthens peds. The spaces between peds are called pores and depending on their size are either macro or micro. Macropores influence aeration and permeability, the rate at which water moves through the soil. Micropores influence available water capacity. Porosity is a function of texture, structure, compaction and organic matter. Soil that has a balance of macropores and micropores provides adequate permeability and water holding capacity for good plant growth.

Soils meter nutrients to plants. These nutrients come from weathering and organic matter decomposition. Plants can only take up nutrients dissolved in soil water. The surface of clay particles and organic matter are negatively charged and hold positively charged nutrients such as ammonium, potassium, calcium and magnesium in an available reserve to be released into soil solution to replace nutrients taken up by plant roots. Soil chemical properties are a function of soil origin, soil texture, drainage, soil weathering and organic matter.

There are a multitude of organisms that thrive in soil. Mycorrhizae, rhizobia bacteria and earthworms are key players in the complex soil food web. Mycorrhizae are fungus that infect plant roots and increases the plants ability to take up nutrients. Rhizobia bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into plant available forms. Earthworms mix large volumes of soil and create macropore channels. In every handful of healthy soil there are 6 billion soil organisms, as many as there are people on the planet.

Soil Identification
The Web Soil Survey (http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/) is an internet based free tool that can be used to broadly identify a soil and its characteristics. Keep in mind, if the area of interest is close to a boundary then it is wise to field check the area of interest by digging a profile or using a probe to examine the soil profile.

Useful information that can be gleaned from this resource includes:

• Depth to restrictive feature, a hardpan is an example of a restrictive features, it restricts rooting depth and permeability.



• Drainage class refers to the frequency and duration of wet periods; however alterations of the water regime by human activities, either through drainage or irrigation, are not generally considered. There are seven recognized drainage classes; they are excessively drained, somewhat excessively drained, well drained, moderately well drained, somewhat poorly drained, poorly drained, and very poorly drained.



• Depth to water table is the depth to the saturated zone, but again may be different as a result of irrigation and drainage projects. Evidence of this zone includes gray soil with mottles.



• Available water capacity refers to the quantity of water that the soil is capable of storing for use by plants. The capacity for water storage is given in inches of water per inches of soil. Available water capacity is a function of the organic matter content, soil porosity, soil texture, bulk density, and soil structure, with corrections for salinity and rock fragments.



• Finally, the typical profile is a description, primarily textural, of each typical soil layer.

With a soil sample from the area of interest, the soil textural triangle is a useful tool to verify soil texture. Sand is gritty, silt is smooth and clay can be formed into a long strong ribbon before breaking. For example, a loam falls out last, neither grittiness nor smoothness predominates. Another way of qualitatively assessing soil texture is to put soil samples of clay loam, silt loam, and sandy loam in separate clear jars with water, shaking them and comparing the amounts of sand silt and clay that drop out. The sand will settle out in a minute or two, silt in about an hour and clay several hours to a day.

Clay soils hold a lot of water, but are hard to dig, dry slowly in the spring and are prone to compaction. Sandy soils can be planted into earlier in the spring, but need more frequent watering. Coarse fragments are not harmful, but can be a nuisance and do not contribute to the productivity of a soil.

Soil Testing
The soil survey can only take you so far. Soil testing can take you a step closer to knowing your soil and will account for past management. There are four local labs that do soil fertility testing. Their contact information is listed in the resources section. Before collecting a sample contact the lab to get instructions. Soiltest farm consultants offers basic lawn and garden sampling techniques at http://www.soiltestlab.com/forms/GardenReqForm.pdf

Interpreting Soil Test Results
Soiltest farm consultants offers a general soil test interpretation guide at http://www.soiltestlab.com/forms/soil-handout.pdf

General Kittitas County Soil Information
The soils in the Kittitas Valley are very diverse. At the base of the hills on the east side of the Kittitas Valley, the pH can be high at 8.0 or higher, the soluble salts can be high at 3 to 5 m.mho/cm, the organic matter can be modest at 1 to 2%, the available phosphorus can be modest at 8 ppm (parts per million), the available potassium can be modest at 80 ppm and nitrate, sulfate and boron can be all over the place. In the wet part of the Kittitas Valley, near the Yakima River, the pH can be low at 6.0, the soluble salts are usually not an issue at 1 m.mho/cm (although areas that are not well drained may be high in soluble salts), the organic matter can be high at 5 to 6%, the available phosphorus can be moderate at 10 to 20 ppm and the available potassium, nitrate, sulfate and boron can be all over the place.

Enriching Soil
The next step is to determine what to add to your garden soil and how much. This discussion is not comprehensive, it will cover improving soil fertility with regard to the primary nutrients, increasing soil organic matter and finally decreasing soil pH and soluble salts.

Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium are the primary nutrients. Nitrogen is a key element in proteins, is a food source for soil organisms, and causes green growth. Phosphorus gives plants energy and is necessary for the growth of flowers and seeds. Potassium aids in protein synthesis and in the translocation of carbohydrates to build strong stems. Soil test results will likely include an interpretation guide, which will convey whether the soil tested has high, medium or low nutrient levels.

The following table displays general nitrogen, phosphate and potash recommendations for gardens with low, medium and high nutrient levels from three sources. The three sources are a 1982 Fertilizer Guide entitled “Home Vegetable Garden for Irrigated Central Washington”, a 2005 Fertilizer Recommendations Guide published by South Dakota State University and the 2006 edition of How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons. In the absence of a soil test, use the recommendations for gardens with medium nutrient levels. I elected to use the numbers in the 1982 Fertilizer Guide for further calculation. Since most of us will not be working at the per acre level, I converted the numbers from lbs/acre to lbs/100 sq ft by dividing by 43,560, the number of square feet in an acre and multiplying the result by 100.

Table 1. N, P and K Recommendations for Gardens with Low, Medium and High Nutrient Levels
The next step is to determine how much fertilizer to add based on its analysis. These figures, 0.2 lbs of N per 100 sq ft, 0.4 lbs of phosphate per 100 sq ft and 0.2 lbs of potash per 100 sq ft can now be entered into the Organic Fertilizer Calculator. The Organic Fertilizer Calculator can be downloaded at http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/organic-fertilizer-calculator/register at no cost, but you have to register. A user guide accompanies the calculator.

