Re: Tilling when wet
- Subject: Re: Tilling when wet
- From: M* T*
- Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 17:34:33 -0400
You're right, Marilyn. Depending on the clay soil, it can be
virtually impossible to till when bone dry - has a texture much like
concrete - tillers just bump along the surface and can't dig in -
even big Troy Builts have a really hard time.
That said, I have worked clay in bone dry fashion for years - using a
digging fork to penetrate it. Really dry clods are extremely hard to
break up - some are impossible for me. Non-clod soil is funny, tho'
- the very fine texture of clay becomes dusty when bone dry.
I have read that you should not work clay when bone dry and I think
the reason is this dusty texture, which is so fine that when it
settles and is wet whatever porosity it might have had is eliminated.
However, if you mix this stuff with copious organic material, that
material provides the needed air pores when the soil is wetted again.
If you don't add organic material and then wet the stuff, you end up
with mud and then plasticine.
With clay soil, there is usually a relatively small window of time in
spring and fall when it is just right - not too wet and not too dry -
to till or dig over easily.
Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor: Gardening in Shade
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> From: Marilyn Dube <mygarden@easystreet.com>
>
> Karen, I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't till when its
dry
> except that it would be a lot more difficult & the tiller would
buck. It is
> much easier to till soil that is crumbly moist. I don't know if it
would
> hurt soil tilth the way tilling wet soil does. Maybe someone else
on the
> list knows the definitive answer.
> Marilyn Dube'
> Natural Designs Nursery
> Portland, Oregon
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