NO TILL SOLUTION TO SOIL COMPACTION. COVER CROPS FOR SOIL COMPACTION. This gardening in Canada video we are looking at soil compaction in no tillage systems. Radishes are a great compaction solution for no dig low till garden and field set ups.
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32 Comments
Now that was very interesting! I learned something there.
No till is by far superior to standard dig garden, based on my personal experiences.
Sounds good!
Yep its an aerator … my least favourite landscaping tool haha
thanks for the information, i shall have to grow long radishes!
Last year we used a dibber to make room for some of the strawberry plants, and that thing very badly compacted the soil under there the plants went, hopefully it didn't do too much damage. Radishes and other brassicas are designed to bring grasslands into succession into forests, so they can be planted in a lot of places without preparing the ground. We grew turnips in the lawn and they did extremely well, until the mower cut them down, it's good to harvest them before having to mow~
We live between a clay quarry and a brick factory. Our soil is has compaction issues for sure. We planted radishes our first year here and it made a difference. Glad to know there is some good reasoning to go with it.
Thank you so much! 👩🏻🌾 this is precisely what my experiment plan is for my little starter garden this year 🤓 I can’t wait for gardening season!
I bought a pound of Forage Radish from T&T Seeds this time last year and in the spring they had slipped my mind… I asked the young lad at the feed mill if they had Forage Radish seed and he looked at me like I was speaking another language! He ran and got "The Crop Specialist" who told me they only sell that by the 50 lb bag, but they are just Daikon radish, and any Daikon will work, and they can either be harvested as food, or left to rot and increase the organic matter in the soil… Now I just have to remember to plant them (somewhere) this year, the bed I had planned on using last year is going to Barley this year….
I have used Daikon Radishes as a cover crop. We plant 4 pounds per acer, it only works if we get planted by August 20th or so. I just leave the radishes in the soil. This is great for compaction. I also feel it may be a good fumigant. This is all anecdotal, I feel I had less potato bug issues on years following Daikon cover crop. It's just way too expensive for seed and irrigation. I believe I have always planted buckwheat or hairy vetch with the radishes. The draw back, deer love them and they stick around for next years crop, other vermin seem to be attracted also. Great video thanks for sharing. I should also be clear I mold board plow everything into the soil in the spring so I'm not taking the no-till path.
Radish is Rad.
Really grateful for your scientific information. Thank you!
Sounds to me there are a couple other things you could do. If you don't grow the long radishes maybe broad forking making holes would work fairly well. Then spread fertilizer to go down those holes. And/or till deep. May have to go over the ground a few times. Then broad fork through the tilled soil and add fertilizer or anything organic down those holes. These broad fork holes would then be pretty deep.
By the way, maybe I asked earlier, are there generally any weed seeds below the top soil? Maybe 15 or so inches down. Zone 6 A. Great video!! Thanks!!
Ive watch some yt videos that some weeds helps your soil not to be compact. The question what should i do with my weeds to get that benifit should I pull it out or just cut the stem. Weeds in the garden is not really pleasing in the eyes
Living in the Southwest of the USA, compacted soils are the norm. What depth would you say is ideal for the average anual or row crops to have available for their roots to grow healthy roots? Also, Dr. Ingham says most plants are capable of penetrating up to 150psi (300psi for tap roots). What compaction threshold would you consider appropriate before mechanically breaking up compaction layers?
Hi Ashley, I,m from Australia and I've been trying to go no-till but every season I have to dig up
and sift all my soil to get rid of all the white curl grubs, I have at least 10 grubs in every square foot of soil,
I can't use neem oil cause its only for botanical gardens and I have a veggie garden. what do you recommend
and why do I have so many and my cousin who lives close by doesn't have any. Thanks
I want to use cover crops (especially tillage radishes) but the compaction is so bad in the area I'm working I wonder if I can even get the cover crops to germinate. Probably will need to till to start and add some organic matter to start cover crops. Any suggestions? I'm on heavily compacted Gravelly loam.
What about horse radish? Incasive i know
Radishes are not just for salads
Gabe Brown from North Dakota was a traditional farmer that went to a no till system and has many videos on regenerative farming, he is amazing.
Awesome video, thanks for sharing this information! Quick question though, you said “we’re not going to let the radish sit there and rot”. Why not? Wouldn’t that provide a whole host of nutrients and make available more minerals to other plants to succeed them? Couldn’t that be a great soil building technique? It may not be economically feasible for the commercial farmer but what about smaller productions or homesteaders?
Is it legitimate to leave the radishes in the ground?
I thought you were suppose to let the radish stay in ground then in spring you add your Amendments to the holes. Either would work I guess
Never had as much trouble gardening till i bought my Acreage. high silt content which is like flour. when it rains it turns to cement and sheds water. You can dig down after a major rain event and its only wet in the top couple inches.. Some plants do ok the others you can tell they are in distress. tried plucking a carrot and snapped it off below the surface. Any suggestions to fix this?
My kid eats them raw so I better get growing some more
LOVE Whatever works, but my thought about it is; Time is of the Essence!
There is a video on youtube using sunflower. The tap root hits the compaction and goes sideways leaving a really weird root system.
what about where there are tons of huge and small rocks mixed in the dirt?
Plant Daikon near your deer stand…they live daikon!
I purchased my property about two years ago (Northern California). Currently in the planting phase of my backyard renovation project. I have an area on the north side of my property that is very very difficult to dig. It's approx 18×4.5 meters (60×15') seems like severe compaction that starts 0.15 – .30 meters (1/2-1') deep. Wondering if I should plant these or try to manually break it up. This area is raised above the rest of the yard. I'm guessing someone brought in some plain ol clay top soil and someone later put rocks over the top of that (same size rocks are everywhere). Interested to know your thoughts.
Hi! I wonder if you could weigh-in on a school garden issue we're having. Our established garden was torn out to make way for a new school. The brand new garden space was given over to us last year and we're supposed to plant trees, vines, berries, and a grassy area under a shade sail very soon. The area is definitely compacted from the construction equipment. It is a whole new spot so the ground isn't what I'd refer to as soil quite yet.
Would you go ahead and plant everything? Volunteers are keen to get going. Or would you plant some radishes and maybe rye for a season. Maybe make bread as a community this year to improve the long term success of our garden.
I'm starting with a very compacted back yard with high clay content. Do I need to invest in a bunch of topsoil to plant into for the early life of these plants? I need a pickaxe just to break up my soil for planting.