Things to know are that values can be entered into yellow cells (all other cells are locked), any units can be used without changing the formulas as long as units are kept consistent and PAN is the acronym for plant available nitrogen. One of the first things to do is select the “Nutrient provided” tab and enter the amounts needed in the “Total needed” row. Be sure to enter the nitrogen requirement under “Estimated PAN after full season” (column F) rather than under “Total N applied” (column C). Now as different amounts and combinations of fertilizers are entered above, the “Total needed” can be compared to the “Total applied”. If 10 lbs of NutriRich is entered, a slow release pelletized supplemented chicken manure, we learn that the N needed is met; we are short on the phosphate needed and a little over on the potash. It does not have to be perfect, just close. If the fertilizer is not listed and the analysis is known, go to the “Fertilizer analysis” tab and enter the analysis in an open row. The fertilizer manufacturer may need to be contacted to ascertain the % dry matter, a spreadsheet requirement to get “PAN after full season”.

To illustrate the meaning of a fertilizer analysis, NutriRich, which has an analysis of 4-3-3, contains 4% nitrogen, 3% phosphorus expressed as units of phosphate and 4% potassium expressed as units of potash and expressed as percentages of total fertilizer weight. This calculator can also be used to compare costs.

All of the fertilizers listed in the Organic Fertilizer Calculator are considered organic. There is a difference between organic fertilizers and processed fertilizers (aka inorganic fertilizers or synthetic fertilizers). Organic fertilizers require little or no processing, use recycled materials that would otherwise be discarded as waste, have a low analysis or often the analysis is unknown. They are usually slow release (e.g. many months) and are usually a source of organic matter. Processed fertilizers require industrial processing, can create waste, have a high analysis, are usually fast release (e.g. days or weeks), have a known analysis and have no organic matter. Further, the raw material for processed nitrogen is nitrogen gas from the atmosphere and requires a substantial amount of fossil fuels to manufacture. Processed phosphorus fertilizers come from phosphate rock treated with acid. The most common raw material for potassium fertilizers is sylvinite, a deep salt deposit, treated to remove the sodium salts to make it suitable for use as a fertilizer.

There are several points to consider when using fertilizer. First, the best time to apply fertilizer is so the nutrients in the fertilizer are available when the plants need the nutrients. For example, NutriRich, a slow release fertilizer, is spread after harvest, in September, so the nutrients will be available to the crops planted the following spring. Second, it is easy to apply too much processed fertilizer, which can harm crops and the environment. Too much manure can also be applied. Excessive amounts of fertilizer act as salt. Finally, as a general rule, in the absence of a soil test, in eastern Washington, usually only nitrogen is needed.

For the most part, all of the fertilizers listed in the Organic Fertilizer Calculator, will have to be imported. Importing fertilizers is not sustainable and should be a temporary fix to raise the soil fertility to a satisfactory level in a short period of time. Once that has been accomplished, the only sustainable way to maintain the fertility of your soil is by growing the crops that will replenish it. I hadn’t really wrapped my mind around this concept until recently, now I realize crop rotation, managing crop residues and composting are essential. Crop residues and compost are so essential, in part because they, with manure, are “the” sources of organic matter.

“If you follow practices that build and maintain good levels of soil organic matter, you will find it easier to grow healthy and high-yielding crops. Plants can withstand droughty conditions better and won’t be as bothered by insects and diseases…Soil organic matter is that important….A study of soils in Michigan demonstrated potential crop-yield increases of about 12% for every 1% organic matter.”
-Better Soils for Better Crops

Although organic matter is only a small component of the soil, the importance of organic matter cannot be overstated. Organic matter has three parts, living organisms, fresh residues and well decomposed residues. As organic matter is decomposed, nutrients are converted into forms that plants can use. The soils ability to retain these nutrients also increases with organic matter decomposition. The well decomposed residue is called humus. Humus is very stable, complex and serves special functions. It functions to hold on to some essential nutrients, storing them for slow release to plants. It can surround certain potentially harmful chemicals and prevent them from causing damage to plants. It also improves water retention by enhancing aggregation and by holding onto and releasing water. The best method to improve soil structure is to add organic matter, but how much?

It is stated in Better Soils for Better Crops, “There are few accepted guidelines for adequate organic matter content in particular agricultural soils”. An idealized soil may contain 5% organic matter. However, in a sandy soil 2% is very good and may be difficult to reach. In the Kittitas Valley, the organic matter can be modest at 1 to 2% on the east side and high at 5 to 6% by the Yakima River. The organic matter in soils farmed by one local farmer, who grows cover crops each winter and incorporates them into the soil the following spring, has been measured and ranges between 6% and 18%. Recommended application rates of compost and manure, reported by various sources, are listed in the following table. Keep in mind, manures may contain excess salt and vary widely in nutrient content and nutrient availability, depending on the type of animal that produced the manure and the age and handling of the manure; more is not always better.

Table 2. Recommended Application Rates of Compost and Manure
The C:N ratio is probably the greatest single factor determining the rate of decomposition and mineralization of organic matter. If we are looking for the organic matter to provide short term nutrient availability, then we have to select organic matter that has a low C:N ratio or realize that if adding organic matter that has a high C:N ratio then, nitrogen immobilization may occur unless nitrogen is supplemented. The carbon to nitrogen ratio, reported by various sources, of some organic matters is listed in the following table.

Table 3 C:N Ratio of Some Organic Matters
According to the Organic Fertilizer Calculator User Guide, microorganisms that consume organic matter have a C:N ratio that ranges from about 10:1 to 15:1. If the C:N ratio in the organic material is below about 15:1, the material provides more nitrogen than the microorganisms need to develop and reproduce, so they excrete mineral forms of nitrogen that are easily taken up by plants. If the C:N ratio is higher than about 20:1, the microorganisms supplement the protein in their food source with mineral nitrogen in the soil solution, thus immobilizing the nitrogen that plants otherwise would use. However, we may be safe using a higher threshold. According to, the Better Soils for Better Crops publication, residues with a C:N ratio in the mid 20s to low 30s, will not have much effect on short-term nitrogen immobilization or release. What can be inferred is that addition of organic matter with a low C:N ratio must be used sparingly to prevent over fertilization and organic matter with a C:N ratio greater than 33:1, will likely result in immobilization where nitrogen is scavenged from the soil by microorganisms.

