Vertical Composting

[On Horseback]

http://docs.lib.purdue.edu/cgi/viewc...&context=agext

Whatever became of this idea? Blowing crop trash into the channel made by a subsoil chiseler to increase water retention. Why not?

[Bearfootfarm]

It's not really practical without specialized equipment, and it puts most of the nutrients too deep for many crops.

They did that paper in 1959, and if it had been a good idea someone would likely have implemented it on a large scale by now

They noted at the end of the paper it didn't really increase crop yields much if at all, and modern harvesting doesn't leave much residue that a mulcher could easily pick up

[fishhead]

It looks like something that should be studied further as our climate dries out in many areas. Get the water down and into storage instead of letting it run off or evaporate. After it breaks down that organic matter makes a good place to store nutrients too.

We need to develop and implement soil water storage strategies ASAP.

[DEKE01]

This is sort of a trench version of hugelkulture. It is what I did on 2.5 acres of deep sandy soil, burying a few hundred tons of wood chips, sludge, charcoal, and stumps. Depending on how deep the hole was to pull a stump, the organic material is 3 to 12 feet below the surface. I don't have a hardpan to break up, but there is sandy clay in that same 3 - 12 feet. The sandy clay got stirred up to the surface and throughout the added organics.

After a couple of years and only about a 1/3rd of the orchard planted, it is too early to say if my efforts really were worth it. It does appear to have helped with water retention because the trees in the orchard have done significantly better than the ones planted elsewhere on the farm and that had only compost and wood chip mulching for soil improvement and water retention.

Since this brief paper doesn't say how long it was studied, I don't think it is fair to draw significant conclusions about the success or failure. The 1960s were a time when Big Ag was still getting all sorts of relatively cheap miracle chemicals to improve yields in the same year. So I can see how a long term soil improvement project would would be way less sexy. But I'll bet anyone who tried it and stuck with it loved the deep topsoil they developed over the next several years.

[fishhead]

In some ways it mimics the formation of prairie soils where deep rooted plants add carbon deep in the soil by their annual root system pruning.

I could see where a person could add organic matter to the furrows created by deep plowing.

When I get my retirement property I plan on putting 2' of wood chips on the garden area and then raising a crop or 2 of chickens on the chips. I'll also put other forms of nitrogen on the chips if I can find some local sources. That should put a lot of nutrient rich organic matter into the soil in just a couple of years.

[COWS]

Fishhead's idea sounds good to me.

My understanding is that it take a couple of years for compost to decay into nutrients that the plant can make use of. Correct me if I'm wrong. The material IMO would be immediately available for water retention and improving the structure of the soil.

COWS

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I think few things came about

carbon stopped being a waste product

we do chisels in manure and treated sewage into the ground

no till became an option if you can avoid tilling you don't loose the soil and the worms will break down root structure and your soil will get better

cover crops became more common

tillage radish is also becoming a popular cover crop that sends long roots deep to break up packed soil

fuel costs need to be considered more now than before