Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] no-till and farming with horses

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Steve Diver <steved AT ipa.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] no-till and farming with horses
  • Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 15:21:36 -0500

A couple resource pointers of interest:

Organic Vegetable Production slides -- SSAWG conference
http://www.ssawg.org/documents/SSAWG-Org-Veg-Prod-SDiver-PDF.pdf

See slides 54-55-56 for the horse-drawn cultivator system of yee-olden days,
converted to a tractor hitch. I used to work in McIntosh County, Oklahoma
and was blown away by farmers who raised melons "without" herbicides using these
methods.... while in every other part of the state they "did" use herbicides.

You go down the the melon row to control weeds with these walking cultivators --
plus you disc between the rows -- plus you flip the vines back in to the rows
for a while -- until you get canopy closure.

The downside is that in a massive rainfall event you're exposed to erosion
with this kind of clean cultivation system.

The slides also show roll-down cover crop implements (including ox-drawn
crimpers) and the weed barrier method.

For no-till cover crops using the mechanical roller-crimper, see this ATTRA
summary which is loaded with references -- also to Rolph Derpsch, Roland
Bunch and other South American innovators of conservation tillage and soil
protecting mulches.

http://attra.ncat.org/calendar/question.php/2006/05/08/where_can_i_find_information_about_the_m

Bottomline with cover crops and no-till is that it depends as much on your climate
and your learning curve.

Steve Diver
Texas






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page