Compost can be made. The key to composting is to supply a balance of air, water, energy materials and bulking agents. Energy materials are high in moisture, have low porosity and are high in nitrogen. They include fresh crop residue, grass clippings, fresh chicken or rabbit manure, fruit and vegetable waste and garden trimmings. Bulking agents are low in moisture, have high porosity and are low in nitrogen. They include grass hay, wheat straw and corn stalks. There are also materials characterized as balanced, which have low to medium moisture, medium porosity and medium nitrogen. They include ground-up tree and shrub trimmings, horse manure and bedding, deciduous leaves and legume hay and do not have to be mixed with other materials to become compost. The first recipe, from The Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook, is one part energy source and two parts bulking agent, by volume. It is stated, in this source, that this mixture usually gives a reasonable mix for rapid composting, which leads me to think that this next recipe, from How to Grow More Vegetables, would yield faster composting. The recipe is 45% mature (dry) material, 45% immature (green) vegetation, including kitchen wastes, and 10% soil, by volume. It is stated, in this source, adding soil to the compost pile enables the pile to hold moisture better facilitating decomposition, contains microbes enabling decomposition and will reduce nutrient leaching.

Composting tips in The Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook include mixing the pile thoroughly instead of layering it, if all the materials are on hand when you build the pile. And that smaller piece size will increase decomposition. Tips in How to Grow More Vegetables include using at least 3 different types of material of three different textures and locating the pile under the shade of a deciduous tree (excluding walnut trees), but a minimum of 6 feet from the trunk of the tree. Finally, although a pile of about one cubic yard (3’ by 3’ by 3’) may be adequate for year round composting in cold winter areas, bigger is probably better in our area. It is suggested in How to Grow More Vegetables, in colder climates, a minimum compost pile size of two cubic yards (4’ by 4’ by 4’) is needed to properly insulate the heat of the composting process.

Crop residues from cover crops are essential to building soil organic matter, additionally cover crops are valuable in that they capture and recycle nutrients that would otherwise be lost by leaching during the winter, protect the soil surface from rainfall impact, reduce runoff and erosion, suppress weeds, can supply nitrogen and can be a food source. The earlier cover crops are planted the more benefits they provide. Research in western Washington showed that cereal rye planted in September captured three times as much nitrogen as cereal rye planted in October. Winter cover crops can be planted as early as August 1. They make some growth before frost kills them or stops their growth. When harvesting very late season crops, cover crop seed can be sown between the rows a month or less before expected harvest. This technique lets the cover crop get a good start without interfering with vegetable growth. Cover crop residue can either be tilled or dug into the soil before they flower or cut before it blooms and composted. Cover crops may also be harvested for food. After flowering, plants become woody and decline in quality, but that material can be used as the bulking agent in compost piles.

The following table is a work in progress. It lists the cover crops that may work in the Kittitas Valley. The table includes summer cover crops and crops that have the benefit of producing food and compost material. Food crops include amaranth, canola, cereal rye, chickpea, corn, fava bean, lentil, millet, quinoa, barley, wheat, oats and sunflowers. Summer cover crops include buckwheat and corn. Cover crops that provide nitrogen include alfalfa, Austrian winter pea, common vetch, crimson clover, fava bean, hairy vetch, red clover and white clover. Species that break up hard pans include cereal rye. The main reason to grow cover crops is to increase soil organic matter, so choosing crops with large root systems is effective. It is estimated that one cereal rye plant in good soil grows 3 miles of hairs a day, 387 miles of roots a season and 6,603 miles of root hairs each season. Note: Soon cover crops will be added to the Organic Fertilizer Calculator.

Table 4. Cover Crops (work in progress)

Peat, ground bark and wood chips are also examples of organic matter, but they carry baggage. Ground bark and wood chips have such a high C:N ratio, nitrogen immobilization may occur, depending on how they are used. They should not be used in annual beds or vegetable gardens and should not be mixed into the soil. Wood chips are and excellent landscape mulch. The summer 2007 issue of the Master Gardener magazine, which can be accessed at http://www.mastergardeneronline.com/preview/index.php?issue=0707, extols the benefits of using them.

Concerns regarding the use of peat are discussed in the winter 2007 issue of the Master Gardener magazine, which can be accessed at http://www.mastergardeneronline.com/preview/index.php?issue=0107. The following is excerpted from it,

Hundred of years pass for sphagnum moss, the wetland plant that covers the
surface of peat lands, to die, decompose, and accumulate, mixing with native
soil to create sphagnum peat moss.

During this process, these specialized wildly diversified wetland perform critical ecological functions, such as:
Storing carbon, which helps regulate global climate.
Providing habitat for innumerable life forms, including rare, specialist, and endangered plants and animals.
Purifying and collecting water.

Research shows that mining seriously compromises the ecological functions of peat lands even years after restoration…. Changes include:
Release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which exacerbates global climate changes.
Changes in water pH and nutrient levels, which results in repopulation by different vascular plants and animals.
Release of heavy metals, such as arsenic, into water.
Hydrologic changes, such as drying and flooding.

Peat is a common additive to potting mixes. The spring 2007 issue of the Master Gardener magazine, which can be accessed at http://www.mastergardeneronline.com/preview/index.php?issue=0407, discusses choosing the right mix of ingredients and quality.

Two challenges that a gardener may face in the Kittitas Valley are high soil pH and high soil salinity. Vegetables like to grow in pHs between 6 and 7.5. Elemental sulfur lowers soil pH. If you suspect your garden soil has a high pH, in the absence of a soil test, adding about 50 lb. of sulfur per 1,000 sq. ft. is recommended (Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook). To decrease soil salinity, salts can be leached from the soil by applying irrigation in excess of the water holding capacity of the soil. Three inches of excess water removes about half of the soluble salts in a soil and five inches of water removes about 90 percent (The Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook).

Preparing Soil
One method we used to prepare our garden soil was the deep soil preparation described by John Jeavons in How to Grow More Vegetable. There are 4 basic types of deep soil preparation initial double-dig, ongoing double-dig, complete texturizing double-dig and the U-bar dig. Because the soil we inherited was so poor we elected to do the complete texturizing, which was developed to improve soil texture more rapidly and is used one time only in place of the initial double-dig. It involves, defining the dimensions of the bed, getting the soil to the right moisture content so it can be easily dug, loosening the soil with a spading fork and removing the existing vegetation, spreading a ½” to 1” layer of compost over the area, defining the first trench (e.g. 48” wide by 12” long by 12” deep) and removing the soil from it, spreading compost in the trench, loosening the soil 12” deeper with a spading fork, standing on a digging board (e.g. 5/8” by 48” plywood), defining the second trench, loosening and moving the soil from it to the first trench, spreading compost in the trench and loosening the soil 12” deeper with the spading fork, raking after every 3 to 4 trenches to level the soil, repeating these steps until the last trench is filled out with some of the soil removed from the first trench. Due to the expansion of the soil volume with air, all of the soil removed from the first trench is not needed to fill out the last trench. Finally the fertilizers are sifted, using the spading fork, into the upper 2 to 4 inches of the soil, the bed is tamped with the digging board if there is excess air and the bed is planted.

