{"id":13840,"date":"2025-03-21T02:33:25","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lovenfreshflowers.com\/?p=13840"},"modified":"2025-03-21T02:33:26","modified_gmt":"2025-03-21T02:33:26","slug":"no-till-farming-lessons-learned-with-deep-mulch-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lovenfreshflowers.com\/no-till-farming-lessons-learned-with-deep-mulch-system\/","title":{"rendered":"No-Till Farming: Lessons Learned with Deep Mulch System"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No-Till<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a follow up to my last post, No-Till Flowers Farming: The First Step to Regenerative Flower Farming<\/a>, here are some practical lessons on no-till farming, be it flowers or other crops.  Important to note is that we use the “deep mulch system” here at Love ‘n Fresh Flowers<\/a>, which is a scaled-up version of lasagna gardening.  There have been many bumps along the way in my experience with no-till farming, which you’ll read about some below, but it\u2019s been so very worth it!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No-Till Farming Lessons Learned (so far):<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 1: <\/strong> A deep mulch system may conserve water ultimately, but it\u2019s critical to regularly irrigate newly planted transplants!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned this one the hard way and lost a lot of transplants in 2019.  We use a lovely screened and aged compost to mulch our beds and had been putting about 4\u201d of compost on top of each bed before transplanting (our transplants are grown in 128 trays).  The roots of the transplants were therefore mostly surrounded by compost and only just touching the soil below.  We did make sure to get the roots down to the soil surface at least, but that wasn’t enough. Compost is very prone to drying out and can actually become quickly hydrophobic.  Therefore, the transplants would dry out to the point of desiccation and would not recover if they didn’t get water daily during the first two weeks while they were getting their roots established down below.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution to this problem was to first, realize what the problem was and acknowledge that a deep mulch system does not mean you don\u2019t have to water. It actually means we have to water more often when beds are newly planted! Lesson learned.  After realizing the problem, I also reduced the layer of compost to be only about 2\u201d thick so more of the transplant root ball could get into the soil itself at planting time.  And instead of the three lines of drip tape on each planting bed that was previously the standard at my farm, we now lay five lines of drip tape.  Since we plant five rows per bed (our beds are 36\u201d wide and rows within the beds are 6\u201d apart), that means there\u2019s a dedicated drip line for each row of transplants.  This may seem like a lot of extra work and materials, but we offset that by using the drip tape as our guide for planting rather than running twine as guidelines (which we used to do) and the tape remains in place all season long (since no tilling happens) so we only have to do this once each spring.  The resulting transplant vigor is well-worth the extra investment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also been experimenting with overhead watering (sprinkler system), which I have always avoided as a flower farmer since conventional flower farmer wisdom says to never let moisture get onto flower petals.  While that rule of thumb is still very much true, I find overhead irrigation is much better for transplant health as it keeps the compost on the beds more evenly moist (and therefore also more biologically active).  The hope is that by getting the plants established with overhead irrigation initially, no more irrigating will be needed once they develop enough canopy of leaves to shade the soil in the bed, at which point the tenant that a no-till deep mulch system conserves water would truly come into play.  So far this is looking likely, but I haven\u2019t followed this approach for an entire season yet so can\u2019t say for certain that it will hold true throughout a hot summer.  If it does, then I will skip putting down drip tape in future seasons and rely instead only on overhead irrigation until the crop sets buds, at which point all irrigation will cease so as not to damage the flower petals.  I have been trying to reduce plastic use around the farm, at least plastic that can’t be used for many seasons before being tossed.  Getting rid of drip tape would go a long way towards that goal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 2:  Definitely put drip tape on top of the compost (not under) and as close to the young transplants as possible. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally, we were placing the drip tape under the compost, thinking that would help the moisture get down to the soil better.  But then we damaged the tape a lot when planting, slicing into it with trowels\/soil knives.  And, hearkening back to Lesson 1, it meant that the compost itself did not get moistened during irrigation, which meant it really became hydrophobic.  Not only did young transplants dry out and die as a result, but also whenever it rained, the water would just sheet off of the compost instead of infiltrating it.  By having the irrigation lines on top of the compost, it means the compost doesn\u2019t get so hydrophobic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with all types of farming, in no-till farming, keeping the irrigation lines as close to the young transplant as possible also means they truly get water right at the roots and irrigating can happen over a shorter period of time, thus conserving water.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No-Till<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 3:  Up the planting density!!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wow!  This may be the biggest eye-opener I\u2019ve had with no-till farming.  I used to plant most of our annual crops (i.e., zinnias, cosmos, etc.) at 9\u201d to 12\u201d spacing.  That was recommended by the seed suppliers and all the reference books.  But that left a lot of bare soil for the weeds to grow up between the transplants.  Even when the zinnias got big, lots of sunlight was able to filter down into the soil, and weeds were still able to grow.  The soil also tended to dry out a lot because it was far more exposed to the sun\u2019s rays. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No-till<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In doing research as I started down the path of no-till farming, I listened to the some no-till farming and regenerative farming podcasts that talked about planting density and how that could really be something more nuanced in a no-till farming system.  Nature really hates bare soil.  That\u2019s why weeds grow!!  Anywhere we, as farmers and gardeners, do not plant, Nature is going to plant something for us in the form of a \u201cweed\u201d.   The reason for that lies in the symbiotic relation between plant roots and the soil web of life.  