Subject: Re: One-Straw Revolution
From: William D Hulet <whulet@uoguelph.ca>
Organization: University of Guelph
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 1997 15:47:50 -0400
Message-ID: <MOD$970806.6297@rec.gardens.ecosystems>
References: <MOD$970731.5548@rec.gardens.ecosystems> <MOD$970804.6666@rec.gardens.ecosystems> <MOD$970804.9396@rec.gardens.ecosystems>



On Mon, 4 Aug 1997, The Tetrad wrote:
> I believe, based on a sustainable ag web page I saw, that one actually plants
> a cover crop where you plan to put your veggies in, let in die as a mulch and
> then put the plants in. So you *do* cultivate the cover crop -- it seems to
> be more like "growing your own mulch" instead of cultivating and then carting
> a mulch in.
Actually, Fukuoka didn't even "plant" some of his crops. He
developed a system where he coated the seed with pellets of earth and then
scattered them by hand over the area. He didn't prepare the soil other
than by tossing the straw from the previous crop back on the soil. In
other cases he planted white clover as a living mulch (ie: he didn't kill
it after it got so high).

>
> The "no prepared compost" I don't understand *at all* -- can anyone explain?
He mentioned that Japanese farmers put a lot of effort into
specially-created composts. I think that the point he was trying to make
was that it doesn't make a lot of sense to carefully collect all the straw
from a crop, work your tail off composting it, and then carefully spread
it back on the soil. Why not just let it rot where it lies?

>
>
> I agree with JS here. . . any comments?
I've found that it is possible to grow vegetables and flowers with
a minimum amount of weeding if you minimize the tillage. The more you
till, the more weeds you plant. It's that simple. The odd weed that pops
up and starts out-competing what you want can get cut down with a sickle
and left on the ground where it grew. If your vegetables and flowers are
healthy, they should be able to out-compete the new shoots that come up
from the roots of the weed.

When I was a kid I worked like a slave with a hoe to keep our
family fed (there wasn't enough money to buy groceries). Imagine my
shagrin when I put Fukuoka's theory into practise and found out the vast
majority of that work was totally unnecessary!

> >
> >>4.) NO DEPENDENCE ON CHEMICALS
> >
> \ How about no dependence on any artificial imputs? I'm concerned
about the use of imported pollinators, carnivorous insects, virus sprays,
and all the other "organic" substitutes for pesticides. In Ontario our
indigenous ladybugs are getting displaced by imports that people pick up
at the store; and I keep hearing dire things about the impact that
imported honey bees are having on our local feral hives and native pollen
bees. I think that any time we have to buy some special imput to take
care of a problem, we're probably making some sort of error.

> If anyone knows more, I hope they will comment. I always like hearing about
> new techniques.