The goal of double-digging is to loosen the upper 24” of the soil, without mixing it. The upper layer of soil, especially, should not be turned over during double-digging in order to minimize disturbance to natural soil layering and to soil organisms, about ¾ of the beneficial soil organisms inhabit the upper 6 inches of the soil.

The basic types of deep soil preparation differ in the following ways. Complete texturing differs from the initial double-dig in that compost is mixed into the upper 12 inches and another layer of compost is added before loosening the lower 12 inches. The ongoing double-dig differs from the initial double-dig in that that the compost is put on after the digging and sifted into the upper 2 to 4 inches with the fertilizers. Finally, the U-bar dig, which may be used as a substitute for the ongoing double-dig differs from the ongoing double-dig in that it does not prepare the soil as deeply, as limited by the 18” inch tines, but has the advantage of mixing the soil less.

Video demonstrations of double-digging can be viewed on YouTube at the addresses listed in the resources section or a comprehensive video demonstration is available for sale from Bountiful Gardens, the video is entitled “Dig It!”.

Soil Conservation
The lowest hanging fruit, enabling us to grow food in the soils we inherit, is soil conservation. It is the most cost-effective stewardship method to prevent soil loss, organic matter loss and soil compaction. Remember, regarding soil function, soil loss reduces the supply of nutrients and water. Soil compaction retards root growth and the circulation of air and water. And, organic matter loss accelerates erosion and may decrease water retention, structure, porosity, and resistance to compaction. These conditions are not easily reversed given the amount of time it takes for easily crumbled, humus and nutrient enriched soil to develop.

Conservation measures include using management practices that increase soil organic matter, minimizing bare soil by using mulches and cover crops and not working the soil when it is too wet or too dry or too much. Working excessively wet soil can destroy soil structure. Plowing wet soils with a tractor is especially damaging, as it creates a compaction layer that inhibits root growth, a rule of thumb is if it stays in a mud ball it is too wet. If it is powdery and clumped, it is too dry. If it crumbles freely, it is about right. If soil sticks to a shovel, or the turned surface is shiny and smooth when spading, it is still too wet. Clay soils are most easily compacted. Do not pulverize the soil. Over-tilling also destroys soil structure.

Soil is the medium in which so much of what we consume grows and it takes a long time for it to develop and no time to lose. In the US in 1995, approximately 1/28 of an inch of farmable soil was lost per acre due to wind and water erosion. Conversely, on the average, 1/500 of an inch of farmable soil is being built up naturally in the US each year. Thus the soil is being depleted 18 times faster than it is being built up in nature.

In conclusion, we have, in large part, inherited the soil we use to prosper today. Our challenge and that of future generations will not be growing vegetables, raising cattle or growing trees but will be building the soil on which they depend.

Resources
Local Labs that do soil fertility testing include:
Analytical Sciences Laboratory
Holm Research Center
University of Idaho
Moscow, ID 83844-2203
(208) 885-7081

NW Agricultural Consultants
2545 West Falls
Kennewick, WA 99336
(509) 783-7450

Soiltest farm consultants
2925 Driggs Drive
Moses Lake, WA 98837
1-800-764-1622
http://www.soiltestlab.com/

US Ag Analytical Services
1320 E Spokane Street
Pasco, WA 99301
(509) 547-3838

Andrews, N. and J. Foster. User Guide Organic Fertilizer Calculator, Oregon State University, 2007.

Chalker-Scott, Linda. “Wood Chip Mulch: Landscape Boon or Bane?”. Master Gardener 1.3 (2007): 21-23. < http://www.mastergardeneronline.com/preview/index.php?issue=0707>

Dig It! Video DVD. < http://www.bountifulgardens.org/products.asp?dept=112>

Dodge, John c. and Darrell O Turner. . Fertilizer Guide: Home Vegetable Garden for Irrigated Central Washington. Puyallup, Washington, Washington State University Cooperative Extension, 1982.

Fertilizer Recommendations for Home Gardens and Landscaping compiled by soiltest farm consultants. Moses Lake, WA, soiltest farm consultants.

Forest Soil Productivity. 1992. http://nrs.fs.fed.us/fmg/nfmg/docs/mn/Soils.pdf

Gerwing, Jim and Ron Gelderman. Cooperative Extension Service, South Dakota State University and U.S. Department of Agriculture, Fertilizer Recommendations Guide, South Dakota, South Dakota State University. 2005.

Jeavons, John. How to Grow More Vegetables. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2006.

Jeavons, John. “The Global Farm: The Challenge and the Solution”. Proceedings from the 2000 Soil, Food and People Conference Presented by Ecology Action at the University of California - Davis. Ed. Hugh Roberts. Willits: Ecology Action, 2001. 6-13

Magdoff, Fred and Harold Van Es. Building Soils for Better Crops:Sustainable Soil Management Third Edition. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. 2009 http://www.sare.org/publications/bsbc/bsbc.pdf

Munts, Pat. “Potting Mixes”. Master Gardener 1.2 (2007): 10-13. http://www.mastergardeneronline.com/preview/index.php?issue=0407

Nelson, Dan. Soiltest farm consultants. Telephone interview. 15 January 2010.

Oregon State University. Organic Fertilizer Calculator. http://smallfarms.oregonstate.edu/organic-fertilizer-calculator/register

Riskin, Cindy Shyev. "Too Popular Peat." Master Gardener 1.1 (2007): 18-19. http://www.mastergardeneronline.com/preview/index.php?issue=0107

Soiltest farm consultants offers Basic Lawn/Garden Sampling Techniques at http://www.soiltestlab.com/forms/GardenReqForm.pdf

Soiltest farm consultants offers a General Soil Test Interpretation Guide at http://www.soiltestlab.com/forms/soil-handout.pdf

Sustainable Gardening, The Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook. Oregon State University, 2008.

