what can you do to keep soil fertile?
Image by agrilifetoday
A modified grain drill is used to plant wheat or rye as a cover crop into standing cotton. The cover crop planted in the fall will help tender cotton plants survive harsh spring winds. (Texas A&M AgriLife photo by Dr. Todd Baughman)
Question by : what can you do to keep soil fertile?
If you have an abundance of crops one year and the soil is less fertile, what can you do to make it fertile? (please suggest something other than worms, no-till plowing, crop rotation, compost, greenhouse, and crop cover.)
Can you help? Leave your own answer in the comments!
5 Responses to what can you do to keep soil fertile?
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each year I test my soil that is the only true way that i know sorry good luck
Henry H
December 24, 2011 at 4:14 pm
the only other suggestion is to pay for expensive chemicals , such as phosphates, potash etc. but after a while the soil will be weakened , the worms which drag the compost down into the ground at night are soon poisoned.
look up the history of kansas , after years of chemicals the topsoil was blown away.
steinbeck’s book the ‘grapes of wrath.’ was based on that area during the depression, the farmers could not grow their crops.
so start a compost and feed the, soil not the plants
robert C
December 24, 2011 at 4:31 pm
lime
David
December 24, 2011 at 4:49 pm
You’ve basically depleted your good options. It takes work to bring about health in any situation; yours or the earth you walk on. Keeping infers maintenance, maintenance again requires investment of time and sweat. You get nothing for nothing.
ez a
December 24, 2011 at 5:47 pm
fertilize it…that simple
the best thing to do would be to get it sampled so you can determine exactly how much of what you need so that you don’t end up over fertilizing which can lead to toxicity and binding of other nutrients…and it doesn’t weaken the soil as another said.
soiltx
December 24, 2011 at 6:34 pm