SOIL HEALTH

[Update--12/29/14]----A clarifying point for me:  Compost is a great product to add to our cropland for increasing O.M.  However, it is termed "very dead"meaning that it will not support the biological life in our soils.  It enters our soils as "humus" and supports soil structure and, hence, water holding capacity of the soil.  That's logical when you think about it.  All the energy is burned out in the composting process, making the "dead" into the "very dead".  Interesting terminology for plant and animal material -- living, dead, and very dead.

        "BUILDING SOIL for BETTER CROPS".  One needs to study this as a bible for soil health.  It is the best and most concise publication I have seen in relatively easy to understand language.  This is not a "HOW TO" direct seed book.  It's more basic than that.  Don't get caught up in the details.  Learn the concepts.  An understanding of the interrelationships of the soil fauna and flora will stimulate your thought process for designing a successful management plan to build soil, and reduce commercial fertilizer and pesticide input.  

          It appears evident to me that the first priority for us is to get more diversity, and more biomass on our cropland -- a lot of it.  For those of us that have been direct seeding for several years and have experienced some soil improvement, the time required to improve soil health to the point of sustaining crops will be quicker, than those starting from tilled ground.  

          Dirt is basically dead.   Soil is a live, breathing organism.  For most of our lifetime we have been tilling soil to dirt (death).  We have to have a "thought transplant", before our life sustaining organ (soil) completely stops providing.  As our hilltops and sides lose productivity, we will be left with bottoms, until they are farmed out in another generation or two. To continue down the tillage path means that our crops will eventually be grown with 100% commercial inputs.   Dirt will be for holding the plant upright in place.

           You can download the pdf. file at:   < http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Building+soils+for+better+crops&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 >   (copy and paste the URL, or google "Building Soils for Better Crops"        

       Below is a pic from a soil pit at the Aeschliman farm SW of Colfax, Wa. showing Carbon strings reaching deep (3-4 feet) in the soil profile following what appears to be root channels or worm holes.  To me this is amazing. [The white (washed out) area at the bottom is the surface vegetation of the near bank of the soil pit.]

TALL RESIDUE IN THE COLD & SNOW

[SUMMARY] -- I don't comprehend much of the dynamics surrounding stubble.  The literature is not consistent.  This is what I am observing and will update as time offers more experience.  1--The taller the stubble the slower the air movement along the ground surface.  This is more of a logical observation than measured.  2--The taller the stubble the more snow it will hold in place.  Most of my life I have observed that our fields with standing stubble held snow within 4-6" of the stubble height.  3--Snow melts faster along the stem and base of the stubble compared to row middles.

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 [DETAIL]-- Since the middle of November we have had below normal temperatures and occasionally a lot of wind.  Recently we have received a little snow (≈1-2").  Today, as well as last February I have observed, while walking the fields, that snow has melted away from the stems of the tall stubble where the short stem stubble and the flattened residue is maintaining the snow.

          The pic above is from last February.  This is a thaw event and water is moving slowly along the ground surface.  Notice that the snow is shrinking away from the base of the tall (≈36-40") winter wheat stubble more quickly than from the 10" row middles.   Most of the ground surface has a solid mat of residue.  

        This shows the snow having been swept off the winter wheat crop and redeposited in the tall grass of the CRP strip.  Our crop is obviously not able to utilize the moisture contained in this snow bank.

         The pic above is part of the thaw event of 2/14.  This shows snow relocated following a wind event leaving drifts.  In this case the drift is melting, adding to the fast moving water in the shallow valley.  Even though we have good armor on the field this is causing a rill to develop.  Our crop is also being denied moisture through redeposition and runoff.  Having standing stubble would have helped I'm sure.

         The pic above was taken 12/3/14.  It shows a thin layer of snow (≈1") where there is short stubble in the fore ground and the far background.  The middle area has stripper headed spring barley stubble (≈18"tall).  There is little or no snow left on the ground surface under the taller stubble.

          The pic shows a sample of the middle area in the pic above of the stripper headed barley.  There is very little snow left on the ground surface compared to an area a few feet to the left that had the stubble cut at near ground level.  Is this good or bad?  Is the tall stubble moderating the soil temperature?  Even the blackened (cultivated) fields show more snow retention than the pic above.  I would say that the ground surface shown is warmer than those surfaces of the short stubble, flat residue, or no residue covered fields.  Within this post you can find a contradiction and I can't explain why with more than a guess.