Hello! My name is Lily Blyn and I am a rising senior at Cornell studying environmental engineering. This summer I am working on collecting tile drainage water samples, conducting field work for agricultural research, teaching during education events, and helping organize the North American Manure Expo.
After a day of introductions and orientation I began my first research day with Janice Degni. We worked on collecting fly traps and plants for a research project focusing on how to prevent seed corn maggots by applying different treatments to corn. The plants were grown in two different soils: covered cropped and not cover cropped fields. In both areas three different corn treatments were tested: diamine, fungicide, and neonic. In both the cover cropped and non cover cropped areas and for each treatment type we collected five sets of ten one month old corn plants. Between the corn rows where each set of ten plants was dug up from we also dug up ten bean plants. The beans were planted since the maggots are highly attracted to them which helps further reveal whether the maggots are present. While digging up the plants we focused on sifting through the soil and looking for any maggot pupae. We also collected and replaced two sticky fly traps that were placed on the edge of the field. All these samples were packaged and I dropped them off at the entomology lab at Cornell.
The next two days I helped out at Ag Stravaganza. Cornell Cooperative Extension Cortland invited farmers to set up booths and fourth grade classes from nearby towns came to learn about all different types of agriculture. There were stations on dairy, beef, chickens, goats, orchards, field crops, and others ag related topics. I worked with Janice at the field crop station where we talked about all the crops that are produced to feed dairy cows. We explained the different plant families and how they provide certain nutrients or are higher in protein. We had lots of different plants for the kids to identify and ask about. It is hard to hold a fourth graders attention but they loved touching and spelling as many things as possible.
After Ag Stavaganza on Thursday, I drove with Janice to visit a large property used for horses and hay. The owner wanted advice on how to increase his hay production and improve his horse pastures. We talking about the different plants throughout the fields, and whether or not to add lime and fertilizer. The fielders were beautiful!
On Friday I spent the day in Auburn with Frank Clarke. We started the morning by planting a research vegetable plot. The research is focused on testing Eastern European vegetable varieties. In the afternoon we went out to take tile drainage water samples at three different locations. This involved recording the flow rate at each pipe and then collecting a water sample. The samples will be sent to the lab and tested for total nitrogen and total phosphorous content.