Washington State University Fertilizer Guides & Summary http://grant-adams.wsu.edu/agriculture/General/fertilizerguides/Washington%20State%20Fertilizer%20Guides/Indexfertguide.html . Species specific papers with local, but dated crop nutrient requirement information are listed on the Washington State University Fertilizer Guides & Summary page.

Washington State University Master Gardener on-line Training. Washington State University, 2009. http://lms.wsu.edu/

Web Soil Survey. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. Jan. 2010. http://websoilsurvey.nrcs.usda.gov/app/

YouTube videos on double-digging http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx9pM9tPOWM, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_55121lPJNE&feature=PlayList&p=CE8F29A0D946E73C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1xcDrLjcKU&feature=PlayList&p=CE8F29A0D946E73C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPivuNSm4Hc&feature=PlayList&p=CE8F29A0D946E73C&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=5

Conversions: One 5 gallon bucket equals 0.67 cubic feet. There is 43,560 sq ft in an acre. If an application calls for 1 five gallon bucket of material, divide 0.67 by the number of sq ft of area to which the material is to be applied. The result is depth in feet, to convert to inches divide by 12. Assuming the upper 6 inches of soil weighs 2 million pounds, the weight of organic material in 6 inches of soil that contains 1% organic matter is 20,000 pounds.

Tree Pruning

June 8, 2009

By Thembi Borras

Pruning involves removing the lower branches from live trees.

Why prune?
Pruning is an important practice to reduce fire hazard, but must be done properly so tree health is not compromised. Pruning may also improve safety, aesthetics, timber quality and tree vigor. Trees along roads are excellent candidates for pruning to create a fuel break or to facilitate quicker road surface drying.

How to prune? Following are guidelines for pruning:

• Make pruning cuts where two limbs intersect or where limbs intersect the main tree trunk.


• Make the final pruning cut just outside the branch collar. Avoid "flush cuts" which remove the branch collar or "stub cuts" which leave branch stubs protruding beyond the branch collar. The branch collar is the swollen area at the base of a branch where it connects to the trunk and contains special tissue that prevents decay from moving downward from the branch into the trunk.


• For large limbs, make an undercut so that when the branch separates it doesn't strip off bark from the bole of the tree. The following figure (copied from USFS publication NA-FR-01-95 entitled, How to Prune Trees by Peter J. Bedker et al and illustrations by Julie Martinez of Afton, MN) displays a cutting sequence to minimize pruning damage:


• If there is reason to remove a large number of live limbs, it may be prudent to prune the tree in stages increasing the distance from the ground to the lowest limb slowly, pruning a portion of limbs each year.

• Consider staggering the distance between the ground and the height of the lowest limbs to avoid the “lollipop look”.


• Hand saws can be used if the branch can be reached. Otherwise, use a telescoping pole saw or shear. Visit http://ext.nrs.wsu.edu/handtools/tools/pruning/index.htm to view power and hand tools for pruning.


• Be careful not to scar the bole as the scar may invite the introduction of stem rot fungi into the tree.


• There is no need to apply any kind of “wound dressing” to the prune scars.


• Use recommended safety equipment, such as eye protection, hard hat, gloves and sturdy footwear. Use common sense and be safe.
  

When to prune?
Pruning can be done anytime during the year. However, consider pruning during the dormant season when the sap is flowing less. Try to avoid pruning during the spring and early summer when the tree is actively growing and is easily damaged. Another reason to avoid pruning during the growing season is that beetles are most active and are attracted to the sap from the pruning wound.

The area out to 200 feet from a home is referred to as defensible space. Trees in the defensible space and along emergency vehicle access routes should be pruned first.

Which trees should be pruned?
Pruning takes time and energy so to optimize these precious resources pick the best trees to prune and thin out the worst. There is an excellent article containing characteristics of “leave” trees and characteristics of “cut” trees in the winter 2008 edition of SW Oregon Woodland News entitled Thin for Quality, Not Spacing and can be accessed at http://extension.oregonstate.edu/sorec/sites/default/files/documents/WoodlandNewsJan08newsletter2.pdf.

The following is excerpted from it:
GUIDELINES: So what makes a high quality tree?
Following are some guidelines for “leave” and “cut” trees that relate to tree quality. These are all characteristics you can “eyeball” out in the woods.

Characteristics of “leave” trees
• Good live crown ratio (30% or greater)
• Good height growth for species and age
• Symmetrical crown with “pointy top”
• Abundant foliage with good color
• Good form (straight, without sweeps, crooks, forks, etc.)
• Species is well suited to the site over the long term

Characteristics of “cut trees”
• Poor crown ratio (<30%)
• Poor height growth and crown form (flat or rounded top, lopsided)
• Foliage is sparse or off-color
• Poor form
• Species not well suited to the site

Additional considerations include exposure to sun or wind. Sunscald is a tree bole injury that can result from pruning. This injury is more likely to occur on trees on the southwest side of a low density stand. To avoid sunscald a buffer of unpruned trees can be left on the south and west side of the stand. Similarly, to avoid wind damage unpruned trees and trees that would otherwise be “cut” trees can be left on the side of the stand from which prevailing winds blow to serve as a buffer.

How much to prune? Live crown ratio is an important concept to understand in determining how much of the crown to prune. Live crown ratio is the percentage of the total height of the tree that is occupied by the live green crown. For example, if the crown length, measured from the leader tip to the base of the live crown, is 55 ft and the total tree height is 100 ft, then the live crown ratio is 55%. Post pruning, the live crown ratio should be no less than 40% and preferably 50%. Therefore in this example, you can safely prune the lower 5 feet of live crown and no more than 15 feet. Dead limbs below the live crown do not factor into this calculation and should be pruned.

Another important consideration, especially within the defensible space is reducing ladder fuels which is vegetation that connects ground vegetation to tree crowns facilitating a ground fire becoming a crown fire, which moves much more rapidly. Reducing ladder fuels may be accomplished by, in part, removing “cut trees” and pruning “leave” trees. The minimum distance between the shrub layer and the canopy should be, at least, 4 times the height of the shrub layer. For example, if the shrub layer is 3 feet tall then the lowest limbs of the overstory trees should be 15 feet above the ground.

A portion of this article was gleaned from Conifer Pruning Basics for Family Forest Landowners available at http://cru.cahe.wsu.edu/CEPublications/eb1984/EB1984.pdf, the chapter on pruning in the Oregon-Washington Master Gardener Handbook entitled Sustainable Gardening and the article entitled Thin for Quality, Not Spacing in the winter 2008 edition of the SW Oregon WOODLAND NEWS.

