Is Crop Rotation Necessary?

[@notillgrowers]

One thing I don't want you to take from this video (or any of or videos) is that you need to change your systems/rotations if they're working for you. In other words, if it ain't broke don't fix it.

[@ajb.822]

Thanks for all those hours of reading research papers ! Say, I didn't quite understand what you plan to do now with your in-tunnel rotations of tomatoes and cucumbers. What are you planting in the year in-between, in the tomato and cucumber beds, respectively.. ? Thanks !

[@Monkeymanluffy]

​@@ajb.822plant corn, it is the best in between crop for crop rotation. In my own opinion.

[@Pausereflectandbreathe]

Thank you for sharing what you found out on your research! I am experimenting on planting anything in my home garden and see which one thrive, survive or die. 😂 It seems like gardeners have different experiences of growing plants. I know I am doing against what’s in the book when I was a dummy gardener but some plants survive and thrive in part-shade when they are supposed to be in full sun. I guess we will learn if we are willing to make mistakes to learn from it. Anyway, I enjoyed your videos especially the humor you insert here and there. It’s funny! 😂 Thanks again! 💪❤️🙏

[@bobg5362]

So what you are saying is we need to completely change what we are doing and follow your program to the letter, got it.

[@jasonhayes3882]

I have been thinking about rotating my beds and after watching the video I wasn’t sure. After your comment here, I think I will leave things as is. Thanks for all the info! Very much enjoy your videos!

[@bobnewkirk7003]

9:18 This was a tremendous aside. I think a lot of people look at science as giving definitive answers all the time but, being in the field myself I am acutely aware that, often Science is just looking for an answer to a single question. Anytime you bring in complex systems a whole list of caveats and conditions need to be expressed in order to communicate "this is what we found, its neat, but be careful drawing any inferences from it".

[@karenr7931]

That's why this platform is so invaluable.. People who are speaking from experience.

[@przybyla420]

Yeah science gives you findings, turning these findings into actual actionable principles is more like art or philosophy. That’s why many great scientists are rather dumb, they are technicians not deep thinkers.

[@susanbernier9399]

Thank you @bobnewkirk I appreciate this information and your time for writing it. 💕🇨🇦

[@wheelerryanr]

It should be remembered that historically rotations were used in combination with a return to fallowed perennial pasture to maintain productivity of fields. This was in a time that we didn’t have fossil fuels and other cheap energy to truck tons compost and mulch materials around. We also didn’t have the many other fertility sources from products of industry and extraction (also available because of fossil energy). Primarily rotations would be applied to large plots growing staple crops; in small home gardens one would still be able to apply more of these techniques of mulching and large compost applications.

[@ThatHabsburgMapGuy]

Spotted the environmental historian 😄 I was looking for this comment

[@naughtyskyline]

yes! we learnt this in horticulture class in college ,

[@parallelfinn]

8:35 "sometimes referred to whatever the correct pronunciation is" made me chuckle. Great video.

[@EvelynM-vlogs]

Yup, I might borrow that.

[@bobg5362]

Phytosporafacetiousmanfrengenson...

[@FaceEatingOwl]

I tried rotating them 🤷‍♂️ the stems just snap.

[@notillgrowers]

I hate how much I like this joke

[@lauranonamaker2610]

Serious belly laughs!!!@@notillgrowers

[@thecampfirechef8531]

This guy gets it 🤜🤛

[@sweta1071]

That makes sense and doesn't at the same time

[@dayafeickert6752]

Only complaint about this channel is your so good at these videos you only need to make one video a week. And I’m such a nerd I can’t get enough

[@TheSimpleFarmLife]

I love how you explained the planting process at 2:45-so easy to follow! 🌱

[@drhoy15]

It’s quite a quandary! On the home scale it’s even worse. My suggestion is keep your soil healthy, watch your plants, diversify whenever you can and basically hope that works. In the home garden (or allotment) it is very very difficult to NOT cross-contaminate between different parts of the garden. On the other hand, to truly do crop rotation is a true pain in the a%$e 🙄. Great video Jesse, like them it it really makes you think!

[@vidard9863]

I think that part of the issue that is not well enough understood is scale. A small garden, say for herbs and whatnot is not only easier to manage, but if it fails it isn't the end of your family. On the other hand an acre or two of corn would be more difficult to generate enough compost and notice problems forming.

[@Blynn-md4dx]

Glad I am not crazy...wait... I have a bed where peppers grow amazingly well and a couple where tomatoes do great. Tried swapping around, but came back to what works for me. Great video.

