[compost_tea] Re: Jill Clapperton at a no-till conference.
Hugh, Thandks for the comments. I am not against notill at times.&nbs=
p;
Planting corn in wheat stubble can be the best seed bed possible.
Problems occur with years of notill in my OPINION. I do not no of a <=
BR>
no till farm (a no till farm which has been no till for several
years) that raises hi brix quality crops which I am starting to try
and raise. There are several situations where people are no till. I <=
BR>
am a no til farmer with my alfalfa. I have some fields that are
continous alfalfa for 10 years. Orchards are generally no-till. =
Its
just that some farmers see no-till as a way to farm but don't
recognize the need to improve the quality of the produce.
Remember, the goal of all the work we do is to raise the highest
quality, highest nutritional food we can produce.
The cover crop roller is a great machine. Thanks you for the
internet pages to look over.
--- In compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com, "Bobbie, Hugh, Marley & Hoebie=
"
<hri7064_at_m...> wrote:
> Jon,
>
> Are you interested in another point of view on no-till/minimum
tillage
> or is your mind made up? If the former is true please read on. I=
f
the
> latter please disregard the following.
>
> You wrote:
> [Two quick points on why I disagree with her
> (there are many others): No-till increases chemical usage. I am =
> trying to make a living, not support the chemical companies.
> Second, few people realize that nutrients can stratify in untill=
ed
> ground. I have seen the tests on this but I don't have them in <=
BR>
front
> of me. Don't believe me if you like. Working the soil is g=
ood!]
>
> There are people who practice sustainable, organic, no-till
agriculture
> without the use of chemicals. Examples follow:
>
> Ref:
>
http://www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/1103/notillroller.shtml "'
I
> thought you guys were organic!'" So said one of The Rodale
Institute's
> (TRI) conventionally farming neighbors earlier this year, after
seeing
> TRI's freshly planted soybean field. Rodale Farm Manager Jeff Moyer
had
> knocked down the cover crop of rye and planted the beans directly
into
> the residue. "It looked so good and the kill was so complete, he =
thought
> it must have been sprayed," recalls Moyer.
> Rest assured, however--there were no chemicals involved. Instead,
Moyer
> used a new, front-mounted cover-crop roller designed and built at
The
> Rodale Institute® as part of a continuing effort to develop
practical
> methods for reduced tillage organic production.
>
> Then there is the work of Dr. Ron Morse:
> Ref: http://www.newfarm.org/features/0104/no-till/index.shtml &quo=
t;No-
till,
> no-herbicide cover crop management and vegetable planting offer =
a
vital
> soil-building weed management strategy for organic growers and a
> practical solution to the kind of soil loss that prompted the
Carroll
> County extension agent's original call for help. Recent trials
suggest
> that this approach may find broad application in diversified
vegetable
> production."
>
> Finally there is the methods practiced by Anne and Eric Nordell on
their
> (organic) horse powered farm:
>
> Ref:
http:/=
/www.newfarm.org/features/1204/nordell/index.shtml "Their
> alternative tillage techniques include mulch-tilling, ridge-tilling,
> no-tilling, and skim plowing. Mulch-tilling shallowly incorporates
> mature cover crops, leaving a mulch of cover crop residues on the
soil
> surface. Ridge-tilling involves forming ridges and seeding them to
cover
> crops the preceding fall. In the spring, the winter-killed cover
crop is
> knocked off the top of the ridge, leaving a narrow strip of clean
soil
> for direct seeding. No-tilling for the Nordells means slicing a
narrow
> furrow into a cover-cropped ridge and transplanting or hand planting
> into the furrow. Skim plowing is used to shallowly incorporate
> over-wintering cover crops. Each of these alternative tillage
techniques
> preserves the soil structure created by the cover crops' root
systems,
> controls erosion, minimizes evaporation, and improves water
> infiltration, creating a large reservoir of moisture for cash crops.
> Each alternative tillage technique is used with specific cover
crops to
> coincide with target planting windows. Again, the cover crops are
> divided into winter-killed and over-wintering species; the planting
> windows can be generalized as early, mid-season and late."
>
> Now my own thoughts: No references immediately come to mind to <=
BR>
counter
> your claim about nutrient stratification in no-till systems but my
> intuition says that your sources lack biology (especially
earthworms) in
> the soil and/or aren't using cover crops correctly. I would be v=
ery
> interested to read more about the tests you mentioned.
>
> One final reference to ponder:
>
> Building Soils for Better Crops by Fred Magdoff and Harold van
Ess. "It
> typically takes a few years for no-tilled soils to improve, after
which
> no-till crops often out-yield crops grown with conventional tillage.
> The quality of no-tilled soils, by almost any measure, improves over
> time."
>
> Back to my thoughts: I want to minimize my addition to the botto=
m
line
> of the chemical and petroleum companies. I think this can be don=
e
with
> organic no-till/minimum till systems.
>
> Since tillage methods may be a little off beat for this list I
would be
> interested in continuing this discussion off list. You can e-mai=
l
me at
> hri7064_at_m...
>
> Thanks,
> Hugh
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Received on Fri Jan 21 2005 - 11:37:37 EST
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