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frederick, MD | I dont buy the "burning the organic matter" story. The land here is already burned out, been farmed at least 100 years longer then you guys west of me. If I have a field with organic matter higher then 1.5 i am sooo happy. I am sure the organic matter can add some extra nutrients, but why can we just get that from fertilizer.
I am a huge fan of no till. But tillage has its benifits. After years of fighting no till I have gone back to some tillage. Some of these vertical tillage tools really to seem to be doing the trick. They do just enough to help residue decomp, make loose soil for planting into, dry out the soil enough to avoid planter compaction. I was and kind of still am very skecptical of the vertial tillage deal, but I will admit that on my ground I can not run a disc one pass and plant, too many clods. But I can run a VT tool, maintain enough surface residue to help eliminat erosion, and still do a good job planing.
I probally will never go back to chisel plowing. I just dont see the point right now. Some deep tillage may be neccesary because of many heavy loads compacting the soil, but I see no reason to mix the top 6 inches of soil. The best soil I have is on top the ground right now, I dont want to bury it. | |
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Why didnt I go away from notill sooner?