[@davidstick9207]

I enjoy these types of videos. Having grown up on a farm we had the standard 4 crop rotation...corn...soybeans...winter wheat...alfalfa. So it doesn't surprise me most of the literature revolves around some variant of this cycle. But what I feel is important...these are the yearly produced crops. So there is a winter between each harvest. And we tilled. Not what gardeners deal with. Basically I am saying I am not sure I would put too much emphasis on the scientific results involving biodiversity health. I will say...it makes sense diseases and pests can only be controlled by rotation ...so for that reason yea...do it. But to say fungal diversity is better? I am not yet convinced that is the case. Just too many variables...many confounding...playing a role

[@ardenthebibliophile]

I typically plant a winter cover crop (crimson clover) over my tomato bed and call it a day. That being said I have little space. Last year we got some septoria leaf spot, so I will probably move them. Thanks for calling out trellis material as I would have just tossed it in without thinking!

[@maryhysong]

there are some people that think crop rotation is bogus because nature doesn't grow a different thing in that spot every year, but if we don't mess with it, the vegetation in a spot will change over multiple years or even decades. And like you said every farm is different, every farm is in a different stage of life depending on where they started from and how long they've been growing and what kind of management they practice. I think we always need to look at the research and see what resonates with us, that we might be excited to experiment with in our own environments. In all farm things one size never fits all

[@teebob21]

Correct! The term for this is "ecological succession".

[@Julia________]

It seems intuitive that rotation would be less important for perennials. A tree stays in the same place its whole life so why would we need to move them? Tomatoes are technically perennial and self seed in the same place very easily, as are other nightshades, so it makes sense that rotation for tomatoes with other crops is pretty inconsistent

[@pavlovssheep5548]

home garden you can poly culture with mixed planted beds , however that would be impractical for a business grower

[@artifex_amandalastname2297]

I really appreciate the stopping point, there are always more garden videos than time

[@klauskarbaumer6302]

I have grown tomatoes in the same hoop houses for 18 years without ever running into problems, but I also grow other plants along with them, for example green beans, or lettuce before I put the tomatoes in, also radishes. Outside I rotate the crops, but also do not plant all of the same at one place, for example my potatoes are 6 to 8 ft. apart and in between I grow different things. The reason being to make it harder for pests top from one row to the other.

[@matprather5833]

I have grown tomatoes in my greenhouses for 6 years now because I don't have any other way to rotate but like you do I have other crops before them and during their time. I think this helps when you can't rotate. I try to rotate most things but when they are only moving 50-200ft away does that really help?

[@klauskarbaumer6302]

My kind of rotation involves succession planting. So, for example, I plant green beans after spinach or potatoes, lettuce after beets or vice versa, so that deep rooting plants follow shallow rooting ones, or legumes follow heavy feeders. In the course of that the distance to what you planted last year only matters with cucurbits, like squash, cucumbers etc, because you do not want the pests have it too easy finding them@@matprather5833

[@williammikell2210]

Just to muddy the water, Elephant Garlic. It is a biennial plant, I have been growing in the same spots for years, one place maybe 15years, maybe more. I have heard of old abandon house where it just grows wild in the spots for decades. Like abandon homesteads in Kentucky that still grow daffodils each spring. My own plants I can trace back to a house where it has been growing for 50+ years. I have heard sometimes it can get diseased and dies out, so I have them planted in several different place in my yard and at friends houses. All this to say I don't rotate my Elephant Garlic, (leek ). Oh yeah, good video,

[@brucejensen3081]

If you don't harvest it.

[@briansakurada2823]

Yay! I did celery in the high tunnels where the tomatoes were last year. What I did, since you asked, is I transplanted the celery up the center of the beds between the tomato rows. BTW, celery doesn't take as long to germinate in late summer as it does in the late winder/early spring and in Japan celery is primarily considered a winter crop.

[@jvin248]

Jesse, for the cucumber powdery mildew problem .. look up Lofthouse Landrace Gardening videos. He talks about huge PM problems in his operation for years until he crossed enough cucumbers and kept survivors until PM became a non-issue for him. I got a little of his group's cucumber seed last year and had no PM problems where I couldn't get barely anything through PM prior. The commercial seed growers are using lots of inputs to ward off disease and essentially adapting their survivors to relying on heavy chemical inputs.

