Wha…? First off, ammonia nitrogen (along with a proper ratio of soil bacterial life) can easily keep the grounds warmer in the fall no matter the temperate zone. Ammonia Nitrogen has a unique ability to freeze when heated and heat when frozen, of course the bacteria play a role in this too, but mold board plowing she only be done in the Fall, secondly BEFORE plowing is done you have to do soil tests to determine what the soil is needing and doesn’t need, and I am not talking about synthetic NPK crap, I’m talking about putting back real pure elements into your soils, THEN you can plow and treat your soils with the proper fertilizers. Carbon is greatly responsible for preventing soil erosion, one reason the soil breaks down is due to a lack of carbon and moisture control. Which is why farms pour hundreds of gallons frequent on soil because the soil, due to a lack of carbon levels, is not regulating moisture and when the moisture levels go down, the nitrogen levels go up, the higher the nitrogen levels the less beneficial bacteria, the less Anionic growth, because nitrogen’s are Cationic in nature, the more Cationic energy the more acid the soil pH becomes. By the way, the less carbon there is the weaker the electromagnetic current flowing through the top soil is, thus allowing a leakage of elements deeper into the soils, elements like Calcium and calcium is the element more widely used by volume for the plants than ANY other element. Carbon helps to stabilize the position of each element in the soil. I could go on for hours, but I will get off my soap box now.
actually yes in one year depending on how it rains, winds, and what not you can set yourself back 5 years for 1 year of tilling. Look up no kill cropping. (save your farm diversify NOW) If I could get bob red mill to buy that as a premium product lol. I might till maybe once every 10 years. I even have started looking into other ways of making potatoes.
Here in nz the ground is usually heavily tilled. It is mostly molboard ploughed then power harrowed. On grass the ground will usually be levelled with a leveller because the grass will be in the ground for 5+ years before regrassed. The land is then power harrowed again usually because levelling can accodentally make the topsoil too thin . For the ploughing tillage depth can be up to around 5 inches edit: ploughing can reduce compaction by up to 30% and power harrowing makes the soil even more aerated and "fluffy" helping moisture retention and absorption
I used to suggest low disturbance ripping when pre-existing compaction was a problem going into reduced tillage or direct seeding. Then I discovered the ability of regular crop root systems to attack and eliminate this compaction at 8 to 14 inches in depth. I saw this happen in heavy clay and silt loam soils equally well. The caveat was that the root systems were able to move deep in the plow layer rapidly enough to have time left on their growth clock to attack the compacted zone(s). Unfortunately, most secondary tillage operation of min-till tools hinder the rapid growth of the roots and contribute to anaerobic soil conditions which produce ethylene. The ethylene produces abnormal root development which results in shallow root systems. I always try address deep compaction issues but I'm not as concerned about it anymore. If I can create rapid root growth with good water management and gas exchange efficiency as a result of better water management (heavily focused on percolation, not JUST infiltration) then compaction is on the way out and trafficability and aggregate stability will ram up very quickly.
I reject the statement that the use of covercrops "alone" will address preexisting compaction when making the move to no-till. If this were actually true then we wouldn't see tillage radish (daikon) growing up out of the soil profile. It actually serves the function of indicating where the uppermost density layer is located. These root systems have no significant improved ability to penetrate the compaction layers than the main crops in the rotation. That includes great repeat effort taprooted crops like alfalfa. You can address all of the issues of soil degradation and eco-system chaos by using the targeted tillage approach brought to the marketplace by CurseBuster. Now with over 35 years of continuous use of the technology represented by Soil Regeneration Unlimited's CurseBuster, you can be assured of advancing soil health and profitability even without covercropping. Learn more by visiting us at http://www.soilcursebuster,com.
but they didnt even talking about the water holding capacity of the ground when you go no till, especially if you cover crop. 1 foot acre of land can hold about 320,000 gallons of water, tilling dries out your soil faster. just think if you could hold all that water, thats about 7.5 gallons of water per square foot. you dont have to worry about a drout if your soil is retaining that amount of water and have carbon built up in the soil to help hold it there.
The mould board creates compaction and the wind and sun crust your soil. To compare and contrast compaction and the reaction to the material from the weather is exactly what I want to accomplish grading a gravel road. We have been road building for 150 years not farming until recently. All tillage is bad
I've seen both around my house and my opinion is only till when you lime to get it in soil and only on ground that doesn't erode bad
The plow that broke the Plains
Nobody want to talk about lack of burying the previous years material giving disease a medium to survive over winter? There were less disease in arable crops before winter sown crops and no till. The old dudes had it right. If you want to stop soil erosion then you should have used a rotation with grass forms a better soil.structure when it's not tilled constantly.
Assuming annual crops rather than livestock farming. We had hay & pasture fields only broken up after 5 years plus. Annual crops for 2 years, then back in hay. Erosion not a big concern.
One thing you missed here is, when you replicate the way nature does it, no till, you get nitrate run-off. Wetland and no-till environments give us the nitrate runoff. Dead plant material that is left above to soil to rot, gives us nitrate runoff, such as the ditch set-back strips they want farmers to leave along drainage ditches.
Someplaces won't be able to No Till,ground and Growing Season won't let ya get by with it.
Absolutely love subscribing to your channel, thanks much for all the great work that you two do.
I'm a traditional tillage guy… erosion is always a problem… but if you properly do moldboard plowing you can minimize it. The bad thing I see is the use of no till is chemical usage.
I think every form of tillage has it’s place we notill, deep rip, chisel plow and molboard plow some times. People have to remember chisel plowing, and ripping can lead to erosion. Even zone tillage can. We have to be adaptive to the land we farm.
Thank you guys for finally speaking about the moldboard plow!
