glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
Mulchers dont bury weeds like a plough does
One Man to a Thousand Acres
- Thread starter DrWazzock
- Start date
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
A ploughs function is to bury weeds , not to cultivate, there are better ways to cultivate if there are no weeds
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
And a plough doesn't leave the soil habitat alone like biological activity does, to achieve the same thing.
I know you guys still love your ploughs though, it's good to see the two sides constantly trying to take chunks out of each other!
Herbicide and tillage both come at a cost to the soil, just in different ways.
Interrupting the carbon flows, each using a different mechanism to do so.
The third option is to change the way you think, still in it's infancy.
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
So how does changing the way you think get rid of weeds?
Weeds are a constant , and need removed before a crop can be plannted
People will buy the replacement product for £10/litre.
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
T
there isnt one
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
err, slightly off topic, but re glypho
we have well documented issues with resistance etc. Lots of time & research being put into addressing the problem, using many & varied techniques. We seem to be getting a handle on it though.
But, one thing that has come very clearly from all the chem reps & manufacturers - their is no replacement or new products being developed that will take its place ( which is just one of the reasons getting on top of resistance is so important here )
There wont be just a new "drum" you can pick up . . .
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
By abandoning monoculture, for the folly that it is!
Don't keep disturbing the soil, don't have empty niches for "weeds" to grow, and use livestock, lots of livestock.
About the only weeds left are thistles thorny plants that animals can't touch, which can be mulched into submission or literally swamped out with biomass.
But, farmers are programmed to clean everything out, and plant a monoculture.
....which is why they end up broke or bitter, trying to fight nature at every turn
Heck, you guys get paid to encourage biodiversity and still haven't worked it out!
Plant 60 or so different species in a covercrop and see how many weeds you have. Not 3!
Nature filling a vacuum is constant.
That's all it is....if you have bare earth it will be covered in something - get in first.
Monoculture = blackgrass et al.
Not the methods, the objective is a busted flush.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
because there is a huge market here for a glypho alternative that many people would pay a lot of money for
the R & D costs & getting new products approved for different markets, in a world that is increasingly legislating against chemical ( atrazine ban ? glypho ban ? why would you put that money into developing a product that may be banned in 5 yrs ? ) The major companies now se themselves more as bio tech companies, than chemical manufacturers - that's where they see their future
glasshouse
Member
- Location
- lothians
Sadly, nobody wants to buy a 60 species cover crop.By abandoning monoculture, for the folly that it is!
Don't keep disturbing the soil, don't have empty niches for "weeds" to grow, and use livestock, lots of livestock.
About the only weeds left are thistles thorny plants that animals can't touch, which can be mulched into submission or literally swamped out with biomass.
But, farmers are programmed to clean everything out, and plant a monoculture.
....which is why they end up broke or bitter, trying to fight nature at every turn
Heck, you guys get paid to encourage biodiversity and still haven't worked it out!
Plant 60 or so different species in a covercrop and see how many weeds you have. Not 3!
Nature filling a vacuum is constant.
That's all it is....if you have bare earth it will be covered in something - get in first.
Monoculture = blackgrass et al.
Not the methods, the objective is a busted flush.
A proper grass and cereal rotation will avoid blackgrass, but still requires ploughing
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you always get.
I won't argue, if you want to uphold the plough as a beacon of man's "success", feel free!
But you're right, nobody wants to change what they do, they just want a better outcome.
Insanity.
can you really plant an arable crop into a cover crop like that and it not get swamped ?By abandoning monoculture, for the folly that it is!
Don't keep disturbing the soil, don't have empty niches for "weeds" to grow, and use livestock, lots of livestock.
About the only weeds left are thistles thorny plants that animals can't touch, which can be mulched into submission or literally swamped out with biomass.
But, farmers are programmed to clean everything out, and plant a monoculture.
....which is why they end up broke or bitter, trying to fight nature at every turn
Heck, you guys get paid to encourage biodiversity and still haven't worked it out!
Plant 60 or so different species in a covercrop and see how many weeds you have. Not 3!
Nature filling a vacuum is constant.
That's all it is....if you have bare earth it will be covered in something - get in first.
Monoculture = blackgrass et al.
Not the methods, the objective is a busted flush.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Sure can.
It just takes either a big mob of cattle, or one of those fancy crimper rollers to smash and bruise the buggery out of it, or mulch it.
Most of the guys down this far who grow cereal crops just DD straight into a paddock that grows older shorter grasses and then "blitzkrieg it" with sheep til the grain starts to come up, but don't want to lift the lid on removing all that straw
Unfortunately the straw-stealing type of system is great for starving the soil as it breaks the natural carbon flow, until the new crop starts to photosynthesise
whereas the continual cover way keeps living and keeps feeding. For all the money spent on chemicals you'd be better spending it on seed (wait for the howls of dismay from the angrichemical folks)
any photos of this ?Sure can.
It just takes either a big mob of cattle, or one of those fancy crimper rollers to smash and bruise the buggery out of it, or mulch it.
Most of the guys down this far who grow cereal crops just DD straight into a paddock that grows older shorter grasses and then "blitzkrieg it" with sheep til the grain starts to come up, but don't want to lift the lid on removing all that straw
Unfortunately the straw-stealing type of system is great for starving the soil as it breaks the natural carbon flow, until the new crop starts to photosynthesise
For all the money spent on chemicals you'd be better spending it on seed (wait for the howls of dismay from the angrichemical folks)
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
I'll see what the net has in store.
My phone with the pictures of Jeff's place ended up in my poo pile
Carbon flow is like cash flow..
If you sold your cattle and buried the cash in the ground, how do you keep going and buy more cattle?
Carbon the same deal, and nitrogen.. if you keep the flow going then you're in business.
I'll see what I can find
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
@Henarar
Or straight on the DD
Or use lots of cows and buckets of seed and a fiddle - @YorkshireAndrew likes them, and block graze with electric fences
Sorry - no ploughs, no sprays, no fertiliser spreaders
That's what Jeff does, nails the cover crops with cattle and then a crimper on the front and big direct drill on the back.
Or straight on the DD
Or use lots of cows and buckets of seed and a fiddle - @YorkshireAndrew likes them, and block graze with electric fences
Sorry - no ploughs, no sprays, no fertiliser spreaders
That's what Jeff does, nails the cover crops with cattle and then a crimper on the front and big direct drill on the back.
- Location
- Owaka, New Zealand
Jeffrey grows cashcrop peas, beans, triticale, wheat and barley.
But the cover crops have everything from sunflower to carrots and every other thing you could name (and a fair few more)
Should see his cattle
I think the last time he did anything more was in the 70s when he disced out the tramlines.f**k big inputs and big yields
Go no input and bigger yields (lots of cow time in between crops)
Carbon flows around and around
Cash comes out
Abandon monoculture