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Iowa

I am wondering how most of you work in all the organic material you put on. I have chisel plowed or disced mine in the past, leaving most of the residue and manure near the surface, but now I bought a moboard plow. And of course this will cut and completely turn the soil over leaving virgin soil on the top and all of your organic matterial at 6 to 8 inches deep. This makes me think I'll need to add more manure after it is plowed to provide the pumpkins more nutrients until the roots get down to 6 to 8 inches. And pumpkin roots are fairly shallow, right? I'm just wondering what other growers think?
Thanks,
Ralph

11/12/2003 11:13:18 PM

Kuna, Id.

Ralph,
I put down so much compost last yr. when I tried to till all I did was till compost. So I turned the soil with a plow leaving compost buried about 4" under new soil. We broke the ground down to around 2'. BIG mistake for me as I turned up so much unwanted stuff I about crapped. My salts went from .53 to 2.20 along with all other kinds of odd things. All plants also died this yr from soil pathogens. I don't know if this is was what caused them but will never turn soil that deep again. I'm sure others will jump in and help ya out as well. Also having soil test done in spring and fall helps let you know what to till in with your compost. As far as root depth I have wondered that myself my mains have gone down as far as 18" and tap roots to 12". But plants have never made it to full size in last 2 yrs so I'm not for sure how deep they will go. Once again someone with more knowledge will chime in and help ya. Good Luck
Ken

11/13/2003 1:09:50 AM

Cornwall UK.(50N 5W)300ft.

One way of doing it is to put on a couple of inches of manure or whatever plough it in then put another couple of inches on top and plough back the other way a little bit deeper than the first time then you get soil/manure/soil/manure/soil layers.

11/13/2003 3:10:23 AM

Itzetown City

I would loosen the earth for better rootbuilding as deep as possible. I make that deep for two spades. But I leave the under layer there where he is. I train manure and compost however only up to a depth of a spade, since the Microorgenismen works best in this upper layer. The nutrients will go automaticly deeper to deeper layer by washing out of rain and watering.

11/13/2003 3:55:59 AM

Menomonie, WI (mail@gr8pumpkin.net)

Your soil test will drasctically change with a deep moldboard plowing. Although it does do an outstanding job of turning leaves and manure in.

11/13/2003 8:45:49 AM

Tipp City, Ohio

I am thinking about having my neighbor(farmer) to use his sub soiler to break the souil up then I will go over it with a 6 foot tiller. The tiller I have does a really nice job of mixing the added material in. Apply a few inches at a time when doing this otherwise, as mentioned before, you will just be tilling the organic material.
Tom

11/13/2003 10:18:22 AM

Montoursville, PA

Tom and everyone else..........Excellent tilling advise. You try to burry or mix a whole bunch it is definately the pits.

11/13/2003 11:10:47 AM

shannon loves plowing with april's lawn tractor, so i make him come over to my house and slave away on my patch too.

plow definitely though...and till too......work it baby work it!

11/13/2003 2:00:23 PM

Iowa

Thanks everyone. I'm going to try plowing in most of the manure I'm going to add. Then probably add the rest on top and then chiesel plow it to mix it all together. It's always good to get your primary tillage done in the fall because the freezing and thawing will take out compaction and mellow the ground for you in the spring. Then I only till it once and I'm back in race for a 1000lber!
Thanks Again
Ralph

11/13/2003 11:22:40 PM