Wha…? First off, ammonia nitrogen (along with a proper ratio of soil bacterial life) can easily keep the grounds warmer in the fall no matter the temperate zone. Ammonia Nitrogen has a unique ability to freeze when heated and heat when frozen, of course the bacteria play a role in this too, but mold board plowing she only be done in the Fall, secondly BEFORE plowing is done you have to do soil tests to determine what the soil is needing and doesn’t need, and I am not talking about synthetic NPK crap, I’m talking about putting back real pure elements into your soils, THEN you can plow and treat your soils with the proper fertilizers. Carbon is greatly responsible for preventing soil erosion, one reason the soil breaks down is due to a lack of carbon and moisture control. Which is why farms pour hundreds of gallons frequent on soil because the soil, due to a lack of carbon levels, is not regulating moisture and when the moisture levels go down, the nitrogen levels go up, the higher the nitrogen levels the less beneficial bacteria, the less Anionic growth, because nitrogen’s are Cationic in nature, the more Cationic energy the more acid the soil pH becomes. By the way, the less carbon there is the weaker the electromagnetic current flowing through the top soil is, thus allowing a leakage of elements deeper into the soils, elements like Calcium and calcium is the element more widely used by volume for the plants than ANY other element. Carbon helps to stabilize the position of each element in the soil. I could go on for hours, but I will get off my soap box now.
actually yes in one year depending on how it rains, winds, and what not you can set yourself back 5 years for 1 year of tilling. Look up no kill cropping. (save your farm diversify NOW) If I could get bob red mill to buy that as a premium product lol. I might till maybe once every 10 years. I even have started looking into other ways of making potatoes.
Here in nz the ground is usually heavily tilled. It is mostly molboard ploughed then power harrowed. On grass the ground will usually be levelled with a leveller because the grass will be in the ground for 5+ years before regrassed. The land is then power harrowed again usually because levelling can accodentally make the topsoil too thin . For the ploughing tillage depth can be up to around 5 inches edit: ploughing can reduce compaction by up to 30% and power harrowing makes the soil even more aerated and "fluffy" helping moisture retention and absorption
I used to suggest low disturbance ripping when pre-existing compaction was a problem going into reduced tillage or direct seeding. Then I discovered the ability of regular crop root systems to attack and eliminate this compaction at 8 to 14 inches in depth. I saw this happen in heavy clay and silt loam soils equally well. The caveat was that the root systems were able to move deep in the plow layer rapidly enough to have time left on their growth clock to attack the compacted zone(s). Unfortunately, most secondary tillage operation of min-till tools hinder the rapid growth of the roots and contribute to anaerobic soil conditions which produce ethylene. The ethylene produces abnormal root development which results in shallow root systems. I always try address deep compaction issues but I'm not as concerned about it anymore. If I can create rapid root growth with good water management and gas exchange efficiency as a result of better water management (heavily focused on percolation, not JUST infiltration) then compaction is on the way out and trafficability and aggregate stability will ram up very quickly.
I reject the statement that the use of covercrops "alone" will address preexisting compaction when making the move to no-till. If this were actually true then we wouldn't see tillage radish (daikon) growing up out of the soil profile. It actually serves the function of indicating where the uppermost density layer is located. These root systems have no significant improved ability to penetrate the compaction layers than the main crops in the rotation. That includes great repeat effort taprooted crops like alfalfa. You can address all of the issues of soil degradation and eco-system chaos by using the targeted tillage approach brought to the marketplace by CurseBuster. Now with over 35 years of continuous use of the technology represented by Soil Regeneration Unlimited's CurseBuster, you can be assured of advancing soil health and profitability even without covercropping. Learn more by visiting us at http://www.soilcursebuster,com.
but they didnt even talking about the water holding capacity of the ground when you go no till, especially if you cover crop. 1 foot acre of land can hold about 320,000 gallons of water, tilling dries out your soil faster. just think if you could hold all that water, thats about 7.5 gallons of water per square foot. you dont have to worry about a drout if your soil is retaining that amount of water and have carbon built up in the soil to help hold it there.
The mould board creates compaction and the wind and sun crust your soil. To compare and contrast compaction and the reaction to the material from the weather is exactly what I want to accomplish grading a gravel road. We have been road building for 150 years not farming until recently. All tillage is bad
I've seen both around my house and my opinion is only till when you lime to get it in soil and only on ground that doesn't erode bad
The plow that broke the Plains
Nobody want to talk about lack of burying the previous years material giving disease a medium to survive over winter?
There were less disease in arable crops before winter sown crops and no till.
The old dudes had it right. If you want to stop soil erosion then you should have used a rotation with grass forms a better soil.structure when it's not tilled constantly.
Assuming annual crops rather than livestock farming.
We had hay & pasture fields only broken up after 5 years plus. Annual crops for 2 years, then back in hay. Erosion not a big concern.
One thing you missed here is, when you replicate the way nature does it, no till, you get nitrate run-off. Wetland and no-till environments give us the nitrate runoff. Dead plant material that is left above to soil to rot, gives us nitrate runoff, such as the ditch set-back strips they want farmers to leave along drainage ditches.
Someplaces won't be able to No Till,ground and Growing Season won't let ya get by with it.
Absolutely love subscribing to your channel, thanks much for all the great work that you two do.
I'm a traditional tillage guy… erosion is always a problem… but if you properly do moldboard plowing you can minimize it. The bad thing I see is the use of no till is chemical usage.
I think every form of tillage has it’s place we notill, deep rip, chisel plow and molboard plow some times. People have to remember chisel plowing, and ripping can lead to erosion. Even zone tillage can. We have to be adaptive to the land we farm.
Thank you guys for finally speaking about the moldboard plow!
Hi Darren and Brian