Re: the "no till" system
Tony & Moira Ryan wrote:
> We who have used no-till for some time are really sold on the idea that
> the best way to achieve this is to give up digging all together and
> leave the conditioning entirely to nature. It has been well proved that
> a live natural, soil is an extremely complex organisation like a large
> factory town and digging is no more welcome in it than a series of heavy
> bombs would be on a human city.
>
> Moira
I believe that the reason that no-till works is that we stop destroying the
holes that the worms dig and provide them with all the food that they can
eat. Every time we till we cut off their passage to the food on the surface
and their chance for romance. When they can come to the surface to eat they
carry the food down into the earth and leave it there as castings. Castings
seem to be the answer to many of our problems such as White Fly, fungus,
virus and many more problems. The proof is slow in coming and mostly
anecdotal but there are enough stories to make one think there must be
something to the worm castings story. Help your friendly worms. Stop the
chemical fertilizer. Don't destroy their highways. Give them lots of food
to eat and they will help you. This is my experience and is not the policy
of the Master Gardeners or the Fullerton Arboretum.
Robert Anspach---Robans@att.net
Docent at The Fullerton Arboretum
Assistant Co-ordinator-Children's Garden,
Orange County Master Garden
Trust everybody but cut the cards,
even if your playing with a marked deck
