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central michigan | So you read on here all of the time how tillage introduces oxygen into the soil and “burns” all of your organic matter. My understanding of soil is that there is no actual fire in the soil burning up the OM but really the aerobic microbial soil life is stimulated into action by this sudden flush of oxygen thus speeding up the natural decomposition of all things organic in the soil, correct?
Due to the wet fall I was doing some chisel plowing last week on ground that was frozen down an inch or so. Chisel plowing being the job that it is, and due to the fact that I was starting at 3:00 am to maximize the amount of time I could run on the frost without the sunshine making it to slippery to go, I had some time to think.
So... Soil temps are 1-2 degrees either side of freezing right now and falling, and microbial activity slows to nearly nothing at freezing and below temperatures. I chiseled these fields in freezing weather, the plan would be to have the secondary tillage done and corn planted before the soil temps get much above 45 degrees. Will conventional tillage in this situation result in the catastrophic loss of organic matter through the virtual fire in the soil that you read about on Ag Talk?
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“Burning Organic Matter” ???
