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| Hi Eddie,
I think that its great that you put out strips with and without cover and are sharing your observations.
I am guessing that the difference in snow retention is related to a difference in soil moisture going into the winter.
If the soil with actively growing cover crops was drier going into the winter than where you just had corn stalks, the soil with cover crops is likely to have stayed warmer during the winter (think of being wrapped in a dry vs. wet blanket) and thus now has more heat to dissipate.
I doubt there is much of a difference in soil moisture between your strips at this point or perhaps the cover cropped soils are actually now wetter than the corn stalk soils, which would now promote faster dissipation of soil warmth and melting of snow.
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Your nightcrawler distribution project is very interesting.
here are a few thoughts....
I hope that the Canadian nightcrawlers that you ordered are a good fit for your climate... worms obtained from a more southern location might be better.
If you are planning to toss the worms out on the soil surface, I recommend that you distribute them in the evening during or right before a rain... rain is forecast for Saturday night here in Macomb so Saturday evening might be a very good time to distribute your worms.
Your worms should survive well for weeks in a refrigerator... you might want to keep some for distribution when it is a little warmer.
keep us posted on how you do the distribution and what you observe over time.
Joel
WIU Agriculture
BTW Did you see message I posted a few weeks back regarding improving your Crestmeade soils?
http://talk.newagtalk.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=374191
Edited by jbgruver 3/28/2013 13:07
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CC roots visual affect on structure
