I know the soil in my 2 acre field is heavily compacted. I can't even get a pitchfork into it, let alone a shovel. I had to use the backhoe to dig out a 10 x 3 ft plot two years ago. Haven't had time to do anything else to the field, as we are building a home first. The soil hasn't been worked in years, and it grows a heavy crop of canary grass every year. We just mow it twice a season when it's knee high and leave it on the ground to rot and, hopefully, keep the minerals in the field. We have a very light subcompact tractor to try and keep the compaction down. All the farmers around here take a crop of hay off their fields every year, but never put anything back. You can tell the soil nutrients are getting poorer each year by the weeds that are growing - even the weeds look poorly. I don't want to do that. I'm hoping your channel will give me some ideas on how to help this field without heavy plowing to break up the 6" compacted layer. I ran a single blade ripper shank through the lower half of the field two years ago in the fall to try to increase water penetration in the Spring. The rows were a tractor width apart, so it wasn't a big effort, yet it seems to have helped with drainage. We get a lot of rain. The field is pretty soggy for a few days, but eventually it drains. Point me to the videos that you think will help. The compaction and old furrows are the first thing I want to deal with.
@@bestnews4you You're on the right path... If you have rough surface with ruts & furrows it's going to require high disturbance "surgery" to fix (tillage or earth moving); otherwise just keep doing what you are! If the ripping helps, set up a schedule for a portion each year. Try to add some clovers or other legumes appropriate for your location. Pull some soil samples for soil test analysis before adding any fertilizers or composts so that you add nutrients that are low rather adding more to plenty... (I grew up on farms, BS in Agriculture, & 45 year diversified farming career for credentials - sometimes it's nice to know who's advice is offered)
You can determine biological vs chemical energy very easily. wait till the following day after a rain. If the EC goes up, it's biological energy. If the EC goes down, it's chemical energy.
For sure you need to measure CO2 concentrations during that time. The reason why soil moisture goes up, EC would be decreased on good soil condition naturally without microbes' activities.
@@fogtracer nothing you said makes any sense. EC would not decrease on good soil after a rain. It would decrease on soil in conventional fields after a rain. Not sure what you mean by good soil without microbes.
How does the EC meter compare to C.E.C. or TEC, or MEC (from logan labs). I use peat based potting media (commonly called soil-less media). There is some confusion as to what CEC means in a soil-less media. Does the humus (from worm castings) or rock dust or rock phosphate that I add have any exchange capacity? Are there colloids? Or does everything I add go directly into a soil solution. Not exactly sure what base saturation % means without colloids. It is really just telling me a total of everything in the soil, isn't it?
Terms describing soil, like CEC, is basically meaningless in soilless production. Probably need to analyze for ppm in solution? I know farms, not pots....
@@davidkottman3440 I’ve been using Logan Labs for soil-less peat based media. I do a “standard” M-3 test and a saturated paste test. The saturated paste test is a slurry test. It tests for what falls into solution when the media is “drenched” with irrigation water. The saturated paste shows “soluble salts” in ppm and the M-3 text shows “EC.” I don’t pay any attention to “Exchange Capacity.”
EC is dependent on ions' electrical conductivities. Every ions has electrical resistance. Electrical conductivity is related to this resistance. If electrical resistance is bigger, the current goes through the electrical cables with small amount. It is adapted to soil as an EC. If the nutrients are much much more, EC figures are bigger and bigger. Growers understand that big figure of EC is that lots of nutrients in soil.
CEC stands for cation exchange capacity. It means how much soil can grab the cations on the surface of soil. The difference between EC and CEC is how much nutrients exist in soil that is EC how much nutrients plants can absorb or spend is CEC. if the CEC is limited, the plants can not take them even though EC is high. You might waste your money.
@@derekschraefel1941 for years every organic field read around .5-.7 and every conventional field read .9-1.1+. In 2017, those readings flipped The conventional fields read low and the organic fields read higher.
Fun fact: generally speaking, when the settlers discovered this country, we had up to 12 FEET of good topsoil. Now we barely have a scant few inches. CO2 + H2O = Carbonic Acid (also called acid rain). It can acidify your soil. It can also eat away the mortar holding your bricks together. Heavy clay soil is hard to aerate. Tilling in organic matter helps. So can using pelletized gypsum. Hmm 12v car battery, jumper cables, and two copper pipes should do it, right? I make my own leaf mold/leaf compost for use with my plants. Some plants are dynamic accumulators (dandelions, comfrey, TREES, etc).
