Re: [compost_tea] Tilling and tea don't mix.

From: Frank L Teuton <fteuton_at_sympatico.ca>
Date: Sun, 10 Aug 2003 10:03:56 -0400

Hi Elaine:

I looked over Jeff's post and mine again.

Jeff's argument was 'we till because Jethro Tull said to'. Sorry, this is n=
onsense. Yeah, Tull's argument that plants eat fine soil particles was larg=
ely wrong, Bargyla's photos notwithstanding, but in point of fact before Je=
ff's post I doubt if you could have found more than a handful of active far=
mers who are even aware of Tull's theory, much less slavishly following it.

Farmers till for pragmatic reasons, mostly these two:

1) to destroy existing competitive vegetation, opening up space for their c=
rops;

2) to allow high efficiency seeding and transplanting tools the ability to =
function in opened soil.

Coleman makes a number of other arguments, including the tendency of tillag=
e to warm up soils in spring, and the benefit of incorporating in the top s=
ix inches or so such materials as rock phosphate, which otherwise will move=
 very little into the active root zone if surface applied.

The 'pulverization' Tull describes we now call 'secondary tillage'. As a cl=
ay raised gardener, I can tell you that if you dig or till clay before it i=
s sufficiently dry, you can get clods the size of small bricks, and if you =
don't break them up into smaller pieces while they are a bit moist, they wi=
ll plague you for the rest of the growing season as physical obstacles to m=
oving about the garden, tripping you and stopping your wheelbarrow! Providi=
ng sufficient size reduction of clods to allow passage of equipment and per=
sonnel, seeders and transplanters, is a good thing, and breaking up clods w=
hilst mixing in organic matter makes it possible for the benefits of the or=
ganic matter to more quickly affect the now exposed innards of the clod. So=
 at least, I think, there's a Goldilocks principle at work here, as elsewhe=
re.

No-till gardening is not that difficult, and Ruth Stout describes it well e=
nough for anyone to follow her simple advice and succeed. On a larger, but =
still small scale, it is also possible but not so easy for the smaller seed=
ed crops, see http://www.seedballs.com/mcain.html

   But putting this to work on a field scale with the full spectrum of vege=
table crops, especially in fields with high perennial weed pressure, is fra=
nkly a daunting prospect. There hardly seems an alternative to either tilla=
ge, or herbicides, to initially clean a field infested with things like qua=
ckgrass, for example (Agropyron repens, or now Eletrigia repens, I think)

Even Steve Groff doesn't grow every vegetable in his no-till system: www.ce=
darmeadowfarm.com

I haven't heard of a no-till way to grow carrots, for example, on a field s=
cale.

Steel in the field still has its place.

http://wsare.usu.edu/docs/steel/p78-80.html

As long as that remains true, the real issue for this list should be, what =
role can tea play in helping soil recover from necessary tillage? How is te=
a as an additive to transplanting water, for example, or as a soil drench p=
re- or post- cultivation? Can I put tea into a hydromulch or hydroseeding a=
pplication to get the microherd back into the picture?

Of course, if some agro-genius can tell me a tea method for making quackgra=
ss pack its bags, and how to no-till grow carrots, I am all ears.

And, it is possible to grow some very nice vegetables using the rototiller,=
 troybilt or other, if you add enough organic matter to rebuild the soil yo=
u are destroying by tilling, which is something the Rodales (pere et fils) =
always advocated.

As always, the TANSTAAFL priniciple is in full force and effect.

My contrary, but hopefully not nasty, two cents.

Frank Teuton
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: soilfoodweb_at_aol.com
  To: compost_tea_at_yahoogroups.com
  Sent: Sunday, August 10, 2003 3:18 AM
  Subject: Re: [compost_tea] Tilling and tea don't mix.


  I believe Jeff L. was referring to Jethro Tull's "turn the soil to powder=
" tillage approach. Tull believed that the soil had to be pulverized in or=
der for the roots to eat the soil. Not what roots do, so tilling until you=
r soil is dust is not a good idea. But Jeff is right that sometimes you ne=
ed to till, if the soil is becoming too fungal for the plant you want to gr=
ow.

  Try to not come down nasty on people for saying things they never said, o=
k, Frank? As you might guess, I'm a bit sensitive on that subject.

  Earthworms certainly mix soil, but they don't really till it. The "tilla=
ge" that earthworms perform is micro-tillage, and certainly nothing as dis=
tructive as human-size plows, disc, chisels, rippers, sub-soilers, etc. Wor=
ms are mini-aerators, and can enhance fungi as well as bacteria, given that=
 you give your worms the right things to eat.


  Elaine Ingham
  President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
  www.soilfoodweb.com





Received on Sun Aug 10 2003 - 12:52:45 EDT

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