Tree Judging

prepared for Washington Farm Forestry Association field day exercise

By Thembi Borras, Forester (thembi@mcn.org)

Judging trees is required of field foresters, it informs which trees are retained and how the forest will behave and look after treatment. Tree judging is a skill forest landowners may wish to develop. There are numerous contexts, including improving forest health, in which tree judging is valuable. The criterion on which a tree may be judged within the context of improving forest health may include crown quality, diameter, height, ring count and basal area.

Indicators of crown quality include live crown ratio, crown class and crown vigor. Live crown ratio is the ratio of crown length to total tree height. For example, if the crown length, measured from the leader tip to the base of the crown, is 40 ft and the total tree height is 80 ft, then the live crown ratio is 50%. There are four commonly recognized crown classes dominant (trees with well-developed crowns that extend above the general level of the crown cover and receive full light from above and partly from the side), codominant (trees with medium-sized crowns that form the general level of the crown cover and receive full light from above but comparatively little from the sides), intermediate (trees with small crowns that extend into the crown cover formed by codominant and dominant trees, but receive little direct light from above and none from the sides) and suppressed (trees with very small crowns that are entirely below the general level of the crown cover and receive no direct light either from above or from the sides). Crown vigor indicators include branch mortality, twig dieback, thin foliage, foliage discoloration and missing crown area. Trees with a live crown ratio of less than 30%, which are suppressed or intermediate and have poor crown vigor are candidates for removal when thinning. Remember to evaluate the crown quality; the observer must get far enough away from the base of the tree to see the crown.

Diameter is usually measured with a diameter tape or a Biltmore stick, but in the absence of these tools a flexible measuring tape can be used to measure the diameter. The diameter of a tree is measured at breast height, which is defined as 4.5 feet above the ground on the uphill side of the tree. The circumference of the tree is what is measured by wrapping the tape around it, making sure there are no kinks in the tape and the tape does not sag. To convert the circumference to the diameter, divide by 3.14. For example if the circumference is 82", dividing by 3.14 will yield a result of 26"; therefore the diameter at breast height (dbh) of the tree is 26". Height is usually measured with a clinometer, but basic tools including a measuring tape and two sticks of equal length can be used to measure the height of a tree. Find the center point on one of the sticks; hold the other stick perpendicular to it, effectively making the letter "T". Step away from the tree until the top and bottom of it are in view. Put the base of the "T" between your eyes, and then walk away or toward the tree until the top and bottom of the stick line up with the top and bottom of the tree. Make a mark on the ground, the distance between your mark and the tree is the total height of the tree, if you are on flat ground. If you are on sloped ground, the slope distance will need to be converted to horizontal distance. Tree height in relation to tree age is a measure of site quality. Site quality expresses the average productivity of an area for growing trees. The higher the site the more healthy trees it can support.

Tree rings represent the annual growth of a tree and can be measured with an increment borer. The tree rings are easily counted, measured and visually inspected on the core extracted from the increment borer. The higher the number of rings per given length of core, the slower the growth. Trees that are growing slowly as compared to their similarly aged neighbors may be candidates for removal when thinning.

Basal area is a measure of stand density and is often measured with a prism, but tree diameter can be converted to basal area. Basal area is the cross-sectional area in square feet taken up by an individual tree trunk at dbh; basal area per acre is the sum of these individual values for all the trees growing in 1 acre. Basal area of a given tree is calculated by squaring the dbh and multiplying the result by .005454. For example, a tree with a dbh of 13.54” represents 1 sq ft. Trees may be thinned to reduce basal area, so limited resources are allocated on fewer trees, to improve forest health.

A portion of this information was gleaned from Log Scaling and Timber Cruising by Bell and Dilworth, 1988 and Tree Judging: A Quantifiable, Hands-On Tool To Teach Forest Genetics And Applied Silviculture by Christopher C. Schnepf.

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)

from presentation, given to the community, which was sponsored by the Ellensburg Library and EcoBuilding Guild

By Thembi Borras

My Involvement with FSC
I have been involved in forestry for more than two decades. I received my forestry degree from Humboldt State University. Soon after graduating, I went to work for the Institute for Sustainable Forestry, where I began working with FSC. And less than a year later I met my mentor, a consulting forester and FSC certified Natural Resource Manager. For the next decade I worked for him servicing non industrial private forestland owners in Northern California writing long term management plans, marking trees, administering logging, inventorying roads, creating erosion control plans and conducting plant, owl and archaeological surveys. During the last three years I have continued the same line of work in my own business and relocated to Ellensburg, Washington and last year began auditing companies against the FSC Chain of Custody standard.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
The FSC formed out of concern for the loss of the world’s forests and the failure of intergovernmental organizations to address rapid deforestation. 130 representatives of environmental groups, forestry operations, human rights groups, and commercial interests came together in the first General Assembly to form the FSC in 1993. The FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization.

The mission of it is to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial, and economically viable management of the world's forests.

The Forest Stewardship Council is an international association of members consisting of a diverse group of representatives from environmental and social groups, the timber trade and the forestry profession, indigenous people's organizations, responsible corporations, community forestry groups and forest product certification organizations from around the world. The General Assembly of FSC Members is the highest decision-making body in FSC, and meets at least once every three years. The FSC General Assembly is made up of three membership chambers: Environmental, Social and Economic. The purpose of the chamber structure is to maintain the balance of voting power between different interests without having to limit the number of members. Each chamber has 1/3 of the voting power in the general assembly and motions require an affirmative vote of 2/3 of the total vote to be adopted.

What does the FSC do?
It sets standards, provides FSC trademark assurance and it accredits certification bodies to conduct certifications to the FSC standards.

There are 5 certification bodies that operate in North America. Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) and SmartWood are two with whom I have worked and are two of the three original certification bodies.

How does FSC certification work?
There are two types of certification, Forest Management and Chain of Custody. Forest Management (FM) certification applies to the actual forestland or the source. Chain of Custody (COC) certification applies to the manufacturing and distribution chain that certified wood travels before being purchased.

Forest Management (FM) Certification
To achieve Forest Management certification, forest management practices must meet the FSC’s Principles and Criteria and any FSC regional standards that may be present in the area. They must then be certified by an FSC accredited, third party auditor. Following is a summary of FSC Principles and Criteria:
-Conversion of forests or any other natural habitat is prohibited.
-International workers rights must be respected.
-Use of hazardous chemicals is prohibited.
-Human rights with particular attention to indigenous peoples must be respected.
-All applicable laws must be followed and areas that need special protection, such as sacred sites and endangered species habitat, must be identified and managed appropriately.
Although, many of these points appear almost basic, in many places even these basic requirements are not fulfilled and are where FSC can have the biggest positive impact.

