Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
wayne_5

Soil Tillage

Here in Central Indiana it is nearly a whiteout as I type this. Some in AgTalk have commented in about seeing brown dust with the blowing snow from fall tilled fields while no-till fields seem fairly protected. Here the snow is likely too deep to reach the bare soil right now.

I have again looked through Ploughman's Folly and also A Second Look.
A Second Look and a third are available at http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/01aglibwelcome.html .

Edwardard Faulkner who wrote those books believed in incorporating into the soil by stirring green manures and the other organic matter. He believed plowing incorporated the organic matter too deeply. Apparently he wasn't a no-tiller either. His writings were in the mid 1940s.

I find for myself that I agree with the conclusion of lightly incorporating into the upper soil. I do leave cover crops more alone, but do stir the soil for nice a nice planting medium and any fertilizer added. Edward believed that no fertilizer would be necessary. He believed that the soil already contained plenty of reserves if only they were made available. I can agree about half way there, but that that would only happen under ideal+ conditions.

All in all an interesting look.

Comments (5)