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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] tillage

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  • From: Alex McGregor <waldenfarm AT sprintmail.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] tillage
  • Date: Sat, 05 Apr 2003 08:39:47 -0500

Yes, soil organic matter gets used up faster in high temperature, sandy soils
(i.e. in the southeast beyond the fall line). The 5-6% I wrote about is for
high production organic growing with no addition of NPK or "organic"
fertilizers, relying on the
soil microorganisms for things like nutrient cycling, disease and pest
suppression/ prevention.

The soil OM doesn't evaporate in the strict sense of the word. The OM gets
fed on by the soil life and the carbon in the OM is converted to carbon
dioxide and goes from the soil air to the atmosphere through various
mechanisms.

Constant tillage (aeration of the soil) speeds this process. To raise soil
OM in high temp, sandy soils requires a different set of soil management
tools from what's used in most areas- surface cultivation only (no tillage)
use over appropriate green
manure crops (cutting these in without deep tillage) and/or compost,
permanent beds, planting patterns that form a shade covering over the soil to
reduce soil temps, use of mulches and the list goes on.

I was hesitant to give a brief explanation of soils and management because it
takes a larger background in soil science, soil biology, plant physiology and
plant- soil life interrelationships to understand how these systems work and
interact to be able
to make management decisions for specific soils, crops and climate. Soil
management is not a "one size fits all" proposition, but a matter of
education, experimentation and observation.

sunnfarm AT netscape.net wrote:

> Achieving 5-6% OM is easier said than done, one of the disadvantages of
> living on the humid coastal plain is OM evaporates leaving a constant OM of
> 1/2-2%,no matter how much you try to add. Some of our best vegetable
> farming is done on 1/2%OM ground.

--
Alex McGregor
Walden Farm





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