Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>]

I'm sorry, but anybody who thinks you can work the fields in the dark is
too clueless to bother with.  How can he really believe you get less weeds
by tilling in the dark??? And of course he has no idea what Ken is
advocating, or how farmers have done no-till for many years. The guy is
pontificating on things he knows nothing about, and doesn't want to know.
Too silly to argue with. 

paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR  ***********

On 12/23/2007 at 10:03 AM Marty Kraft wrote:

>I'm still learning and clarifying by being the middle person here.  
>This is my friends response to Ken's and Paul's emails that I  
>forwarded on to him. He knows little of the history of your various  
>comments on the list. Thanks for taking the time.
>
>Marty
>
>Begin forwarded message:
>
>> From: "soaringeaglefarms@juno.com" <soaringeaglefarms@juno.com>
>> Date: December 23, 2007 3:05:02 PM CST
>> To: martyk@allspecies.org
>> Subject: [Livingontheland] NO-TILL FARMING OFFERS A QUICK FIX TO  
>> HELP WARD OFF HOST OF GLOBAL PROBLEMS
>>
>> Marty,
>>
>> I'll try to take this one step at a time
>>
>> Ken is talking about knocking down a cover crop. What is he going  
>> to knock it down with? Most likely a burn down chemical, or maybe a  
>> disk.
>>
>> Paul is talking about tillage bringing weed seed to the surface.  
>> That is correct, but if you do tillage after dark you will reduce  
>> weed pressure by 80 to 90 percent. Once again, if you have a weed  
>> supressing cover crop it will need to be killed before you plant  
>> the cash crop. If you don't kill the cover crop, the seed from that  
>> will be the next round of weeds.
>>
>> One thing that might have lead the group a little off course is  
>> that I raise much more than just wheat. I do try to use covercrops  
>> aggressively between the row crops to enhance fertility and control  
>> weeds. Another point is that most of the weeds indicate an  
>> imbalance in the soil. If you get the nutrients back in balance,  
>> the weeds will go away. Another thing is that I must stay inside  
>> the confines of organic certification. I would guess that most of  
>> the persons that reply to you are not capable of that either.
>>
>> Aloha,
>>
>> Lee
>>
>>
>> Here is one email response.
>>
>>
>> Marty
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> From: Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>
>>> Date: December 22, 2007 3:20:05 PM CST
>>> To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing  
>>> <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] NO-TILL FARMING OFFERS A QUICK FIX  
>>> TO HELP WARD OFF HOST OF GLOBAL PROBLEMS
>>> Reply-To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing  
>>> <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
>>>
>>> Marty,
>>>
>>> As I have said before "The problem is in the farmer's head not in  
>>> the field."
>>>
>>> A no-till cotton farmer [7th crop] uses wheat for his winter cover  
>>> crop.  Knocks it down and plants his cotton using a no-till  
>>> planter.  If the farmer is growing winter wheat, plant a summer  
>>> cover crop, knock in down and plant the wheat using a no-till  
>>> drill. If he is growing Spring wheat, harvest it, plant the winter  
>>> cover crop. Wheat is $8 per bushel, highest in many decades.  70  
>>> bushels@$8=$560x300=$168,000 gross.  His cost are: plant the  
>>> wheat, harvest the wheat, plant the cover crop, knock down the  
>>> cover crop, plant the wheat.  He can fish/hunt/volunteer work for  
>>> 50 weeks a year.
>>>
>>> The cotton farmer told me that his cost are so low, that cotton  
>>> will never be so cheap that he will not make a profit.
>>>
>>> Ken H
>>>