Raemelton Farm is certified USDA Organic by the Maryland Department of Agriculture. Easy thing to say, doing it … not so much. From day one Raemelton has focused on sustainable production practices. Our mind set has always been to look for better, more sustainable solutions to normal production challenges. We constantly test new cutting edge practices, but organic certification was not originally a goal.
In 2012 Nursery Management magazine published an article asking the question “Are organic nursery crops feasible?” An industry expert, quoted in the article, made a statement that stuck with us. “I don’t think anyone in the nursery industry out there is good enough to get certified right now,” she said.
Game on!
With the challenge quote enlarged into inch tall letters, we made it into a sign, stuck on the office wall, and we embarked on our organic journey.
It took three years to begin the transition of about 5% of our production ground to certified organic. We started small with just an acre and a half. USDA Organic rules require the ground to be managed organically for 3 full years before a crop can be certified. Each year or so we added another small section to the transition program.
On October 1, 2015, Raemelton Farm received organic certification from the Maryland Department of Agriculture. We are the first, and only, field production nursery in the US to achieve this status. (If there is anyone else out there, they are doing a great job of hiding.)
USDA Certified Organic
The National Organic Program is administered by the US Department of Agriculture. The organic standards are federal law and are enforced by the federal government. USDA accredits other groups to perform the certification task. In our case, the Maryland Department of Agriculture reviews our Organic System Plan, performs an annual on-site inspection, and any other surprise visits needed.
The organic rules are lengthy! They are also very, very strict. Making a mistake by applying a prohibited chemical can have serious consequences. If it’s truly an accident you could be required to “start over” with another 3 year transition period. If someone is trying to cheat, there are huge cash fines and even jail. This strict compliance system is what makes the certified organic tag so valuable.
Organic production requires a mindset adjustment. You must manage your crop with a focus on preventing problems, not just reacting to them. If you do have a problem, it must be detected and addressed immediately. The organic rules prohibit all systemic pest and weed control products. There are no real ‘rescue’ treatments for a pest outbreak.
Preventing problems starts with our field layout. The organic fields follow our normal design of tree rows separated by grass aisles, but we don’t do monoculture rows. Research has shown that diverse landscapes foster healthy beneficial insect populations. We create that diversity by alternating two or three different tree species in one row. This alternate planting cuts the host density for problematic insects and makes it less likely we will have to deal with an outbreak.
When we lined out the first organic field, the crew was really amused by the alternate planting. They called it the ‘crazy field’ (campo loco). A long conversation in Steve’s really horrible Spanish got the guys up to speed, but the name stuck.
Pests
Despite our best efforts, and rigorous scouting, there are still bugs that want to eat our trees. Organic production doesn’t mean “no spraying.” However, we are limited to products that are approved for organic use. The Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI) is one group that maintains a list of allowed products.
We also use many non-chemical controls. Ambrosia beetles are attracted to trees emitting ethanol because they are stressed. We can fool the ambrosia beetles with bolts of wood filled with alcohol, the beetles then attack the bolts and not our crop.
Weed control is hard!
We can’t use roundup or pre-emergent chemicals in the organic fields. So, how can we control weeds?
It’s easy enough to keep a 10’x10’ garden weed free. You just go pull weeds frequently, but scaling this up to 5 acres or more doesn’t work. The labor costs of that approach are prohibitive!
First, we accept that there will be some weeds at some times of year. This isn’t a private estate with a manicured landscape, we’re in the tree production business. Our concern is with quickly growing healthy, pretty trees.
We use a combination of practices to manage weeds in the organic fields. Every fall we plant a winter cover crop like forage radish or crimson clover into the rows. These plants crowd out the winter annual weeds and provide all the other benefits of cover crops. We also top dress the organic rows with compost that we make ourselves. By eliminating bare soil in the organic fields, we greatly reduce the weed pressure for small seeded annual weeds. Over the summer we use OMRI approved organic herbicides (basically soaps) to kill summer annual weeds immediately after germination, and to suppress any perennial weeds. We also mow, or cut down, the flower or seed heads of any escaped weeds. None of these practices are sufficient by themselves, but when used together they solve the weed problem … mostly.
What We Grow
Our original plan for the organic fields was to grow a subset of the ornamental and fruit trees we produce conventionally. Over time we have adjusted our organic plan to focus on straight species natives and fruit trees. From stately shade trees like pecan, black tupelo, and red oak, to flowering beauties like dogwoods and eastern redbuds, our organic trees fit a range of landscape applications. We’re also growing a selection of fruit and nut bearing trees for those that want an ‘instant’ organic home orchard. We can grow you an organic tree… keeping it that way is up to you!
Raemelton Farm is a wholesale B&B tree nursery in Frederick County, Maryland.
There are 100 acres in nursery production with another 85 acres for future expansion. More than 300 varieties of trees are grown here--from traditional landscape trees, to fruit and nut bearing trees, and specimens that are often hard to find in the trade!
