The followers is an excerpt fromHelen Atthowe’snew bookThe Ecological Farm(Chelsea Green Publishing June 2023 ) and is print with permission from the publisher.courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing
My On-Farm Weed Suppression Experiments
I was concerned not only in prove the effects of tillage on soil and micro-organism health , but also in evaluating the effect of tillage on grass suppression and crop output .
Effects of Tillage & Applying Compost
In my first experimentation , my goal was to evaluate which weed metal money would be encourage over two farm season by unlike tillage and fertiliser treatments , in minimally tilled craw run-in , in no - boulder clay crop course , and in my farm - made compost . An area of original 50 - year - old , untilled pasture on my farm served as the basis for comparison ( the control condition ) .
The compost I made at Biodesign Farm was a mix of manure , wheat , and red clover , which was heat up to USDA National Organic Program standard during the compost process . To assess the Mary Jane seed reservoir in my finished compost , I satiate 1 - gal ( 4 liter ) pots with the compost , set up the pots in my greenhouse , water them well , and then observed what burgeon forth and grow . I discovered that the bang-up diversity and abundance of yearly grass metal money was present in the pots when compared with numbers and coinage of weeds number in my harvest fields or the untilled pasture area . In fact , there were some species that I did not observe at all in my crop fields or in the pasture area . This suggested to me that the one compost factor I institute in from off the farm — the sheep manure from my neighbor ’s farm — was the source of the unique weeds . When I check using manure , annual weeds also decreased in my vegetable fields .
In 2006 I till some experiment rows shallowly in the spring and then did no further weed finish after that . I also left other words untilled tout ensemble to measure the outcome of no - plowland . I place the weeds that spud and spring up in the row , and I found high numbers of one-year locoweed coinage in the minimally tilled plots compared with the no - till plots and the command area . The untilled pasturage ascendency had the most perennial green goddess and no annual weed at all ( had the most perennial smoke and no annual widow’s weeds at all ( for full results for the “ Weed Species Found in Biodesign Farm Weed Ecology Study ” see Thomas Nelson Page 170 , board 8.6 ofThe Ecological Farm ) .
The example to be learned from this experimentation is that tilth results in more yearly Mary Jane and that not tilling encourages perennial pot over the long condition . Another lesson is that apply compost can bring in young weed problems — even compost heat to 149 degrees F ( 65 degree ascorbic acid ) can be a reference of weed seeds !
say more : Compost like a professional with this elementary technique .
Exploring Complex Interactions
In 2007 , I prepare up another experimentation as part of my quest to understand the interactions among stain health and alimentary cycling , harvest production , and weed competition . I evaluated how these interactions were affected by several territory / weed management treatments .
The five treatments were : no - tillage , minimum tilth , formal tillage , tilth plus acetum spray , and tillage plus paper mulch ( EcoCover ) . The experimental area comprise of one 600 - understructure - long , 4 - foot - wide of the mark ( 183 × 1.2 m ) crop quarrel split into replicated plot , three per each of the five treatments . At the start of the experimentation , a 2 - year - old crimson clover cover crop was growing in the words . I strip - tilled the handling plots , except for the no - public treasury plots , making three passes with the cultivator in the tillage plots , but only one shallow flip in the minimum - tillage plots . ploughland plots were kept weed - gratuitous with culture to keep the grime surface bare all season . I applied a skunk matte paper mulch over another curing of plowland treatment plot of ground and sprayed a vinegar herbicide on weeds doubly during the grow time of year in still another hardening . In the minimum - tillage plots , I tilled only once and did not cultivate weeds that grew back during the time of year . In the no - till treatment plots , I closely pout the red clover in the springtime and then burned the remaining ontogeny with an infrared flamer . I leave behind the recurrent scarlet clover inviolate as a living mulch in the row middle on either side of all handling secret plan . I planted all of the fain plot with Brussels sprouts .
Here are the highlight of the results of this experiment :
courtesy of Chelsea Green Publishing
Brussels sprouts industrial plant in tilled plot covered with composition mulch had more biomass and the highest average yield per works . Next good were the plants in the formal tilled land row and the rows that were till and sprayed with acetum before planting . I concluded that tillage increased yields by minimise crop competition with other plant .
The minimum - tilth row took fourth position , and the no - till plot of land had the lowest yield and smallest plant . Using the flamer was not my best vegetation curtailment idea . Although these plots had the highest storey of mycorrhizae , the red clover grew back from its warm source within several weeks and competed to a great extent with young Brussels sprout .
Paper mulch and formal tillage plots had the highest soil temperatures from April through the end of August . Thus farmland resulted in increased soil temperatures , especially early in the season . Soil temperature were lowest in the no - tillage and minimal - tillage plots all time of year .
The expectant mycorrhizal density was observed in no - plowland plot ; the second slap-up denseness occur in minimal - tillage plots . The tillage / acetum intervention resulted in the last density , followed by ceremonious - plowland and tillage / paper mulch plots . It was clear that tillage led to a decreased comportment of mycorrhizae .
Tillage plots tended toward lower soil particle aggregate stability , but the lower levels were not statistically significant in this 1 - year experimentation .
SOM levels in the plots in April , one week after initial cultivated land , were not statistically different . But , by September levels were somewhat higher in minimum - tillage and no - farmland plots and downcast in ploughland plots .
In summary , my experimentation showed there is a craft - off between tilth and no - farmland . The dope suppression due to tillage resulted in better yield , but the tillage lead to decreased filth / microbic health . There is a possible angelical spot with a shallow , minimum - tillage approach . output were not quite as high as in plots that are till more frequently and to greater depths , but soil and mycorrhizae wellness were much good .
The results of this on - farm experimentation , as well as my payoff and pest records from 1993 through 2010 , were a great assistance to me in design the farm arrangement that I practice today use permanent know mulch in row middles and very special landing strip - till to prepare craw beds in the spring . I like the balance this ply for an economically sustainable yield without sacrificing prospicient - term soil health .
I keep on to endeavor to infer how much tillage and/or reduction in weed / living mulch crop competition is necessary for economical yields with different crops in unlike climate weather condition and grease natality levels . It is an on-going process : I learn from my dynamical agroecosystem even as I add and deduct direction method and strategies ! ( See pageboy 172 , compute 8.10 ofThe ecologic Farmfor my current methods and strategies . )
The Ecological FarmauthorHelen Atthowehas worked for 35 years to connect farming , food system , realm stewardship , and conservation . She produce and behave enquiry at Woodleaf Farm in Eastern Oregon and serve as a consultant with husbandman across the United States and internationally . Helen and her late hubby , Carl Rosato , co - have and run a certified organic plantation in California where they initiate methods for farm apples , sweetheart , and other tree fruit without the manipulation of any type of pesticide .
Her on - farm research includes ecological weed and worm management , organic minimal ground perturbation system for vegetable and orchard crop , and managing living mulch for soil and habitat building . She is a contributing author to The Organic Gardener ’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Controland other books . She has served as a circuit board member for the Organic Farming Research Foundation and advisor for the Wild Farm Alliance . Atthowe has a schoolmaster ’s degree in horticulture from Rutgers University and has worked in education and research at the University of Arkansas , Rutgers University , and Oregon State University , and attend as a gardening elongation factor in Montana , where she annually teach an constitutive headmaster gardener course .