Within the US, there are 9 approved regional standards covering the forested portions of the entire continental US that are applied “above and beyond” the Principles and Criteria.

FSC is different from other certification systems, which include the American Tree Farm System, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, the Canadian Standards Association, the International Organization for Standardization and the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes. FSC is the only forest certification endorsed by the nation’s leading environmental organizations.

In 2008 Yale conducted a study to evaluate competing forestry certification schemes against the US Green Building Council goals and objectives, key points of controversy are compared at http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/ForCert_ControversyMatrix070808.xls. FSC is found to be a more comprehensive and prescriptive standard on issues such as chemicals, clearcutting, maintenance of old growth structure and riparian management. Around the world, only FSC prohibits conversion of natural forests, the use of highly hazardous pesticides, the cultivation of genetically modified trees (GMOs) and respects the rights of indigenous peoples. It makes sense then that FSC certified products are the only certified forest products that are accepted by all residential and commercial green building programs in North America. To the credit of the FSC, strongly entrenched differences separate FSC from other systems, at a time when other certification systems are harmonizing. Other sources that compare certification systems include:
http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/USGBCFinal.htm (YPFPG Final Report to USGBC)
http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/AppA_YPFPGCompMatrix022508.xls (Yale comprehensive comparison of standards)
http://www.certifiedwoodsearch.org/matrix/matrix.aspx (Comparison of Forest Certification Systems)
Yale FAQ about certification: http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/faq.html

To date, 279 million acres of forests are FSC certified and over 13,000 Chain of Custody certificates have been issued in 81 countries.

FSC certified forests in Washington State include the City of Seattle Cedar River Municipal Watershed, Fort Lewis Military Installation, the Washington Department of Natural Resources South Puget Habitat Conservation Plan Planning Unit (http://www.dnr.wa.gov/BusinessPermits/Topics/TimberSaleAuction/Pages/lm_forest_certification.aspx) and the Northwest Natural Resource Group, which recently certified around 600 acres on the east side that belong to The Nature Conservancy. Recently, Peter Goldmark, Public Lands Commissioner in Washington State, suggested moving all state land management practices in a direction that would meet FSC standards.

Chain of Custody (COC) Certification
Chain of Custody or COC refers to the succession of ownership of wood products. A cornerstone of consumer confidence is the ability to track wood from the time it leaves the forest through the manufacturing and distribution channels, in order to ensure that what is labeled as a certified product can be traced back to a certified source.

Each company in the chain must hold a valid certificate, which ensures that they have a system of accountability in place, are in fact buying certified inputs, are accountable for tracking material through their systems and are making accurate and verifiable claims to their customers. The chain-of-custody certification process is basically a verification of a company’s ability to separately track all FSC materials throughout their business, from purchasing and inventory control to manufacture and sale. For most companies in North America this is a very simple, non-invasive process that verifies existing good business practices.

Chain of Custody certification is important because without it there would be no mechanism for rooting out fraud. It provides companies with a license to use the registered FSC names and trademarks in trade and it gives specifiers, commercial buyers and the public assurance that their purchasing decision is tied to environmental performance.

Who needs a COC certificate?
You need a COC certificate if you take legal ownership of FSC certified product, and wish to pass on a commercial claim that the product is certified, whether that claim is on-product, on an invoice, or in other communication. There is some confusion as to whether lumber retailers need a certificate. They do in order to pass on the FSC claim to their client, particularly if the client is a manufacturer, such as a cabinetmaker, architectural millworks company or truss manufacturer who needs to make a FSC claim themselves or if the client is a contractor who needs proof of FSC certification to fulfill LEED requirements. On the other hand, the homeowner may have a lower threshold of proof and choose to buy FSC certified material from an entity that is not a certificate holder. The bottom line is anyone can sell FSC certified wood, but the chain of custody is broken with the last certificate holder and only a certificate holder has a certificate number, can label a product, modify a claim or make a claim.

The number of COC certificates issued to US companies has been rising. The factors contributing to this growth are the green building program, LEED and the print industry.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
There are dozens of Green Building Programs in the US, LEED is a national green building standard developed by the US Green Building Council which formed in 1993 to promote energy efficient green buildings. LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), measures how well a building or community performs across all the metrics that include: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

LEED has four certification levels that encourage higher levels of achievement. Under the new rating system, version 3, 40-49 points are required to be certified, 50-59 to meet silver, 60-79 to meet gold and 80+ points to achieve platinum out of 100 possible points and 10 bonus points. For more information, go to: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1447
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1988
http://www.fsccanada.org/leed.htm

Registered projects can gain one point in the materials and resources category if 50% (by cost) of all wood based materials are FSC certified. Another point may be gained in the innovation in operations category if a much higher percent is used. Usually only wood permanently installed in the building counts.

The percentage of FSC content is multiplied by the cost, the resultant value is counted toward the credit and the balance counts against it.

According to the March 2008 edition of Architectural Products, “LEED-certified projects now account for roughly 10%-15% of the total US construction market.” Prominent LEED projects include the 7 World Trade Center in New York, CityCenter Casino in Las Vegas, Nationals Park in Washington D.C., the Indianapolis International Airport and Traugott Terrace, an urban infill project in Downtown Seattle.

Print Industry
The other factor contributing to the growth in Chain of Custody is the Print Industry, which represents 25- 30% of FSC Chain of Custody. The number of certificate holders that are printers increased significantly between 2005 and 2009.

Consumers of printed matter are asking that their posters, brochures, calendars, newsletters, books, envelopes and inaugural invitations be printed on FSC stock. It is critical for there to be numerous active players at the source, in manufacturing, in distribution and in the marketplace for the whole thing to work.

Benefits of FSC Certification
Benefits to FSC certification may include entrance into new markets, a positive public image, increased credibility to environmental claims, real and perceived risk reduction for Boards of Directors and shareholders, a price premium and may lead to continuous improvement in decision making and profitability through external examination.

FSC Label
FSC certified wood and pulp can originate from well-managed forests, post consumer recycled content or be a combination of FSC certified wood fiber, recycled content and other controlled sources. There are three types of FSC labels that can be found on FSC certified products, FSC Pure, FSC Recycled and FSC Mixed Sources. Only products from verified FSC certified sources may carry the FSC’s “checkmark-and-tree” label.