[@ajb.822]

Neat ! I haven't grown them under cover yet much ( just a home gardener so far) but when I 1st started dealing with it more and more in my garden 14 yrs ago - not remembering my mom having this issue w our cukes, growing up - I tried to treat, next yr tried to prevent then treat, then finally realized - their numbers had become obvious plus I'd read it - that it was the lil yellow, striped cucumber beetles who were prob. causing/spreading it. By then I was searching high and low for OG or even Non-OG sprays that even claimed to kill them, only finding one non-OG of such, and trying to use it without killing any bees was nerve wracking ( but I really, really love cucumbers and was down to getting almost nil). Anyway, moved out of state and right away, whether in pots in a campground at 1st, then in new garden there ( we did plow & till it 1st, I was newer to no-till, not on YT yet, and didn't know how to start without that). Right about then I was reading some notes I'd taken from various sources, this one from the old book "carrots love tomatoes" . It was on using tobacco for squash beetle prevention/repelling. I guess I thought to try it for this, my husband found me plain tobacco in the form of pipe tobacco from a smoke shop, and I put a palmful in the soil with the seeds or roots at planting time ( or added a touch later if they're already in). Lo and behold - no cuke beetle pressure ever since ! And , usually little to no downy mildew either ! I had been down to needing to BUY zucchini in the summer (!), now I'm back to giving extra away from only 2 plants. I use it on all my cukes, squashes and now tomatillos and cantaloupes too if/when I grow them... the cuke beetles apparently LOVE tomatillos and ground cherries and I wasn't taking chances on the cantaloupe. I have moved a few times since that year I started this, so, keep having sub-par soils and low budget for compost ( saving $ for own property currently, and never sure what's worth it for a garden that'll pry be back to lawn when we leave.. ), or what we bought turned out to be not great.. ( or success at making my own in time). So, idk if any of that played a part but my buttercup squash was very plagued by squash bugs in spite of the tobacco thing, last yr., but it was also a very dry year here. It was at a newer, tilled garden at a friend's house. The musquee de provence ( tasted horrible btw, won't grow that again) also had some bug pressure there, both late in season and most of those were older and hard enough to survive ok. The MDPs I grew at where we live were un-molested, and that was a no-till garden, 2 yrs in.. . I made up a tobacco and neem spray for over at other and it did seem to cut down on the amount of bugs except on the most narly/affected buttercups. I later learned their species is the most susceptible too, sad because they're my fave to eat.

[@rosehavenfarm2969]

​@ajb.822 If you had issues with a crop during a dry year, try watering a bit more. when a plant wilts in the heat/dry, it is inviting bugs and disease.

[@lindsayk9385]

This is amazing. I'm an official super nerd (personally and professionally lol); we expand our urban garden every year. I've been frustrated with finding clear information on crop rotation- literally every article gives a different pattern! I've always wanted to distill down the science but you did it for me! Great job!

[@AJPemberton]

Perhaps one thing to note for most urban gardens: they are quite small and beds are usually very close compared to a farm. Any disease or pest will probably have little trouble moving a few feet from one bed to the next. And there is often quite a lot of compost or soil added to the beds each year too. All of which make urban crop rotation pretty much useless.

[@jupe2369]

Thanks for doing all that research, sure got me thinking about separating tomatoes and cucumbers completely

[@ajb.822]

Man. A Charles Dowding video had me about completely ignoring the companion planting guides I noted down years ago and try to follow when I can, because I usually can ( just growing for own use mainly so far).. and other than paying attn to obvious things such as what will shade out what, just plant whereever. But, If I recall aright, both my lists had tomatoes "disliking" cucumbers. So, I usually have at least one crop between em. I haven't paid attn. to year to year rotation of them much, but I also keep moving and starting new gardens, so, it hasn't really come up. Last year's tomatoes went where corn had been yr before. Cukes went into same spot and did terrible, but I think too much of the woodchips I'd mulched the area with yr b4, were getting into the "soil" ( dead, compacted sand) and I didn't give them that much or that amazing of compost where/when the seeds went.. then it was suddenly hot and no rain all sum. . I'd had a great crop of cukes on 2nd yr woodchip mulched area in previous garden in another state, so, I was taking things a bit too for granted I think.

[@EricNordell-ld6wp]

A historical perspective on crop rotation: J.I. Rodale and Mokichi Okada were contemporaries a century ago. Rodale is credited with popularizing organic gardening/farming in the US and Okada started Natural Farming (Shinzi Shumeika) in Japan. A big difference is Rodale promoted crop rotation and Okada promoted growing the same crop in the same place every year. In the 90s, Rodale hosted interns and study groups from Natural Farming, in part to learn about crop rotation because they were experiencing plant health issues posssibly due to planting the same crop in the same place every year.

