No-Till
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: No-Till
- From: C* N*
- Date: Mon, 13 Dec 1999 15:03:33 -0800 (PST)
I have done an experiment comparing no-till to till. Actually, it was an
accident...I learned about no-till and decided to try it halfway through.
I live in Oakland, next to Berkeley, also with clay soil.
Two plots, 50-100 sf each. Side by side. Both covered with grass (bermuda
and st augustine).
Plot 1: sod removed with shovel. Soil dug up to about one foot and mixed
with horse manure. Left to sit all fall and winter.
Plot 2: sod removed with shovel. Soil untouched except for a very little
bit when the sod was removed. Same amount of horse manure (same source)
put on top of the soil. Leaves also put on top. Left to sit for a couple
months of the winter.
Results:
Plot 1 was hard and in places like bricks. Heavy rain caused up to 2
inches of standing water. The soil dried out quickly (too quickly)
otherwise. Plants were stunted and not very happy. Bermuda grass quickly
re-invaded the plot no matter how much I weeded. St. Augustine grass also
loved the distrubed soil and it's been a chore to keep it out.
Plot 2 was soft and moist everywhere. No standing water. Soil retained
water (the right amount). Later I failed to add more organic matter to the
top and the soil went back to being hard and not very moist, though not as
bad as the tilled soil. Bermuda grass grew up from roots below the mulch
but moderate weeding kept it away (until much later when I stopped weeding
and adding mulch). St. Augustine grass didn't come back.
New experiments:
Plot covered with bermuda grass. Grass mowed short but not removed.
Mulched heavily with horse manure and other organic material. Results: the
bermuda grass took over and refused to die. Plot not very usable.
Plot out front covered in grass, mostly bermuda. Several layers (3-5) of
newspaper put over grass and then the usual manure/mulch (less manure this
time cause we were out). Plot had to be kept wet with a hose because the
newspaper dried up so the mulch on top did too (if we had suffient mulch
and manure this would be less of a problem). Results: in about 2 months
the grass died and the soil under the quickly rotting newspapers is moist,
soft, and full of earthworms. I will be able to plant by cutting a hole in
the newspaper.
Notes: hot (fresh) horse manure kills bermuda grass but works best if
you're just trying to kill leftover root fragments and not a thick patch of
lawn. If you don't use newspaper or remove the sod, you must use a very
thick layer of manure and mulch (at least one foot deep). Other grass
should not have these problems; for those of you not familar with bermuda
grass, it would probably survive a nuclear war!
Cyndi
who is 100% sold on no-till
_______________________________________________________________________________
Oakland, California Zone 9 USDA; Zone 16 Sunset Western Garden Guide
Chemically sensitive/disabled - Organic Gardening only by choice and neccessity
_______________________________________________________________________________
"There's nothing wrong with me. Maybe there's Cyndi Norman
something wrong with the universe." (ST:TNG) cyndi@consultclarity.com
http://www.consultclarity.com/
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