No Till + No Spray = ???

The last article suggested to us that we tinker around and find ways to improve our ability to better use our resources. I have been “preacher”, so that means I should practice what I preach, right? Well, I have been tinkerin’ a little; with no-till corn.

What does a man do with a very sloping piece of reclaimed coal mine, besides bemoan the fact that it is on the opposite end of the scale of flat, black topsoil? Since Resurrection Acres has had no chemical input for the required three years, I was minded to stay “organic”. My only power equipment is a rear-tine rototiller and a string trimmer. My budget...well, it was not even enough to talk about!

The years I spent in South America reminded me that a man can plant corn on steep—I mean STEEP—hills. I have seen corn planted on hills so precipitous that a man could hardly stand on it. When harvesting, they can simply pluck the ear of corn and let it tumble to the bottom to be picked up later. Which reminds me of the West Virginian that told us, when I was a boy yet, about the mule falling out of the garden and breaking its leg. We Hoosiers thought that was a fine tall tale, until we visited the Mountain State and realized just how factual that could have been!

So this Spring I “tinkered” with my hill. With an old-fashioned corn “jobber” (hand-made in Bolivia!) I planted a few rows of no-till corn. My only “organic” seed on hand was some “Indian corn” and a large-kernel variety that is common in South America for “corn-on-the-cob”.

As well as no-till, I also ran the tiller along the sides of the hill and made some mini-terraces. This I called my “minimum-till”.

Spring has fled away and Summer’s hot days are upon us. The minimum-till corn is head high. The no-till? Well, some tinkerin’ projects are useful to confirm what does not work.

The problem seems to have been a lack of good soil-to-seed contact. The jobber made a hole in the soil and the seeds fell to the bottom. But the firm ground did not permit much soil to fall on top of the seed. Thus it did not sprout until a couple of rains had fallen to make the moisture content rise enough in the seed to signal for germination.

My brainstorm included utilizing the string trimmer to keep the weeds and grass down until the corn could get tall enough to shade the ground. I realized that this herbage would not be totally eliminated and would thus cut back on the harvest size, but the flop side is that it would keep the ground from eroding. This aspect of my plan has functioned as planned. Should I not plant anything on this plot next year, the resident grass would quickly take back over my “mini-terraces” to no harm, and the no-till patch will not even be noticed.

So, no-till + no-spray may equal no-crop! But I tried. I learned what does not work, and I also learned what may work for steep hills: minimum-till.

If any of the readers of this column are “tinkerers”, I would be interested in hearing what you have found that works. And if you are not ashamed to share it, I would like to hear what does not work, so that I will not have to make the same error!