[@aileensmith3062]

Interesting, we try to do some sort of crop rotation every year with the exception of the tomatoes. We also scratch our head a bit because things travel. Airborne or simply flying or crawling. Our garden only being a few thousand square feet is there any real value to crop rotating? Another thing is that we are getting more and more into plant succession and rotation gardening. We feel that is also a positive benefit to the soil and then the future plants. We believe the key is good soil management and doing the best that we can while also being VERY watchful of the garden. And the reason we do not rotate the tomatoes is because they are planted in mineral tubs and under a shade protection because of our hot summers. As always Thank You for another fun and informative video!

[@b_uppy]

He ignores that continued monocropping lessens topsoil depth. Monocropping lacks a healthy diverse plant life above, it is the same below. This is why "sustainable agriculture" is a problem. We need regenerative (read soil-building) or restorative ag methods that can bring back *healthy* soil biomes that increase soil fertility, soil depth, carbon sequestration, etc. This includes polycropping, moving away from primarily annual agriculture and its related faults, and using livestock to manage culls, crop residues, weeds, pests, fertility, etc. Stepping away from conventional ag builds resiliency, financial independence, etc. I am consistently disappointed with this channel for its "sustainable," compromised approach.

[@aileensmith3062]

OK I guess and are we even watching the same channel???

[@b_uppy]

@@aileensmith3062 Apparently you failed to understand my comment, and how it addresses the shortcomings of "sustainable" ag principles. It's why it is considered "greenwashing." "Sustainable" ag includes practices that still degrade soil with only short term usability in mind. You still lose soil depth, soil health, and you remove nature's ability to be self-fertile. It may be about "reduction in harm," but it is still has more harm than help. The point of terms like "regenerative" and "restorative" ag, is soil- and resiliency-building. Those that go fully into restorative-type ag practices find it much more profitable than conventional. It does take a few years to convert, but avoiding the boom *and bust* cycles wins the war over other methods...

[@aileensmith3062]

@@b_uppy Quite sure that I did fail to understand your comment??? There are shortcomings everyday. What I believe the Gentleman was trying to convey was having only limited space for one's garden. Our garden is only about 6,000 square feet. With the exception of the tomatoes we try to rotate every year. Sometimes more than once a year and rotate our crops. We are also getting more and more into succession planting as well as using cover crops. As we are limited on space we can only so so much. Or would you suggest us simply leaving the land idle? I apologize but not all of us have the luxury/convenience of rejuvenating a 6,000 acre farm!

[@b_uppy]

@@aileensmith3062 The term "agriculture" denotes large scale activities, whereas gardens/gardening, like you've mentioned, denotes smaller scale operations. A crop is different from "the pumpkin patch. "No-till at a large scale is a problem as remediation is scaled up and presents logistical issues as well. A home gardener with a compost heap in the corner is different from manure ponds, and burning crop residues of larger scale no till "operations"...

[@summawub]

Love how you do all this research so I don’t have to. Then you tell me I’m awesome every time I watch you.

[@flatsville9343]

I gave up years ago on crop rotation. I generally plant a diverse winter kill cover crop. I do some companion & interplanting. Will relay crop if timing permits. I have had a steady decline in pest issues. Blight is hard as it often comes on the wind & is exacerbated by weather conditions. I am endeavoring to grow more crops vertically to counter-act that & save my back & legs. Overall, better soil health due to the winter kill cover crops has been the best factor...plus pollinator interplanting support plants.

[@ForestTiefling]

what's your winter kill cover crop? I'm considering to use white clover (trifolium repens) "between the seasons", since that is growing natively around here and is a nitrogen fixer, too. Working on building the soil up with compost and weed/compost tea. And looking at all the wormcastings on the lawn, i think i might get some help from underground, too :D

[@flatsville9343]

@@ForestTiefling Web search Peaceful Valley winter kill cover crop blend. It is heavy on beans & peas for N. Usually contains oats for above ground coverage. Their blend sometimes varies. Read the description. It usually self-terninates reliably.

[@lizcopic]

KZbin auto played this after a shorter info video about crop rotation, and you answered all the questions I had! So… thanks to both you for geeking out about it, and KZbin for playing this next.

[@billsnyder6945]

One of the things they say is don’t plant nightshades after nightshades. Considering most of my garden crops are nightshades: tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers, potatoes, it is simply not possible. Plus I have some infrastructure for tomatoes not easily movable. Spores of things like blight spread and can be ubiquitous anyway. I found a tomato blight problem I had 2 years in a row was related to a certain type, so I just quit growing it. Potato scab is because of inherent soil alkalinity, it is always there, but solved with a few inches of compost and Ruth Stout methods. Compost, including worm castings, seem to solve most problems, and healthy plants are the best defense. There may be certain issues where I might consider rotation, but thank god I do not have them…yet.

