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  • From: Jennie Lee <tulipcreek AT dixie-net.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] Soil prep
  • Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 09:40:42 -0600 (CST)

Hi all - thanks to those of you who have written back with observations on my soil dilemma. To address some of the questions: Yes, I'm sure I'm zone 7a. I didn't take the soil temp before I planted tomatoes last year but mid-april is traditional tomato planting time around here. soil temps are about 65 right now. Moisture levels were fine - I can irrigate if I need to, but we generally get an inch or so of rain each week this time of year. pH was 6.6 - a little on the basc side according to my soil test, though our soils here tend towards acid.
I'm also aware of the benefits of no -till systems but don't have the equipment to fully implement one right now, or the finances to acquire it. I've tried to adapt the techniques I can. I till once a year and form semi-permanent raised beds with the furrower on my tiller. I mulch heavily with organic mulch once plants are in and of good size. I don't walk on my beds, I don't drive through my fields, I don't even let my dogs walk on the beds - they all know the command "out of the bed." I plants annual rye and winter peas into the summer beds without tilling in the fall. Somehow though, I have to get the rye taken care of in the spring. The rye grows very happily down there - maybe because of all the moisture ? - well into the hot part of the summer. If I waited until it formed seed heads to cut it down with a scythe and plant into the residues, it would be late June before I got any summer crops in. I grow organically so herbicides are not an option. And I don't have enough flat land to leave a half acres or so out of production every year just for cover crops.
I'm in my 3 rd year of farming an extremely degraded and abused piece of land. Fertiltity is a big problem for me - last year's OM content was 3.7% - and while I'm adding OM as fast as I can shovel, I'm also mindful that everytime I turn ground over, I'm initiating a cycle that uses it up.
For what its worth, last year (when the problem with the yellowing occured) I followed the same process I've always followed for getting the beds ready - I just did it 4-6 weeks before I planted into them. I guess my question posed more directly should read: if I plan to put tomato and pepper transplants in sometime before the first of May, is it too early to make my beds now, while the soil is dry enough to work? Chances are we'll have more drenching rains over the next several weeks. Thanks again for thoughts and observations -
Jennie Lee
Oxford, MS
Zone 7a
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Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Growing bed preparation
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Thanks for the kind words, Adrianna.

Nickel course, eh? Here goes:

Tillage requirements differ depending on the soil type- ranges from sand
to clay. Sandy soils require little, if any tillage while clay soils
require more. One needs to know the soil one is working in- info from
your county soil conservation district- as a starting point for
management.

Soil organic matter should be around 5-6%- higher in the extremes of sand
and clay. Tillage adds oxygen rich atmospheric air to the soil and you
get a population explosion of aerobic soil life that feed on soil OM.
This results in a reduction of OM.

Tillage also destroys most of the soil structure that is built by the soil
life and kills off most of the beneficial and symbiotic fungi. It's
possible to do proper tillage (based on tools, timing, frequency) until a
stable structure is formed and then stop all tillage, doing only surface
cultivation to knock down weeds, break up crusting and incorporate cover
crops.

Jennie, in your particular case, I can't get too specific because I don't
know anything about your soil- except the pH is 6.6, your OM was 3.7% when
tested and that you're rototilling. The good news is that 6.6 is great
for most crops, 3.7% ain't bad either. But rototilling deep is about the
worst thing you can do. This tool used for tillage pulverizes any
structure and mixes subsoil with topsoil.

I would suggest that you stop rototilling your beds deep. You can use it
a few inches deep to cut up and incorporate cover crops. Or you can
compost and use finished compost to feed the soil life and raise your OM.

About the yellowing- that's a sign of nutrient deficiency, either nitrogen
or iron. Does your soil test include iron? If the soil was cold, the
soil life was inactive and nitrogen wasn't being cycled (I assume you
aren't adding N fertilizer) and if your Fe was low, the availability will
be low until the soil life becomes active.

Also, after tilling in a cover crop, you need to wait at least 2 weeks in
warm soil before planting. This is because the soil life can out compete
the plants for N and with a huge input of food (mostly sugars and carbos),
there's a population explosion and available soil N is in the bodies of
this population. You have to wait until the feeding frenzy is over and
they start dying off, releasing the N back into the cycles.

Anyone interested in learning more, I'll be doing 2 days of classes for
Georgia Organics in the Macon area (Fort Valley) the end of this month.
First day- General overview of organic growing, including business and
marketing. Second day- soil, organic soil management, nutrient cycles,
plant/soil relationships. Info from Georgia Organics, email phone or
write:
http://www.georgiaorganics.org/about.html



Adriana wrote:

Jennie,
A number of growers have stopped tilling beds altogether because
tilling is thought to cause more harm than good. Once raised beds are
built, organic ammendments like compost are added to the top layer
only without disturing the soil microorganisms beneath them. It is
best not to even step on the beds to avoid compaction of the
beds...maybe Alex McGregor can give us a nickel course on his soil
prep methods. He is a master in this area and gives workshops on the
topic. Alex?
> I have a questions about spring soil preparation.
...getting the plants in the ground isn't usually
> a problem - but getting the beds made up is.

Adriana Gutierrez
Green Cuisine
Birmingham, AL

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