Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Emery Mitchamore <emitch@att.net>]

Excellent!  You stated what I wanted, but better than I would have.  Add 
"Farmers who have used "Herbicide No Till", but are finding herbicides less 
effective, leading to greater tillage".

E. E. "Mitch" Mitchamore
www.hillcountrynatives.net



On Jun 18, 2010, at 6:33 AM, Greg Baka wrote:

> One of valuable things about Gene Logsdon's article on "No-Till" was that 
> it points out that term is being applied to a very wide continuum of 
> practices.
> 
> The continuum ranges from:
> - Gardeners who keep a thick layer of mulch over their undisturbed soil...
> - Farmers who plant straight into a living tangle of ground cover...
> - Farmers who disc in green manure before broadcasting or drilling...
> - Farmers who till and mix the top few inches of soil and crop residue...
> - Farmers who use every conventional row crop operation imaginable EXCEPT 
> turning the soil with a mold board plow
> 
> So perhaps is he pointing out to us that "no-till" has become a term that 
> is so widely used that it has begun to lose it's meaning? Like "green" and 
> "organic" and "natural"
> 
> Maybe the term "no-till" no needs qualifiers to tell where it falls on the 
> continuum?
> * The farmers that Gene Logsdon describe from his area seem to be following 
> "Industrial Ag No-Till". 
> * In my flat row-crop garden that has never been plowed or rototilled - but 
> is cultivated and weeded with a wheel hoe and a hand hoe - I am using 
> "Cultivated Garden No-Till"
> * the previous poster who plants straight into the living ground cover is 
> using "Intact Sod No-Till" or perhaps "Pure No-Till"?
> 
> Moving away from a heavy plowing or rototilling habit is a good thing, some 
> just move farther than others before they stop, practice their new method, 
> and hopefully later further across the continuum to whatever true no-till 
> is. Gene's article reminds us that many farmers haven't been moving very 
> fast and are maybe getting a bit too settled where they are on the 
> continuum.
> 
> Greg in MO
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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