[@karenr7931]

Same issue.. mostly nightshades. Tomatoes are particularly tricky because they need to be placed where they won't shade other crops and have a good support system.

[@billsnyder6945]

@@karenr7931 exactly, and peppers hog the warm spot 😂.

[@rochrich1223]

Tough one to nail down. Most of those papers are for tillage systems and might not apply to no till. Nearly all of those papers assume that annual is the appropriate time for....reasons? I've pinned my hopes on making my plants harder targets. Brix readings, Haney soil testing and the occasional sap analysis should help make my plants immune systems robust.

[@sn232]

Rotating beside or between the crops works, like you said, is a good idea especially for people that have trellis installed for growing something in the same location every single year.

[@Grow-all-year]

I like the jadam methodology that plant knows what plant needs so reincorporating into the soil feeds next years crop of the same type. One could argue perennials like strawberries do fine in one spot. I've been planting corn on the north side of my garden in the same spot for as long as I can remember and don't recall any issues. Everything else just gets shoved in the ground where there is room. Like the video says, do what works for you🤷‍♂️

[@lucschoonen]

japanese natural farming is the same in that point as jadam. interesting, since it goes against the logic of the organic farming in our region.

[@teebob21]

Woo-woo placebo is a hell of a drug.

[@greenzgoddess]

Very informative farmer Jessie! Thanks for sharing! Stay warm 🔥

[@lincwayne3435]

Wow. This is awesome. Now that I know that you can rotate lots of things and have lots of different results, or not rotate lots of things and have lots of different results - I don't feel like I'm quite as dumb as I felt like I was. ... I think ...

[@robertcurry4118]

In the Korean Natural Farming Methods it seems that rotation is a non-issue. In other words they just don't recommend it. I would recommend anyone interested to look into it. Just fascinating. It's estimated to be a system over five thousand years old. Seems to have endured the test of time. I'm going full tilt with it this season. Oh, and it's super cost efficient. Producing your own inputs for pennies on the dollar. Thanks Jesse for all your hard work and excellent videos.

[@BruceGlider]

I like the no dogma approach, Jesse. It makes crazy good sense to say that for a backyard gardener rotating to minimize pest or disease is probably not going to be effective. A big take away from this for me is that the idea of crop rotation is probably more benefiacail to large growers of staple crops.

[@emilyg3180]

Thank you for this one. Anecdotally, I never rotate my tomatoes and the ones that are in the same beds as last years' always do better than newly planted beds. I do give those beds a winter crop of brassicas and alliums and every 3 tomatoes get a basil thrown in as a companion.

[@BuddhikaMarasingha]

Im starter in Sri Lanka. Much helpfull

[@lesliehollands2689]

This is definitely something to think about. I think soil health is very important in relation to plant diseases and pest. We need to look at our soil & compost microscopically.

[@tomandtinadixon]

In our area of Saskatchewan, clubroot is a problem, so farmers really do have to rotate between canola and another crop (usually wheat, and no most do not spray that with Roundup) to break that cycle. Fusarium cycles with wheat are also controlled the same way. I imagine ergot in rye is no different.

[@mimibergerac7792]

I remember a Jadam video saying they never rotate eg peppers and also leave all plant debris in between the rows with the argument that this will increase the prefered nutrients around the plants.

[@ajb.822]

I wonder how that would work in light of slug issues tho.. . Keeping everything really clean and tidy ( it all goes to the compost piles and that compost goes on garden every year.. ) makes a big, positive difference for him with keeping slug issues to a minimum. I have had slugs issues majorly in cabbage family plants in past, and also possibly be what ate off young seedlings of things like beans at times.

[@mimibergerac7792]

@@ajb.822 some say slugs remove weak plants, the Jadam plants look super healthy.

[@reginaldwinsor2759]

I have had my share of successes & failures to know that planning, researching & prepairing the soil is essential to good outcomes. I will be leaning toward rotating more combined with working in more quality compost. Last fall I worked in kelp & I have a nice pile overwintering which I will be using. Thanks for you valued suggestions.

