The Science of Soil Health: Compaction

What's the best way to restore compacted soil? Cover crops.
We learn by imitating Mother Nature.
Lesson 1: Mother Nature doesn't till.

[@jenniferwood1807]

100% Right On! So exciting to see a bunch of farmers getting on board with cover crops in the midwest and elsewhere. Help us get this going in California - I know it could take off here too.

[@bronwyngreen119]

I really liked the idea of using multiple cover crops starting with those with finer roots

[@utube23567]

Great video. Thank you for including references.

[@vanessadereu1756]

We use covercrops, compost or manure, but if compacted the covercrop doesn t grow well, if we subsoil the compacted area, iT grows much better.

[@alliecatnz]

Great read, even in our home garden on compacted clay soil we've seen a change over a few years of following no dig methods, and I also use free range chickens which I'm sure has helped. From hardly any worms to lots of worms we now think of the yard like a worm farm and we are getting great results in our ornamental and vegetable beds. Then relationship between certain fungi and microbes is really interesting and definitely the future of many farms. The Amazon forest's soil is really shallow compared to the size of many trees and it's the fungi and microbes that help the plants take up nutrients. Everything is an Eco system.

[@olsonlr]

I love the purple martins singing in the background

[@terricusson9096]

Reminds me of The Ploughmans Folly by Edward Faulkner 1943

[@swaqainabete]

some good practices that relooks at our selectivity on restoration of compacted soul.

[@itsmehanis]

This is a great video and I find it to be rather relaxing aha. Thanks a lot!

[@popgrubbs]

If you want to see that you can outperform standard industrial practices with no-till and cover crop systems by introducing animals, too. Look up Gabe Brown who farms around Bismark, N.D. He outperforms his county average yields and dramatically out performs his neighbors in profitability. There is no excuse anymore for not converting to regenerative techniques.

[@johnsteidley5670]

Keep up the good messaging.

[@brucebonkowski9568]

Question so it wrong to put in my 5acre garden to put leaves grass clippings and then rough disc the clover for winter and then break the clods and plant?

[@jamestoday2239]

Over in England i think the plough is probably even deeper en-grained into our national psyche's, it's use has been so entrenched by centuries and centuries of farmers and growers within a framework of biblical righteousness, and it's worked for such a long time. I think it will take some time for us to catch up with the US.

[@scottschaeffer8920]

Makes you wonder how much tiling was paid for when the issue could of been solved organically? Now, the water gets to the river 10x faster than it should.

[@williebourke9962]

For a small garden for growing vegetables for your own kitchen .The best fertiliser and soil conditioner is 3 year old farmyard manure put on at 10 pounds or more to the square yard .plough the ground 8 to 10 inches in november and then put on the manure .The worms will pull down the manure into the ground .and in the spring late march take in a rotovator at 1000 rpm and it brings it to a tilth 8 " deep for deep rooters like carrotts and parsnip .For potatoes add potatoe manure high in potash .The conditioner of the soil is the well rotted farmyard manure and the earthworms .USE the grass cuttings from your lawn to block out the weeds laid on 3" thick .Thats if you dont use glycosate weedkiller sprays .AND BON APPETIT . potatoes . Floury dry no 1 golden wonder = maincrop or Arran victory .Earlies = british queen or cara .

[@oldcountryman2795]

Did you even watch the video Cletus? It’s about *NOT* tilling because tilling destroys the soil.

[@poilochien]

in france everybodies are with plow " impossible : french ! " 🤪

[@pinkypaquet6447]

Im not an expert, but Id wager that in most cases, plowing the field would result in better yields than no-till. Are nitrogen fixing crops the same as cover crops in this context. Because I can see merit in growing nitrogen fixing crops, but expecting a plants root system to bore through hard pan soil and for your next crops roots to follow the same path as the cover crop? sounds like wishful thinking at best. why not just plow nice and deep so you can be certain there is an adequate depth of friable soil to ensure the crop can develop a healthy root system. I double dig my vegetable garden and occasionally roto-till with a tractor, Im not a farmer but just seems like plowing would be the way to go. if the ground gets too hard, Use a jackhammer to achieve the desired result.

[@JackesBAD]

You need more research notill doesnt work in our area...

[@downbntout]

No-till makes more money!

[@ReflectedMiles]

It certainly does for the chemical companies.

[@vanessadereu1756]

If you can use roundup & co, otherwise iT’ not that easy

[@lovetofly32]

Not after you subtract your chemical bill. Should be called chemical farmers because you cant do it without a sprayer and jugs of crap

[@downbntout]

@@lovetofly32 chemo-ag not needed

[@justingermanovich]

Subsoiling with a narrow point, straight shank. I’m positive is better then using cover crops. If you plant over the strips where you subsoiled, the roots go straight down. I’d rather use steel then some plants.

[@farmerTrout1993]

It doesnt solve the problem its only temporary fix with steel roots add aggregation and that is what relieves compaction in the soil

[@leedza]

I'm not an expert but the little research I've done shows that maintaining soil structure trumps any tillage including subsoiling. Maybe subsoiling the first time has benefits followed by no till with cover crop. Radishes do a good job of breaking compaction layers.

[@email16v]

Compost....genius and you'll get your rich black earth again and you'll stop making concrete as a farming byproduct

[@farmermatt629]

This would be great if we all farmed plots... or 20 acres.... the reason people plow is because they farm thousands of acres... plowing is easy... planting into 5 feet tall cover crops in a wet spring isn’t very easy

[@bradjenkins932]

That's not true.

[@moogman5]

This no till BS burned me hard last season and I learned this lesson the hard way...You HAVE to move the subsoil and use the hell out of steel...ESPECIALLY if you have clay type soils. Cover crops are BS and no till farming is BS...Don't buy into this guys...Check your subsoils and check them often...Roots needs healthy subsoil and no till farming only promotes soil compaction. Reduce the machinery weight when possible (use heavier tractors for deep tillage, then switch to as light as possible tractors for shallow tillage, sewing, drilling, cultivation, etc. I believe this no till fad is going to burn a lot of farmers, including myself, and will go out of style in a couple more years, once farmers realize how soil compaction kills crop yields, and literally the crops themselves. No till might be viable (for a while) on sandy, smaller farms with smaller, lighter equipment, but if you're in clay and work large acreage, with more horsepower/heavier equipment...You HAVE to plough (chisel especially), or you will lose badly and it may cost you everything eventually.

[@davidortega2102]

1 year is not enough

[@moogman5]

@@davidortega2102 It'll take generations to turn clay soil into more balanced soil...No till may work fine for more sandy soils but for clay it takes years and years and that's something a lot of farmers can't afford, especially during these crazy depression times

[@guciochris5297]

All was great until I've heard SOY AND CORN.

[@peanutsmith1462]

Try plowing up peanuts when you haven’t used bottom plows to loosen up the ground see how much money you leave in the ground what works for you don’t work for me

[@kevinkethe4300]

yes let's let the govt tell us what to do yay

[@deere7227]

Using a subsoiler locks you into using a subsoiler. Please spend some time and learn the multiple habitats you are disrupting

[@novavlogs8406]

This is fucked up