Subject: Re: Imants spade plow->Humus Management

From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 4 Mar 1999 11:41:43 +0000

> Does anyone have information on the "Imants spade plow"?  I've looked on 
>the databases and can't seem to come up with anything.  Ditto a 
>simple Web search.  
> 
> Also, I'm trying to find contact information for a gentleman named 
>Carroll Montgomery, who is, or at least was in 1994, an agricultural 
>consultant with the Christian Agriculture Stewardship Institute> 
> 
> Any help would be appreciated.  Thank you!
> 
> Victoria Mundy

Hi Victoria, 

Here are contacts the main spader dealers in the U.S. (I will gladly 
take contacts for other dealers if anybody has any):

Autrusa Compost/Imants U.S.A.
[George Leidig]
P.O. Box 1133
Blue Bell, PA  19422
610-825-2973
[email-masked]
http://www.autrusa.com
----U.S. distributor for Imants Spaders, Sandberger Compost Turners,
----and Top Tex Compost Fleece

Imants web site in The Netherlands 
http://www.imants.com/

Market Farm Implements 
[Ralph Moore]
257 Fawn Hollow Road
Friedans, PA  15541
814-443-1931
----Distributor for multiple brands of spaders and market
----garden/truck farming vegetable production implements 

Ferrari Tractor C.I.E.
[Eugene Canales]
PO Box 1045
Gridley, CA  95948
916-846-6401
916-846-0390 Fax 
----U.S. distributor for Celli, Torteli, etc brands of European
----spaders.  Ferrari Tractor C.I.E. -- like its counterpart Market 
----Farm Implements on the East -- carries a wide assortment of 
----small-farm equipment.  Spaders available as attachments to
----walk-behind tractors or regular pull-type tractors.  

Here is the contact for Carroll Montgomery and Christian 
Agriculture Stewardship Institute (CASI): 

Christian Agriculture Stewardship Institute (CASI)
Rt. 1, Box 364
Dexter, MO  63841
314-624-3709
314-624-4391 Fax 
CASI Publications: 
"God's Stewards... Caring for His Soil"
"Alternatives for American Agriculture:  CASI Soil Analysis Training"
"Alternatives That Few Consider"
"Why We Do Have Weeds and Grass" 

Soil management tidbits, a spader story: 

Fyi, at the 1995 Acres USA conference there was an interesting 
presentation by M.R. Foulks, who is the largest organic soybean 
grower in Virginia.  He discussed his organic production system, and 
presented data on soil health improvements through the adaption of 
innovative soil management practices.  The Foulks had attended 
some of the controlled microbial composting and humus management 
practices taught in seminars in Pennsylvania by the Siegfried Luebke 
family of Austria, hosted by George Liedig of Autrusa Compost.   

The CMC Compost-Humus Mgm't System emphasizes specialized 
compost turners, microbial inoculation, clay additions, frequent 
turning, daily monitoring for temperature and CO2, compost fleece to 
cover and protect the windrow, and qualitative testing for finished 
compost.  Promotion of clay-humus crumb formation and a 
microbially-rich compost is a primary goal.  Coupled with CMC 
compost, emphasis is placed at the farm level on a whole series of 
well-known organic agricultural practices that promote soil 
health, soil humus, soil biology, soil tilth, soil fertility etc.  
These include crop rotations, cover crops, green manures, 
microbially-inoculated composts, sod rotations mixed with crop
rotations, grazing, urine, etc.  "Humus management" encompasses
these soil-enhancing organic farming practices along with the deep 
humus knowledge from the organic pioneeers:  Efrenfried 
Pfeiffer, Sir Albert Howard, Lady Eve Balfour, as well as the 
microbial-humus scientists like Selman Waksman of Rutgers University 
and the Russian scientiests Kononova and Krasilnikov, among others.

This is where the spader comes into the picture.  In addition 
to the cover cropping and compost applications, choice of tillage 
implement can make a big difference in soil tilth and humus content. 
The Luebkes found that spading implements are superior as a humus 
management tool in vegetable production, especially in comaparison to 
tillers etc.   At the Acres conference, M.R. Foulks presented the
following data on humus values based on early adoption of 
large-sized spading implements for agronomic crop production in 
the U.S.  The humus value is the sodium hydroxide colorimetric humus 
value test.  

                   Humus Value    	Humus Value

Soil Depth   Chisel Plow/Disc  Spader
0-3"              14                         20
3-6"              7                           15
9-12"            7                           18

The data shows that tillage implement alone can affect 
soil conditions that favor microbial populations, and their
ability to humify soil organic matter from crop residues, 
cover crops, and composts.   

Steve Diver

========================

Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 11:00:18 +0000
From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>

The Soil Saver, Strohm's Aerway deal, the Keyline Chisel Plow...
there are a number of implements that do a better job than
roto-tillers and moldboard plows.

=======================

Date: Tue, 9 Mar 1999 01:16:45 -0500 (EST)
From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <[email-masked]>

The Soil Saver may do as good a job or come close to the Imants.
I have seen it work on my land; as a result of several repeated sessions
with the SS this past Summer (preceeded several months with mouldboard
plowing) my soil is in the best condition ever since I bought the land in
1978. The SS is a 9 foot, non 3 point hitch (drawbar pulls implement -
rolls on pneumatic tires when not in use) chisel plow with a row of
sod cutting coulter blades ahead of the rows of spring-loaded chisel
points; the chisel points have little shoes or spades mounted at their
tips. Amazing and miraculous implement.