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webster n. y. u.s.a.

each year i have to till my patch 3 or 4 times in order to get a good texture deep enough for planting.what are the advantages of no till ? i assume there are more living organisims left in the soil.

12/22/2007 5:32:44 PM

Colorado

No till is a conspiracy started from eartworm lovers.lol no till is practiced by some world class growers.By not disturbing the soil and putting amendments on top growers are allowing soil to cycle in natural state. Allows earthworms and fungi to do there thing and keep soil lofted without ginsuing it with plow or tiller.

12/23/2007 3:02:56 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

No-till is a noble cause but not terribly efficient. Worms recover quickly especially if the gardener uses their head & times the action carefully.

The soil has to be in VERY good tilth with LOTS of organic material to avoid the tiller or else the soil WILL compact badly.

It is my understanding that at least one Heavy Hitter is now back to tilling & I'm sure most resort to tilling at least some areas of the patch every year. The crop we're growing almost requires some tilling to get maximum weights.

12/23/2007 9:42:22 PM

Georgia

Ahh to till or not to till. I say till it like Tremor said the worms will recover. I keep all my gardens thick with worms and still till. After I till I add more worms they reproduce very quickly if the soils right. Without tilling I also believe the soil becomes very hard and compact. One till in the spring or fall does the soil well I think it helps all the good stuff breath.

12/25/2007 5:45:50 PM

Decatur, IL

Remember, if a worm is cut in half or any number of pieces, the head end will grow another tail. I don't think they'd be killed unless they were tilled into mush.

12/27/2007 11:09:30 AM

Minnesota

I can tell you minnesota's soil is frozen solid under a foot of snow.

12/27/2007 11:44:55 AM

San Jose garysand@pacbell.net

jason D where do you get the worms to add to your garden?

12/27/2007 7:30:07 PM

Ctpumpkin@optonline.net

Coffee grounds, corn meal, leaf compost, etc. You won't be able to stop earthworms even if you try if the conditions are right.

12/27/2007 11:17:23 PM

Georgia

Yeah I just add good food like tremor said and then I continue to add worms which the bait store sells me in bulk. Ive heard theres places online that will ship you worms which thats how my bait store gets them. I also have tubs which I keep worms in. I just fill with dirt,compost,egg shells and shredded newspaper and the worms continue to reproduce. After I till I add more worms into my gardens.

12/28/2007 8:39:30 AM

Western NY

tilling will chase the worms off if you do it enough, i've seen it happen.

I plow once in the spring, then lightly till once perpendicular to the plow direction, and that's it.

12/28/2007 9:40:17 AM

Boulder County Colorado USA planet Earth

No till is great when water is a factor(not enough) or if you have perfect soil.

But for me i have hard dry clay(most of us do in my area) I tiil many times before the season, but dont till after the spring rains start raining.

12/28/2007 1:46:39 PM

Deer Park WA

LOL at CM

"Remember, if a worm is cut in half or any number of pieces, the head end will grow another tail".

Where do I start...............

12/28/2007 5:17:34 PM

Minnesota

You can buy worms online, ebay, some places charge more than other's.

12/28/2007 6:32:58 PM

Circleville ,OH.

I tried no-till patch last year and the results were horrid. The patch had been in clover for 2yrs so the natural tilth was soft in the spring. The patch had lots of worms, more than the other patch but that was the only good thing.

Nothing in the no-till patch would grow right. Plants were all way behind the tilled patch and even the watermelons wouldn’t grow worth a nickel. Soil test of this patch was fine so the only cause I could see was the no-till. Other tilled patch grew fine.

I will never no-till again. That’s just my 2cents.

2/3/2008 12:47:43 AM

Danville, CA (petman2@yahoo.com)

Are the LaRue's still going no till?

2/3/2008 10:53:10 AM