[@mamapillow8365]

Thanks for the video, this was interesting. I have a waist high, dedicated huglekultur for my tomatoes, with a permanent net for trellising. I plant carrots, a few other vegetables, basil, lettuce, marigolds and other herbs around them in the bed and have had pretty good luck. I do add egg shells and compost. I've also grown mushrooms at the edges of the bed and that seemed to help too.

[@whelsdon]

Thank you Jesse ,,your videos are always helpful and fun.

[@wildscotland9506]

Brilliant work. (As ever) If nothing else, I'll certainly be changing my tomato strings and washing my halos! And with a heavy heart I'll need to reduce my tomato growing in the polytunnel to enable a modicum of rotation. Next year though....!

[@suburbangardenpermaculture3117]

In texas, my plans to rotate some crop plots will be because of Squash bugs mainly. They are quite destructive down here for curcubids and my favorite mellons. I like to grow under garden cloth, and they tend to over winter under that stuff if you leave it in place.. rotating is going to be the first method to address those at our new 40 acre land.

[@davidlarsen2184]

Have you seen the video of Eliot Colemans movable high tunnels? In it he has his large permanent tunnels move along a rail he puts down with the ends being flipped up so it didn't damage the crop it was moving over.

[@ajb.822]

I hadn't seen but heard of it, thanks for the reminder ( I'm not Jesse but I thank u too). I'm on a m/l only a home garden scale yet for now, at this rental property, and very low budget. Just built my 1st hoophouse last yr., a cattle panel one on skids, based on Al Lumnah's 1st flex-use build of such ( may have chickens in the title of vlog or his playlist). We added a panel so it's 12 not 8 ft. long, so, had to do some addtl. things to keep sides from bowing out so much. Anyway, it's small-ish but mobile. I can move it by hand to some degree (if ground and mulch aren't too lumpy, and I'm strong for a female, use to do tons of grunt work on folks dairy farm), but foresee usually using a lawn tractor or etc. to pull it. In this case the bottom boards on the ends don't clear the ground by much tho. It would have to be done when the ground is bare-ish.

[@midwestribeye7820]

I look forward to seeing a new video every week. God bless.

[@lisamcdonald1415]

Another awesome video from the one and only awesome farmer. Still dreaming of the day to be able to visit your farm one day

[@LloydieP]

Legend! I've been thinking about this subject for a while. Nerd hanging around for the nifty gritty. 👍

[@mattjones024]

Great video - thanks for the research and the laughs ("...also sometimes referred to as whatever the correct pronunciation is" made me literally lol)

[@przybyla420]

I’ve been growing carrots in a raised bed for four years just with a light dressing of compost each year. No problems so far

[@sn232]

SIDE PLANT Beans, Cabbage, or Celery with Non-Rotated Tomatoes. Celery was the most successful for creating less fungal issues with non-rotating tomatoes. Swapping location of tomatoes with cucumbers is the least successful rotation :( HIGH ROTATION CROPS:: Lettuce - Carrots - Beets - Green Onions - Squash. SLOW ROTATION CROPS: Tomatoes - Potatoes - Sweet Potatoes - Winter Squash - Garlic - Popcorn

[@melsanderson7774]

Very interesting, and confusing.. but I like hearing what you think/know!

[@FloridaGirl-]

Your gardens are just spectacular!

[@b_uppy]

If you polycrop, then crop rotation becomes mute as well. Soil science says the more plant diversity the better for building quality, fertile soil, period. This includes adding trees, vines, shrubs in alley cropped rows, as well as grazing with various livestock to manage fertility, culls, crop residues, pests, weeds, etc. While the soil may adapt to growing a monoculture, it fails to increase soil health, and it decreases soil depth. Better to avoid "monocropping" unless you are confined to a small space with minimal destruction to land. Large scale monocropping is still a soil destroyer.

[@jacobclark1457]

Most small scale backyard gardeners can really rotate. Yeah, you may move it a few feet to the left or whatever, but not far enough away so that the pests or diseases won’t be able to find them again.

[@jvin248]

2:02 ... I've had this theory that supermarkets and malls hire the equivalent of drunken toddlers to lay out their parking lots. They spend all their efforts designing impulse item displays at the checkout lane forgetting that if they focused on that parking lot design _their whole store could be an impulse aisle_ where shoppers could pop in and out getting their snacks. "I'd like to get a bag of chips but it's ten minutes inside that parking lot and three door dings! I'm staying home and just popping that corn I grew last summer".