Most soils NEVER had 12 feet of topsoil! You need to consult some soils textbooks. Many places have degraded in depth & quality, but no need to exaggerate to the ridiculous.
@@davidkottman3440 Define most? Also, did they do soil analysis back then or is that a recent development? Farming is what ruined most of the topsoil. Midwestern States have lost 57 billion tons of topsoil due to farming (mostly). Bluff hills bordering MS Delta on east side are silt loam often 100+ feet Even if they were off by a factor of ten, it is close enough to what I posted. Most places have a scant few inches. Other places 12". Still other places 3-5 feet. All depends on where the soil is.
In the study of soils, topsoil means a distinct organic rich area near the surface, and sometimes it can be a metre or so thick & deeper in unique situations. What you describe is total soil depth, and in the loess river hills it can indeed be 100 feet or more deep. When you say "farming" is responsible, it's specifically the practice of excessive clean tillage that leaves soil exposed to erosion & oxidizes the organic matter. So I'm not arguing that degradation hasn't occurred, but "12' to a few inches" is not reasonable or accurate. The actual situation is extremely variable both within a field & across the nation. Places that have been extensively tilled for a couple of centuries probably have 25-30% of what they started with & better managed regions maybe 50-60%. Parts of Europe that have been farmed many centuries have soils that barely show their original vegetation & conditions.
@@crazysquirrel9425 We studied soils in pits in the river bluffs of the Missouri River, when I was in University soils class. The "Menfro" soil were studying had almost no root restricting layers many many feet deep, but still the "A" & "B" horizons aka as topsoil are only a couple of feet deep in an area that was selected to be representative of the original condition.
@@davidkottman3440 Erosion by natural forces can easily deposit 12 feet of topsoil. Depends on the situation and location. The estimates were from an era where the science has not been established yet.
incredibly helpful video, thank you so much for content like this!
Growing healthy soil is the answer.
I know the soil in my 2 acre field is heavily compacted. I can't even get a pitchfork into it, let alone a shovel. I had to use the backhoe to dig out a 10 x 3 ft plot two years ago. Haven't had time to do anything else to the field, as we are building a home first. The soil hasn't been worked in years, and it grows a heavy crop of canary grass every year. We just mow it twice a season when it's knee high and leave it on the ground to rot and, hopefully, keep the minerals in the field. We have a very light subcompact tractor to try and keep the compaction down. All the farmers around here take a crop of hay off their fields every year, but never put anything back. You can tell the soil nutrients are getting poorer each year by the weeds that are growing - even the weeds look poorly. I don't want to do that. I'm hoping your channel will give me some ideas on how to help this field without heavy plowing to break up the 6" compacted layer. I ran a single blade ripper shank through the lower half of the field two years ago in the fall to try to increase water penetration in the Spring. The rows were a tractor width apart, so it wasn't a big effort, yet it seems to have helped with drainage. We get a lot of rain. The field is pretty soggy for a few days, but eventually it drains. Point me to the videos that you think will help. The compaction and old furrows are the first thing I want to deal with.
@@bestnews4you You're on the right path... If you have rough surface with ruts & furrows it's going to require high disturbance "surgery" to fix (tillage or earth moving); otherwise just keep doing what you are! If the ripping helps, set up a schedule for a portion each year. Try to add some clovers or other legumes appropriate for your location. Pull some soil samples for soil test analysis before adding any fertilizers or composts so that you add nutrients that are low rather adding more to plenty... (I grew up on farms, BS in Agriculture, & 45 year diversified farming career for credentials - sometimes it's nice to know who's advice is offered)
You can determine biological vs chemical energy very easily. wait till the following day after a rain. If the EC goes up, it's biological energy. If the EC goes down, it's chemical energy.
For sure you need to measure CO2 concentrations during that time. The reason why soil moisture goes up, EC would be decreased on good soil condition naturally without microbes' activities.
@@fogtracer nothing you said makes any sense. EC would not decrease on good soil after a rain. It would decrease on soil in conventional fields after a rain. Not sure what you mean by good soil without microbes.
