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Post by Foggy on Nov 4, 2021 11:43:09 GMT -6
OK....if I had not been forced to hang out around the hospital or home so much this summer......I may have never stumbled into this topic (unless I read into all of what SD is mumbling about from time to time ). THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. Here is a place to dump good information on what the Regenerative Agriculture movement is all about. There are many.....but Here is a good primer on the topic:
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Post by sd51555 on Nov 4, 2021 11:58:16 GMT -6
OK....if I had not been forced to hang out around the hospital or home so much this summer......I may have never stumbled into this topic (unless I read into all of what SD is mumbling about from time to time ). THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. Here is a place to dump good information on what the Regenerative Agriculture movement is all about. There are many.....but Here is a good primer on the topic: What was it that got you to give this stuff a try? Or what got through to you? It certainly wasn't me, cause I've been banging this drum for a while.
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Post by Catscratch on Nov 4, 2021 12:18:42 GMT -6
OK....if I had not been forced to hang out around the hospital or home so much this summer......I may have never stumbled into this topic (unless I read into all of what SD is mumbling about from time to time ). THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. Here is a place to dump good information on what the Regenerative Agriculture movement is all about. There are many.....but Here is a good primer on the topic: What was it that got you to give this stuff a try? Or what got through to you? It certainly wasn't me, cause I've been banging this drum for a while. Pigweed...
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Post by Foggy on Nov 4, 2021 16:06:25 GMT -6
^ Ding, Ding, Ding, we have a winner! Your right. Pigweed got me over the edge. Each time I would plant something.....I. would watch it succumb to the pigweed. Could not control that chit.....and decided to crowd it out. The guys on here started making suggestions.....I was in the hospital and had time to read and study....and a low cost drill came on the market......which got me to buy a drill.....and start down this regenerative ag path. No going back now. I seen the light at the end of the tunnel. Full speed ahead.....I'm too old to go slow.
I just had not considered these ideas in the past......as I was old school and "we always did it that way" in time gone by. As I was re-learning the "old ways" of doing things I was not paying attention to where agriculture has gone in the past decade or so......but more-so in the past 3 to 5 years. This thing is really huge......and growing. New believers every day.
Strange thing about this topic for me......is the more you know.....the more you need to know. It is really a fascinating way to do things. (hope it pans out over time).
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Post by Foggy on Nov 4, 2021 21:18:52 GMT -6
Heve is one EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH.......but they wont. Tsk Tsk Tsk.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 9, 2021 11:18:59 GMT -6
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Post by sd51555 on Nov 10, 2021 20:19:39 GMT -6
One of the last things I do before we close out rifle camp, is I take Omaha Steve around and show him the improvements. I got the wild idea to take a picture of my natural soil profile just off the edge of my south plot. This is what I’m working with. **edit: then I dumped 30” of clay on top of that topsoil layer.
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Post by kooch on Nov 11, 2021 8:03:35 GMT -6
Looks about like mine.
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Post by Catscratch on Nov 11, 2021 8:29:32 GMT -6
Lot of sand under that black dirt! Dig that deep on my place and you'll hit a solid shelf of limestone.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 11, 2021 8:36:41 GMT -6
Looking back in time......every field used to be turned (plowed) each fall. Coming from southern MN.....I'd see all cropland turned to all black dirt each fall. Nothing, but for a little pasture land, escaped the plow. I always figured that is what needed to be done.
I brought a plow to my land, turned about 1/2 acre and never used it again. Sold that dude promptly. I was just burying my good top soil.
That pic SD shows looks somewhat like mine....but I got sand where he has clay. I think I would rather have my sand.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 11, 2021 8:52:24 GMT -6
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Post by smsmith on Nov 11, 2021 9:12:50 GMT -6
Looking back in time......every field used to be turned (plowed) each fall. Coming from southern MN.....I'd see all cropland turned to all black dirt each fall. Nothing, but for a little pasture land, escaped the plow. I always figured that is what needed to be done. I brought a plow to my land, turned about 1/2 acre and never used it again. Sold that dude promptly. I was just burying my good top soil. That pic SD shows looks somewhat like mine....but I got sand where he has clay. I think I would rather have my sand. Much of southern MN has 3'+ of beautiful clay or silt loam. Plowing doesn't matter much in that soil. Plow sandy soils once and you've destroyed decades (probably centuries) of top soil build up. Now, if you can add back tons of manure you can keep on growing. If you can't, you're screwed. It took a lot of talking on my part to get my dad to sell his old 2 bottom plow.
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Post by Foggy on Nov 11, 2021 9:31:33 GMT -6
Looking back in time......every field used to be turned (plowed) each fall. Coming from southern MN.....I'd see all cropland turned to all black dirt each fall. Nothing, but for a little pasture land, escaped the plow. I always figured that is what needed to be done. I brought a plow to my land, turned about 1/2 acre and never used it again. Sold that dude promptly. I was just burying my good top soil. That pic SD shows looks somewhat like mine....but I got sand where he has clay. I think I would rather have my sand. Much of southern MN has 3'+ of beautiful clay or silt loam. Plowing doesn't matter much in that soil. Plow sandy soils once and you've destroyed decades (probably centuries) of top soil build up. Now, if you can add back tons of manure you can keep on growing. If you can't, you're screwed. It took a lot of talking on my part to get my dad to sell his old 2 bottom plow. Your right. Too many of us are busy ruining our soils and just don't know any better. I'm reading a book right now by Gabe Brown called "dirt to soil". Big difference on how you treat the land. Oftentimes when driving in hilly ag country......you can see where the tops of the hills have lost all the better top "soils" and they are now sandy.....just "dirt" now. Sad to see. Gonna take time to repair whet has happened to this land.
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Post by sd51555 on Nov 11, 2021 9:49:14 GMT -6
Looking back in time......every field used to be turned (plowed) each fall. Coming from southern MN.....I'd see all cropland turned to all black dirt each fall. Nothing, but for a little pasture land, escaped the plow. I always figured that is what needed to be done. I brought a plow to my land, turned about 1/2 acre and never used it again. Sold that dude promptly. I was just burying my good top soil. That pic SD shows looks somewhat like mine....but I got sand where he has clay. I think I would rather have my sand. I've seen pastures get moldboard plowed up in my country. It ends up looking like tan toothpaste all squirted out when they're done. I wonder about what is harder to grow upon, clay or sand. On one hand, clay doesn't dry out, so that helps, but the compaction, ponding, crusting, and erosion is horrendous if you get that wrong. It can be so bad, that if you fling a soybean seed out there, it might just keep on bouncing like a golf ball down the cart path. You also don't get calcium creep and excess porosity like you would in sand with annual gypsum applications. Honestly, I'd take solid clay any day given I don't drive on it. There's a gazillion years of minerals in that stuff, and if it doesn't get reset, squished, and beaten into concrete, it'll pay dividends every year I walk this flat earth. I could swear I saw earthworm castings in the new smear already, but I can't remember where.
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Post by smsmith on Nov 11, 2021 10:07:42 GMT -6
If I was forced to choose between light sand and clay to plot with, I'll go clay every time. Should be able to grow really nice clover if nothing else. Add a decent amount of loam to the light sand so it becomes sandy loam...and I'll take that over clay. This acreage has muck, peat, sandy loam, loamy sand, and glacial till (a mix of a number of soil types). I like diversity
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