[@AnenLaylle7023]

I messed up my rotation this year and had to replant a quarter acre of broccoli in the same spot. I'm getting insect pressure like crazy toward one end of the field, but everything else honestly looks amazing. I went ahead and busted out the real chemical pesticides, just because I don't want it spreading down field. First time in a few years I've had to spray broccoli with anything other than spinosad or BT, but this is why I don't want to be organically certified. I'm in a part of South Carolina that has not seen temps below 30 degrees in over a year. This is insect heaven down here in the marshy area of SC.

[@marynunn1708]

Excellent perspective and info. Made me want the video to last much longer. Thanks!!!

[@lazygardens]

What works well at "field scale" is going to be hard to shrink down to typical home garden size. EXAMPLE: A common rotation in NM is several years in Alfalfa, cutting the hay and grazing sheep or cows on stubble in the winter, then a couple of years of chili peppers with grazing on the stubble (sometimes barley before the peppers go in), and back to alfalfa. You can't do that in a veggie patch. As long as your plants are healthy you can skip the rotating, cover cropping and other large-scale practices.

[@ntatemohlomi2884]

Love the respect you convey to your viewers. You are not out to proselytise.

[@paulmaxwell8851]

Crop rotation for large-scale farmers is important. Many of the backyard gardeners we know are very zealous rotators of their vegetables. We don't do it. I've searched and searched, and have been unable to find compelling scientific evidence that it matters. Of course, when I mention this to our friends they're shocked! We don't rotate? Are we crazy? Calamity is about to befall us! But after years and years of doing things our way we have had zero problems. I think crop rotation for gardeners is simply a myth that won't die.

[@zmblion]

My brother and I where just talking about this last night

[@richardlaycock-o5q]

Wish I could afford you but but as a small farmer in Ukraine I don't have spare money for books. Love your videos

[@5203mhr]

Key is to grow healthy soil and plant well need is just the bio products of good healthy soil.

[@PeterSedesse]

To me it is about workload. I think a lot of things cancel themselves out. As you said, plants create the soil that they prefer, but at the same time, they also drain specific micronutrients more than others. I rotate almost everything except for things where i save work by having permanent infrastructure.. Tomatoes, pole beans and Cucumbers each need a different type of trellis setup... so yeah, maybe I lose 5% of yield (maybe), but at the same time I save hours of work each rotation by not having to switch around the infrastructure.

[@tolbaszy8067]

Great video! Cukes and maters don't get along? that splains alot! I shall adjust. Thanks!

[@davidpenfold]

What *might* be interesting if you're rotating crops with dissimilar microbial requirements could be to use a cover crop (mix?) similar enough to the next cash crop(s) so that it kick-starts the right microbial mix.

[@79PoisonBreaker]

great job, my kind of stuff. thanks

[@WAYNESVILLE]

Did the studies look at interplanted beds vs not interplanted or just monocropped beds?

[@AlchemyAles]

Awesome! What is omitted from crop rotation is distance: how effective is this in a home garden where you are rotating only feet away?

[@CatherineandRob]

Reviews of scientific papers and dry humour don’t always go together. Thankfully in this case they do!

[@GeorgeLucas1138]

yes. end of video

[@mwmingram]

Thanks Jesse.

[@derekwood8184]

Very nice timing... finally getting my head round completely biological gardening/farming. found Dr Elane Inghams vids and work, (found your reference to her in your book)... .downloaded Albert Howards original booklet which led me to REALLY get my head around compost teas and so on.. and I came the conclusion that.... I don't know... I've just been quereying rotation.

[@jvin248]

Are we thinking we are getting benefit A from rotations when we are really getting benefit B? Rotation may benefit a weaker follow up plant from the beneficial colonies left behind by the prior stronger plants. ... Pull up a clump of Crab or Quack Grass (Jesse, you may need to check the road side to find some!) and look at the rhyzosheaths. Weeds can be impressive like that. Wouldn't you like to have that performance under your tomatoes? Perhaps the cover crop benefits are what colonies they encouraged and leave behind? ... Might be interesting to select seed from plants after pulling them up to look at which ones have the best root structure and not just nicely shaped top branches. ... I've experimented with washing soil from invasive grass roots into a tea to inoculate new plantings going in around the garden, not enough science with replications of diverse plant types and different soils in the test to prove anything, but the theory is creating "Beneficial Crop Rotation in a Bucket".

[@drhoy15]

Interesting idea. I may try on a small scale. Did you find anything on this in the literature, either scientific or internet folk lore? It would be good to see if others have tried this before.

[@edwardpearce1138]

One rotation that does NOT work is sweet potatoes after corn (or any other grass). In my sandy soil I can be sure that the taters will be so eat up with wireworms that they are not usable.

