One man's weeds are another man's herbs, or helpful plants or symbionts with regard to the soil biome or pest prevention.
Also, the times of naked soil should be over by now. Dies out too quickly in warmer climates, can't keep heat in colder climates, loses nutrients too fast, can't keep a proper biome,... naked soil is unnatural for a reason. (Loose straw is a good cover.)
It's quite simple, really. Weeds are any plant that has an economic cost to leave growing, and if it increases the seed bank in the soil. Some of my weeds could be incredibly costly to leave. Also, most of my weeds are actually volunteers from one type of previous crop.
With regards to your comments about naked soil, you are correct that soil does not naturally want to be uncovered, and weeds are part of nature's process to cover it up again. And yes naked soil does lose organic matter. However where I live soil that's covered takes 2-3 weeks longer to warm the soil to growing temperature than soil which was lightly tilled before winter. In fact right now the soil is strangely cold for this time of year, despite having above-average temperatures for much of the winter, and no snow cover (which probably is responsible for the cold soil). So for the mechanics of farming, and the timely establishment of crops, tillage still finds widespread use, but most farmers try to do it as little as possible. I have neighbors that have been no-till for many years, but they have an increased dependence on herbicides.
Here's an interesting observation regarding tillage. Most of our latest and greatest tillage machines in Canada these days come from Europe. High speed discs, rippers, mulchers, etc. Apparently tillage is widespread in Europe (I can attest to that as I've seed many, many tilled fields in the winter in Europe). Most of these fields have been heavily tilled, plowed even, for centuries. Yet their organic matter is pretty good and have been stable for decades. And their yields are very good, often double wh
Tilth is really not the problem, compaction is the problem. that was the advantage of historical tillage, which was done with animals. now it's done with machines that tend to compact the soil and create hardpan, which in turn holds water and creates anaerobic conditions that destroy soil diversity.
The other big problem of tilth is soil blowing away, but if you don't cut down all the trees between fields that's not a big problem.
The UK imports about ten times as much food as it exports. Is it really produci
Can have many reasons, crop rotation, by definition better soil, plowing the remains of the plants after harvest under the ground again, using mostly manure or sewage to fertilize, no idea:D
Yup. All of those things. Most of which are widely practiced in North America too. It's also interesting that in the 1600s and 1700s, farmland in the colonies was rich and fertile, cleared fields in the forest, much like Europe, and farmed using the same techniques. By the 1800s it had begun to be depleted, which led to some of the migrations west by farmers. By west I mean moving from New York to Ohio sort of thing.
I freely admit that no one, including soil scientists, understands the soil very well d
The amount of beauty required launch 1 ship = 1 Millihelen
Define "weeds". (Score:2)
One man's weeds are another man's herbs, or helpful plants or symbionts with regard to the soil biome or pest prevention.
Also, the times of naked soil should be over by now. Dies out too quickly in warmer climates, can't keep heat in colder climates, loses nutrients too fast, can't keep a proper biome, ... naked soil is unnatural for a reason. (Loose straw is a good cover.)
Re:Define "weeds". (Score:4, Interesting)
It's quite simple, really. Weeds are any plant that has an economic cost to leave growing, and if it increases the seed bank in the soil. Some of my weeds could be incredibly costly to leave. Also, most of my weeds are actually volunteers from one type of previous crop.
With regards to your comments about naked soil, you are correct that soil does not naturally want to be uncovered, and weeds are part of nature's process to cover it up again. And yes naked soil does lose organic matter. However where I live soil that's covered takes 2-3 weeks longer to warm the soil to growing temperature than soil which was lightly tilled before winter. In fact right now the soil is strangely cold for this time of year, despite having above-average temperatures for much of the winter, and no snow cover (which probably is responsible for the cold soil). So for the mechanics of farming, and the timely establishment of crops, tillage still finds widespread use, but most farmers try to do it as little as possible. I have neighbors that have been no-till for many years, but they have an increased dependence on herbicides.
Re: (Score:3)
Here's an interesting observation regarding tillage. Most of our latest and greatest tillage machines in Canada these days come from Europe. High speed discs, rippers, mulchers, etc. Apparently tillage is widespread in Europe (I can attest to that as I've seed many, many tilled fields in the winter in Europe). Most of these fields have been heavily tilled, plowed even, for centuries. Yet their organic matter is pretty good and have been stable for decades. And their yields are very good, often double wh
Re: (Score:2)
Tilth is really not the problem, compaction is the problem. that was the advantage of historical tillage, which was done with animals. now it's done with machines that tend to compact the soil and create hardpan, which in turn holds water and creates anaerobic conditions that destroy soil diversity.
The other big problem of tilth is soil blowing away, but if you don't cut down all the trees between fields that's not a big problem.
The UK imports about ten times as much food as it exports. Is it really produci
Re: (Score:2)
Can have many reasons, crop rotation, by definition better soil, plowing the remains of the plants after harvest under the ground again, using mostly manure or sewage to fertilize, no idea :D
Re: (Score:2)
Yup. All of those things. Most of which are widely practiced in North America too. It's also interesting that in the 1600s and 1700s, farmland in the colonies was rich and fertile, cleared fields in the forest, much like Europe, and farmed using the same techniques. By the 1800s it had begun to be depleted, which led to some of the migrations west by farmers. By west I mean moving from New York to Ohio sort of thing.
I freely admit that no one, including soil scientists, understands the soil very well d