Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
2. Another reason a person might till is to allow more air and water into the soil.
This does happen in the short term, but the soil will eventually revert to its origin-
al structure because soil structure is a function of the soil texture, fertility and bio-
logy in the soil. It may even get worse if you burn up too much organic matter
and kill all your fungi. A similar reason for tilling is to loosen and warm up the
soil for spring planting and seeding. This can be done lightly with a hoe or garden
fork if you want, but there's no need to slice and dice everything.
The long-term solution for improving air and water is balancing the nutrient ra-
tios, increasing organic matter and improving the soil food web. Still, this can
take a few years, so tilling during the transition may be worthwhile. It might be
even better to do it manually with a garden fork, to avoid the violent soil move-
ment created by a rototiller.
3. Yet another reason to till is to kill weeds. Again, this is a short-term measure be-
cause the weeds are killed and new ones come in. In fact, while annual weeds will
have been killed, many perennial weeds may have been cut into pieces that will
all come back as new weeds. While your vegetable seeds now have perfect condi-
tions in which to germinate, so do all of the weed seeds that were lying dormant
lower down in the soil.
Farmers have developed various plows that are effective at knocking down
weeds on the surface, but a rototiller is more muscle than is needed for this pur-
pose. The gardener's version of the farmer's plow is a hoe. The long-term weed
management strategy is the same as up above — balancing the nutrient ratios, in-
creasing organic matter and improving the soil food web — plus mulch and cover
crops.
4. The last reason for tilling is to relieve compaction. As stated above, soil structure
isn't simply a mechanical problem. It's a chemical, physical and biological prob-
lem. We need to establish a healthy, diverse population of microorganisms and
soil animals, build our humus and balance those nutrient ratios in the soil. A bal-
anced soil acts like a sponge. You can drive across it with a heavy tractor and it
won't compact. If the calcium to magnesium ratio is less than 7:1 and/or there are
more than 70 ppm sodium, the soil will compact, but if we can get those numbers
in line along with the phosphate to potassium ratio, compaction is gone.
You can see how in the short term, the above organic gardening goals are often satisfied
by tilling. But other than the important goal of getting organic matter incorporated, tilling
can cause more problems than benefits, especially if done often and if done too deeply.
Let's look at the problems of tilling.
The main disadvantage is the effect on beneficial microorganisms and earthworms, both
of which are absolutely essential to the health of the soil. Upon deeply tilling a garden,
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