[@AJB2K3]

Wow, Haven't studied crop rotation in over 20 years.

[@Not_So_Weird_in_Austin]

I suspect and have not tested how rotation grows differient microbes for soil biology. I just saw you mention this. You can grow using JADAM or Korean Natural Farming if you decide to grow microbes. This works for me and may not be practical in large farms/garden. I intercrop for diversity too.

[@daniellatanswell3990]

This is really interesting! And it reminded me of a video from Youngsang Cho (JADAM), where he specifically say not to rotate if you want healthy crops. (He says it's applies for all crops, but his living example were mostly pepper plants). The basics were as follows: Plants are capable of triaging the nutrients specific to their needs, if the microbiology exists in the soil. Over time, as you put back the plants back to the soil (as mulch at the end of the season), you will concentrate the correct nutrients for that plant, as well as foster the optimum soil biology. This is sort of ties with the research that you mentioned, which says the non-rotation has higher soil life. Of course, you also pointed out that it had more specific pathogens as well... I guess balance is key? I did this for 3 years, with all my beds: 1st year, crops were struggling (we have very challenging compacted clay on limestone, in a semi-arid climate!) and got a few diseases. 2nd year, the plants were bigger and we got different diseases. 3rd year, plants were huge and we got a mite infestation, which was mostly due to the weather condition that year, and no disease. 3 years isn't enough for hard data, but I thought it was encouraging. It also made a lot of sense to me, to not have to overthink the whole rotation business, which always gave me headaches!

[@helengabr5743]

Thanks for this valuable information 👍😊

[@sig124]

If I buy your book from another source online (not on the used market), do you still receive the same proceeds?

[@nicholasnarcowich9163]

My wife just got you r book for me :-)

[@bobbyjones7505]

This is an extremely underrated channel. I have the living soil handbook awesome book 👍👍👍👍👍

[@MovingBlanketStudio]

I'm a super-nerd and awesome. Cool!

[@schmuckpuppet4842]

Charles Dowding generally deems it unnecessary, but I can't recall his exact wording.

[@Mister_Underhill]

I think he grew potatoes 7 years in a row at the same spot. Only top dressing the soil. But he is the GOAT, so it's probably not for us common folk. 😅😁

[@brucejensen3081]

Proper companion planting with other practices and you should be fine for a while. Weeds do seem to do well for a while, die out and something else takes over. I guess make sure you don't overcrop any one thing in one spot.

[@jillhull7358]

Yes

[@joeyharris67]

Wife has had tomatoes in the same patch for years.... they just keep getting bigger and more yeilding.... but man does she work that soil with chicken s%$t and she does no till on that 100ft x 30ft plot

[@ashleycampbell8767]

Indeed it was a bomb. I have rotated cucumbers and tomatoes my whole life. I am lost entirely. *sits quietly looking out a window Kermit style*

[@AnastasiaChatzidimitriadou]

The roots of cucumbers produce some substances that are kind of toxic for a tomato crop.

[@renanjacob6791]

Here on Brasil its necessary, the people dont make rotation seasonal cultures destroy the soil, and need to leave the soil empity for at least 1 year. Iven corn cant grow on a exausted soil.

[@SuperGarden78]

If your plants are healthy you're doing something right, and if you don't have a lab at your hand you don't know anything no matter what your doing.

[@pavlovssheep5548]

brassicas are odd as they have no direct symbiotic fungus relationship and often grow better in bacteria dominate soil ,

[@tarjei99]

Take notes and it may be necessary to repeat several times to be sure.

[@wayfaringfarmer2724]

Biology is subjective based on how the soil feels emotionally

[@Zack-kn8uy]

I’m new and getting into farming more and more, and what I’ve miss or haven’t seen yet, is why you need to from seed every year? Is there a reason why you can’t just use the same plant year after year? I understand after awhile the plant won’t yield as much or produce a satisfying product, but is this the only reason?

[@zekew2418]

How do perennial crop farms get Organic certification. There is organic asparagus in stores for example. Yearly rotation is impossible where plant takes years to produce and is productive for decades. There must be some wavier in the regulation if rotation is required for certification.

[@brucegarrison4999]

Thank you

[@raincoast9010]

I have the book! Thanks.

[@elisenapier2676]

8:32 powdery mildew will catch up with you “if you’re not not keeping up with your soil health and protecting your crops properly”. I have questions about this! When you say “protecting your plants” from powdery mildew do you just mean health soil? Mulch to keep off soil splash? Or something else??

[@SGM97B]

"...the Code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules..." -Pirate Barbosa