Labels include the FSC “checkmark-and-tree” logo, the recycled content if applicable, the origin of the material and the certificate number of the manufacturer or printer. You can use the certificate number to look up more information about the certificate holder at http://www.fsc-info.org/.

Specifying FSC Wood Products in Building Projects
First, the question must be asked of your homebuilder, remodeler, architect, or building material supply store, “Can we do this project with FSC certified wood products?” Then ensure that the information discovered during the design phase related to grade, delivery times, and species are included in the specifications, so contractors are aware if special steps need to be taken to secure products. To make it easier for the contractor, you can develop a FSC qualified vendor list. When it comes to ordering material, request “FSC certified” material for each appropriate line-item as opposed to a blanket specification for all wood products and order in advance because FSC products are not always stocked at local material suppliers. When you receive the material verify the claim on the invoice and validity of the supplier’s certificate at http://www.fsc-info.org/. For more information you can download the Designing & Building with FSC Guide from www.fscus.org/dandbwithfsc.org.

Common Misconceptions
Common misconceptions about FSC certified forest products are that they are too expensive, but in fact not all FSC certified products are more expensive, it depends. In March of 2008, I bought FSC certified two by fours for 0.47/LF, at that time two by fours from conventional sources were only a few cents less. In March of this year I bought two by fours for 0.45/LF, which although lower than the year before was twice the price of two by fours from conventional sources, but this year the market has dropped to historic lows. Regarding availability, more products are becoming available in local markets. At a minimum, you can find FSC certified framing lumber, plywood, millworks, flooring and cabinet stock. Poor quality, such as cupped or twisted lumber, should not be more prevalent in FSC certified stock than in stock that is not certified.

Where do you locate FSC certified wood product in Washington?
Following is a list of resources that will help you locate FSC certified wood products in Washington:
• http://www.findfsc.org/ (user friendly)
• http://www.nnrg.org/files/fsc_cocs_wa.xls list of Chain of Custody certificate holders in Washington State
• http://fsccanada.org/FSCpaper.htm#ccc to find FSC certified papers
• www.greenspec.com contains a detailed listings of more than 2,000 environmentally preferable building products
• Locally, Matheus Lumber Company is a COC certificate holder (SGS-COC-006017), Yakima Home Depot has stocked some FSC certified plywood and Knudsons can special order FSC certified wood.

Ideas
Following are ideas that may increase the supply and demand for FSC certified wood products:
• The City and/or County could develop a green checklist and if the homebuilder builds homes according to this green checklist they would have a faster permitting time.
• Requests can be made to suppliers of wood products to source FSC certified material and toward this effort develop a card that people can take to stores with the FSC logo, resources and benefits of sourcing FSC certified material.
• Encourage any mill, chip facility or biomass utilization plant to buy FSC certified material.
• Increase the supply of FSC certified logs and chips by encouraging more landowners to join “the program”. The Northwest Natural Resource Group has a program and you can learn more about it at (http://www.nnrg.org/nw-certified-forestry).

On the Ground Impact
Will my home remodeling project or new home purchase really make a difference in the forest? In response to this question, the Rainforest Alliance has researched 129 companies in 21 countries that manage FSC certified forests to determine the effectiveness of FSC certification. As a result of FSC certification over 60% improved their worker safety and worker training programs, over 60% improved the forested areas around rivers, wetlands and other waterways, over 60% increased the monitoring of sensitive High Conservation Values Forests, over 60% have better identified threatened and endangered species habitat, over 50% have improved reforestation programs and 50% have reduced the use of chemicals. And even though many of these companies were practicing forestry according to their local, regional or national forestry laws, there was still significant room for improvement.

Conclusion
I recognize the benefits of buying or specifying FSC certified wood products is less tangible than conserving energy by installing insulation or generating solar heated water and electricity from the sun because you can’t calculate how quickly the thing will pay for itself based on the electricity or gas saved. However, keep in mind it means something in the forest. FSC incentivizes better forestry, beyond the business as usual model. According to a recent study by the Global Canopy Programme (GCP) deforestation contributes 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. As globalization takes hold, more and more wood comes from outside the US. Your choices in wood products drive not only the protection of biodiversity but also the fate of indigenous communities, the protection of water resources, and the ongoing removal of carbon gasses from our atmosphere.

Sources
Following is the list of sources I used in the development of this presentation:
• Forest Stewardship Council http://www.fsc.org/
• Emily Jaklitsch, FSC http://www.fscus.org/
• Aaron Maizlish, SCS http://www.scscertified.com/
• Building & Remodeling with FSC and the 2008 FSC Manufacturing and Sales Guide developed by Terry Campbell of Forest Products Solutions
• 2006 Forest Certification in North America by E. Hansen et al.
• Design and Building with FSC http://fscus.org/green_building/designing_building.php
• Northwest Natural Resource Group: http://www.nnrg.org/nw-certified-forestrycertified-forestry

Resources
Following is a list of resources:
For more information about FSC
• Forest Stewardship Council http://www.fsc.org/
• Forest Stewardship Council US http://www.fscus.org/
Search for FSC certified wood products
• http://www.findfsc.org/ (user friendly)
• FSC certified wood product suppliers in WA www.nnrg.org/files/fsc_cocs_wa.xls
• Find FSC-certified Papers fsccanada.org/FSCpaper.htm#ccc
• www.greenspec.com listing of > 2,000 environmentally preferable building products
• FSC Canada www.fsccanada.org/FindWoodProducts.htm#distributors
• FSC registered Certificates http://www.fsc-info.org/
To become FSC certified
• Scientific Certification Systems http://www.scscertified.com/
• Rainforest Alliance SmartWood www.rainforest-alliance.org/forestry
For more information about LEED
• USGBC http://www.usgbc.org/
• FSC US www.fscus.org/green_building/
• SCS www.scscertified.com/ecoproducts/
Certification systems comparisons
http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/ForCert_ControversyMatrix070808.xls
http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/USGBCFinal.htm (YPFPG Final Report to USGBC)
http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/AppA_YPFPGCompMatrix022508.xls (Yale comprehensive comparison of standards)
http://www.certifiedwoodsearch.org/matrix/matrix.aspx (Comparison of Forest Certification Systems)
Yale FAQ about certification: http://www.yale.edu/forestcertification/faq.html