Till Or No-Till

jjp8182

Farm Hand
Messages
96
Neither and both at the same time as I'm more likely to fall into the camp of "till for a purpose not out of a habit" :cool:
 
Urban Homestead

Urban Homestead

Bean Stalker
Messages
208
It seems like too much work
Oh no, no, no. That's why I'm a no-tiller, it's basically the lazy route. I'm a city homesteader, so I'm not sure how it would work for big time commercial farmers, but I plant and harvest enough crops to support my family, to donate to the local food pantry, to share with neighbors, and to sell at the farmers market. I do it all through the practice of lasagna gardening, which is super low-maintenance. It lets me turn kitchen scraps and yard waste into wonderful compost and it retains moisture, so I need to water the plants less often. No-till farming is better for the environment, but I'll admit that I adopted it because it saves me time and effort.
 
Henderson

Henderson

Golden Chicken
Messages
170
I agree with you Jack L. I think it's easier to till the soil because it disrupts the weeds. It also softens the dirt which makes it easier for young roots to grow. Most farmers add some combination of compost, fertilizer, and other soil amendments, so I don't see how it ruins soil fertility.
 

Moringa-farmer

Farm Hand
Messages
12
To whom it concerns:

Hello All, 'Just wanted to add this to the scene: On a nice corner lot (3ac.) in Loomis Ca, I had tons of wood-chips delivered to my property and with a commercial skip-loader tractor and a landscape rake, spread the stuff around on top of bare soil in places for aesthetics and for weed discouragement. I was told that that would encourage the large dying oak to regain new life as well. Around the oaks, and especially that dying one, about two feet of chips was deposited within the drip-line and slightly beyond. It worked GREAT. The tree reacted within one year: subtle at first.

But that's off subject. What I wanted to relay is that along the roadway, and up to the corral fence was an area which also received about 6" coverage. Inside the corral fence, however, was kept box-scraped and was simply plain dirt ("Caliche"). A few years later, when messing around digging there, it was very obvious that the chips side was soft, supple, easy to dig, and had moisture, worms, and super nice soil. The non-covered side was like a block of granite!

So in witnessing such benefits of using the biological (natural) method of cultivation, it has become my study to understand WHY this is so favorable to plants. What I've learned both through observation and through the findings of other contributors, is that plant roots favor such as that found beneath decomposed matter for obvious reasons: ease of growth, higher levels of oxygen, higher moisture content and its retention, cooler temps, encouragement to microbes, mycelium and worms, beetles etc, which all contribute to breaking down such matter into a usable form for the roots of plants to absorb.

As for how this fits into the discussion at hand, you be the judge. Other matters certainly come into view; eg. when commercial vs. home-gardening is compared. But the "system" which nature has been created to utilize still remains in tact. Giving the crops' roots what they want is the key. And since the layering of green-matter on the soil surface is beneficial to retain water, discourage weeds, oxygenates, fluffs, and helps to "de-densify" the soil over time, it seems to be the best choice for the home gardener.

Sorry for the lengthy essay. I hope it helps to add a little light to the subject.
Ray
 
 
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