How does the EC meter compare to C.E.C. or TEC, or MEC (from logan labs). I use peat based potting media (commonly called soil-less media). There is some confusion as to what CEC means in a soil-less media. Does the humus (from worm castings) or rock dust or rock phosphate that I add have any exchange capacity? Are there colloids? Or does everything I add go directly into a soil solution. Not exactly sure what base saturation % means without colloids. It is really just telling me a total of everything in the soil, isn't it?
i hope you got this answered!
Terms describing soil, like CEC, is basically meaningless in soilless production. Probably need to analyze for ppm in solution? I know farms, not pots....
@@davidkottman3440 I’ve been using Logan Labs for soil-less peat based media. I do a “standard” M-3 test and a saturated paste test. The saturated paste test is a slurry test. It tests for what falls into solution when the media is “drenched” with irrigation water. The saturated paste shows “soluble salts” in ppm and the M-3 text shows “EC.” I don’t pay any attention to “Exchange Capacity.”
EC is dependent on ions' electrical conductivities. Every ions has electrical resistance. Electrical conductivity is related to this resistance. If electrical resistance is bigger, the current goes through the electrical cables with small amount. It is adapted to soil as an EC. If the nutrients are much much more, EC figures are bigger and bigger. Growers understand that big figure of EC is that lots of nutrients in soil.
CEC stands for cation exchange capacity. It means how much soil can grab the cations on the surface of soil. The difference between EC and CEC is
how much nutrients exist in soil that is EC
how much nutrients plants can absorb or spend is CEC.
if the CEC is limited, the plants can not take them even though EC is high. You might waste your money.
Has anyone using the EC meter for the past 10 years noticed the energy flip in the soil?
Explain
@@derekschraefel1941 for years every organic field read around .5-.7 and every conventional field read .9-1.1+. In 2017, those readings flipped The conventional fields read low and the organic fields read higher.
Thank you!
JADAM Microbial Solution
What is the optimal ec
Fun fact: generally speaking, when the settlers discovered this country, we had up to 12 FEET of good topsoil.
Now we barely have a scant few inches.
CO2 + H2O = Carbonic Acid (also called acid rain). It can acidify your soil. It can also eat away the mortar holding your bricks together.
Heavy clay soil is hard to aerate. Tilling in organic matter helps. So can using pelletized gypsum.
Hmm 12v car battery, jumper cables, and two copper pipes should do it, right?
I make my own leaf mold/leaf compost for use with my plants.
Some plants are dynamic accumulators (dandelions, comfrey, TREES, etc).
Most soils NEVER had 12 feet of topsoil! You need to consult some soils textbooks. Many places have degraded in depth & quality, but no need to exaggerate to the ridiculous.
@@davidkottman3440 Define most?
Also, did they do soil analysis back then or is that a recent development?
Farming is what ruined most of the topsoil.
Midwestern States have lost 57 billion tons of topsoil due to farming (mostly).
Bluff hills bordering MS Delta on east side are silt loam often 100+ feet
Even if they were off by a factor of ten, it is close enough to what I posted.
Most places have a scant few inches. Other places 12". Still other places 3-5 feet.
All depends on where the soil is.
In the study of soils, topsoil means a distinct organic rich area near the surface, and sometimes it can be a metre or so thick & deeper in unique situations. What you describe is total soil depth, and in the loess river hills it can indeed be 100 feet or more deep. When you say "farming" is responsible, it's specifically the practice of excessive clean tillage that leaves soil exposed to erosion & oxidizes the organic matter. So I'm not arguing that degradation hasn't occurred, but "12' to a few inches" is not reasonable or accurate. The actual situation is extremely variable both within a field & across the nation. Places that have been extensively tilled for a couple of centuries probably have 25-30% of what they started with & better managed regions maybe 50-60%. Parts of Europe that have been farmed many centuries have soils that barely show their original vegetation & conditions.
@@crazysquirrel9425 We studied soils in pits in the river bluffs of the Missouri River, when I was in University soils class. The "Menfro" soil were studying had almost no root restricting layers many many feet deep, but still the "A" & "B" horizons aka as topsoil are only a couple of feet deep in an area that was selected to be representative of the original condition.
@@davidkottman3440 Erosion by natural forces can easily deposit 12 feet of topsoil.
Depends on the situation and location.
The estimates were from an era where the science has not been established yet.
Spectacular spelling mistake.