I was preparing an area of the property for planting strawberries today. A
few years ago I had sowed strawberry clover seed around and now the mat of
clover was incompatible with my plans. I careful forked the soil and pulled
out clover plants many of which had tap roots about 16 inches long. What I
found most fascinating was examining the soil structure. The ground does not
have lots of organic matter but there seems to be a lot of activity. Gently
breaking apart clods reveals worm tunnels big and small. Sometimes I would
find a nightcrawler in a clod with pieces of green grass and clover wrapped
around him in his tunnel. Bits of organic matter in the soil sometimes were
covered with white fungus as were some of the tiny roots from dead annuals.
Applying pressure to clods would result in a pile of granular bits (the
macro aggregates?)
I gave up rototilling earlier this for reasons extracted from Elaine's
writings. It is not a big deal but you have to be creative in planting seed
and managing non-crop plants.
Beside the "evils" of rototilling especially in clay soil, I have major
reservations about incorporating large quantities of uncomposted manure into
soil. Let's say you apply 100 pounds (dry weight) of manure per 100 sq. ft.
That is about 20 tons per acre. At nominal 1% nitrogen, that is 400 lbs. of
nitrogen/acre. I have read that up to half the nitrogen in manure can be in
the form of ammonia. If this was true, it would mean that you are apply a
huge quantity of essentially chemical nitrogen to the ground. Sure the OM is
going to buffer the negative effect somewhat but overall this cannot be good
for soil diverse soil microlife for a number of reasons. Further, the
ammonia transfers to the clay colloid kicking off the calcium that helps to
keeps clay from totally tightening up. So much for a health soil food web.
Sometimes not doing is better than doing. Of course, composting the manure
with some woody material then tilling that in the late spring would have a
far more positive effect.
Just my perspective,
John Cowan
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Received on Fri Nov 28 2003 - 00:28:06 EST