Building Soil on the Farm

 

Think simple, economical and natural. Remember the forest floor. Nature doesn't compost materials in a pile before she uses them. You need not either, unless you want to get rid of noxious weed seeds, pathogens, or avoid hauling heavy material. Composting for a short time with few turnings will accomplish these goals. It is best to let as much of the composting activity as possible be completed in the soil.

Orchards, vineyards, and other perennials are crops that would benefit from composting materials for a while before applying, but you do not need the finished quality compost that would be sold in the city.

If you need to hold manure for several months for some reason, pile it up in a location where it can't soak up a lot of water. Some of the best vegetables I ever grew were with cow manure mixed with a little cane hay that was stored in a big pile. The manure was from the stockyards; it had been accumulating for more than a year. A couple of yards were added daily and it was pushed up high with a crawler tractor. It did smell like cow manure, however cow manure is not an offensive odor unless it is from feedlots. Range-fed animal manure does not smell bad.

Manure from feedlots is a lot higher in protein, making it higher nitrogen. The high protein also causes it to smell worse. You may want to compost it to get rid of the odor, but don't bum up a lot of time and energy to get rid of something the soil life doesn't mind having.

Concentrate on getting all manure, spoiled feed, hay, feathers, cobs, hulls, gin waste, ashes and any other organic materials generated on the farm back to the land in the most economical and easiest way possible. Spread it thin and disk in shallow. It is important to mix moist manure into the soil as soon as possible, because as it loses moisture to the air it is also losing ammonia nitrogen. You want the ammonia absorbed onto the clay and humus of the soil where it is stored for future microbe and plant use.

It is best to apply manure and other organic waste on the stubble as soon as the crops are harvested. But don't drive in the fields when they are wet because it will cause the soil to be compacted. Annual light applications of one to five tons per acre is much better than one heavy application.

Heavy applications can upset the biology and chemistry of the soil for the next crop, unless it is a cover crop that will be turned back for soil building. In that case it won't matter. Heavy applications, however, could possibly cause ground water and surface water pollution if heavy rains come before the soil life has a chance to digest the material.

When using feedlot, dairy, turkey and chicken manure, get a periodic soil test to make sure you are not over-loading with either potassium or phosphate. Some of the minerals are really pushed to animals in confinement. Manure from range-fed animals is rarely a problem.

If you are a weekend or hobby farmer, it will not be as important how or when you handle organic materials as long as you handle them properly and don't pollute. But if you farm for a living, it is most important that you consider the economics and don't waste time, work, fuel or nutrients when getting organic material back to the land. The best advice I can give in addition to all of the above is: always observe nature. She can teach you things that the books, the PhDs or I don't know. For complete information on large scale composting, see the book The Secret Life of Compost by Malcolm Beck, published by ACRES USA in Austin, Texas.

 

Cover Cropping

When compost isn't available, the soil can still be improved organically. I had to do this on my second farm. When I purchased it in 1968, the soil was so poor that in a good year Johnson grass would only get knee-high. The previous owner had planted oats and when they finally headed out, they were all of ankle-tall. We put in a garden, and the plants came up and refused to grow. The soil was yellowish red in color and real sticky. During rains most of the water rain off and the soil would soon be dry. In some areas we set up the irrigation system and sprinkled slowly to try to get moisture deep into the soil. When we went out to move the pipe and sprinklers, we bogged down to our knees. We couldn't wear rubber boots because the suction would hold them in the ground.

We had the honor of a visit from Robert Rodale of Organic Gardening shortly after we moved to that farm. After showing Bob around, I asked him what would be the best way to bring soil fertility up short of hauling in a lot of compost. (We didn't have enough compost or money to do that!) Bob thought for a moment then said, "The land is level. You don't have bad erosion; the soil is clay. It is probably holding nutrients but the alkalinity has them locked up. What you need is to get organic matter into the soil."

I tell about our experience with cover cropping in "Regenerating a Worn-Out Farm." Even after we began making quite a bit of compost, we still used cover crops to build the soil on the farm. We used compost in one small area and cover crops on the rest of the farm. We found through soil testing that we had a shortage of phosphorous in our soil, even though the fertility was steadily improving. After proper colloidal rock phosphate applications, we found the vegetable production was almost the same in the cover-cropped areas as in the composted area. We used no other fertilizer.

Comparing the composted area to the cover crop area, we learned that both methods will work. If you are impatient, compost gets fertility up the quickest, but it will usually be more expensive. Cover cropping takes longer.

 

Compost brings in minerals. Cover crops can only make available the existing soil minerals.

 

Good Fertility Management

Good fertility management would make use of both cover crops and compost and keep the soil healthy and productive forever. Once soil is built up to certain fertility, if it is not abused, it has a generating ability to maintain itself and even keep getting better. The root systems go deeper and deeper, bringing up more and more nutrients. The above-ground growth gets bigger and healthier, adding more organic material and mulch. As the annual roots and tops decay, they form organic acids that release more minerals from rock formations. After many years of high production, the minerals could be cropped out in certain areas, but applying compost or rock powders could easily maintain the highest fertility.

The fertile soil of our once-poor farm has proved the ease of maintaining fertility once you get there. Our soil is now much darker, almost black, and after heavy rains there is no puddling, when I walk on the wet soil, the crumb structure is so good I barely leave a track. Pests are rarely a problem, and the need for irrigation in dry seasons is much less.

Even though the crops may look the best and production may be high, the soil may not yet be perfect. Even though a fruit, vegetable or plant or food crop may look perfect, it could still be lacking. It takes time for all the life in the soil to get organized and begin working in harmony. It takes the soil life to really put things in balance and feed the plants correctly. Taste and flavor are the ultimate test.

The results of top fertility are many: no pollution, healthier living, flowing springs, cleaner environment, fewer headaches, less weed problems, no need for pesticides, little need for bagged fertilizers, higher production, peace of mind, and money in the bank. Returning organic material to the farm accomplishes all of these great benefits.

 

The Garden-Ville Method - Lessons in Nature