Photosynthesis in plants creates sugar exudates which the plants use to barter with the fungi in the soil for nutrients or  water the plants can not access themselves.  The fungi (and many other organisms) depend on the plant\u2019s exudates (as well as the decaying root sheaths naturally shed as plants grow) for food.  It\u2019s a win-win relationship that is fundamental to the functionality of our planet.  Thus, Nature is motivated to keep as many living roots in the soil as possible at all times.  Weeds are not \u201cweeds\u201d, but rather critical cafeterias for soil life.  If you don’t want what Nature plants (“weeds”), then you need to plant more of what you do want!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With that powerful bit of knowledge now in my brain, I\u2019ve been experimenting with closer and closer planting density since my soil is becoming so much more robust without tillage.  Many of our annual flowering crops at the farm are now planted at 4\u201d spacing!   At this density, the ground is quickly shaded, which reduces the number of weeds tremendously and the soil stays much more moist once the canopy is established.  And since the soil is being fed by so many living roots<\/em>, the crops planted at greater density are actually much healthier, sturdier, and more productive!  Yield per square foot has vastly increased.  I had plans to expand the acreage of the farm by another acre in 2020, but am now sitting tight with the 3.25 acres we already have in production since no-till farming means we can put twice as much into the same amount of space as we were. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 4:  Be cautious and thoughtful when using tarps!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tarps, both clear and opaque, are an important tool talked about a lot and frequently used by many in no-till farming.<\/a>  Tarps are used often to terminate cover crops and suppress weeds in a modified version of \u201cstale bedding\u201d.   I\u2019ve struggled with tarps on both a practical level and on a philosophical level when it comes to no-till farming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll start with the philosophical concern.  Given everything I wrote above about soil life and how Nature wants living roots in the soil at all times, tarps are directly counterproductive to all of that.  While many advocates for using tarps in no-till farming will say that the tarps don\u2019t overheat the soil itself and that soil life will survive the time under the tarps, tarpping certainly has to cause serious stress on the soil web since it is robbing it of all sugar exudates from actively photosynthesizing plants.  Most no-till farming practitioners are using impervious tarps to exclude all sunlight from the plants they are trying to kill.  As such, the tarps are also excluding all rainfall from the soil, creating a near-instant desert.  No food and water, even if only for a few weeks, sounds like hell to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As such, I\u2019ve ceased to use tarps except to open up overgrown ground that is covered in large and intensive invasive species such as wild grapevine, multiflora rose, and Aralia spinosa<\/em>.  I use tarps in this instance because the alternatives would be spraying a strong herbicide multiple times and\/or tilling aggressively and repeatedly to weaken those tenacious plants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, instead of using big silage tarps for terminating cover crops or for \u201cpausing\u201d a bed if I\u2019ve screwed up my timing somehow with transplants, I only use black woven landscape fabric, which is porous and allows water through to keep the soil moist.  A notable additional benefit is that the landscape fabric we use is 4\u2019 wide, which makes it very easy to move around (versus the giant heavy tarps).  And, perhaps more importantly, we just cover the rows themselves rather than an entire swatch of the field, which means the soil life gets an emergency exit nearby in the remaining grass covered aisles to get away from the sudden change in their ecosystem.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My goal is to never have the landscape fabric on a given row for more than 10 days.  My goal, surprisingly, is to NOT kill the cover crop under it, but rather just weaken it so that when we mulch over it with cardboard and compost to establish the bed for planting, it won\u2019t have the life force to regrow, but it also wasn\u2019t stone dead and therefore left the soil devoid of a food source for an extended period of time.   Additionally, the living (but slowly decaying because they\u2019ve been greatly weakened) roots of the cover crop will \u201cnurse\u201d the baby transplant that we are planting.  The microorganisms that had bonded with the cover crop roots, since they haven\u2019t been killed by aggressive tarpping, will still be there to \u201cjump ship\u201d to the new transplants, instantly giving them a support network to gather more nutrients and moisture than they would be able to all alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No-till<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 5: Don\u2019t remove the terminated crop\u2019s root system when flipping a bed.  Plant new transplants right next to those old roots. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coupled with that sentiment above, we no longer rip out previous crops before planting new crops.  Instead, we simply cut down the old crop at the base (using hand-snips or a string trimmer depending on the crop), leaving the entire root system in the ground.  This means the soil is not disturbed at all.  Then we plant the new transplant right next to the roots of the old crop.  I\u2019ve observed remarkably better transplant health and growth as a result (little-to-no shock).  And \u2013 bonus! \u2013 bed flipping is so much faster and a less backbreaking effort this way! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 6:  Cover cropping has opened my eyes to the immense benefit of polycultures and intercropping.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve got to do an entire blog post sometime on cover cropping, including which ones we use at the farm and exactly how I\u2019ve come to easily terminate cover crops without any big equipment.  But that\u2019s for another day. For now, I just want to mention that observing how much healthier the soil was after having a diverse mix of cover crops rather than just a singular cover crop (i.e., just winter rye versus winter rye, vetch, cow peas, and clover), I\u2019ve come to really understand the immense benefit of polycultures and intercropping.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been experimenting with intercropping more in the 2020 season, and I\u2019m really loving the results.  One that I can confidently say has worked well since they\u2019ve reach maturity and have been harvested is agrostemma interplanted (direct sown) with snapdragons (transplants).  I\u2019ll be reporting on a few more that I\u2019ve tried once I see how they yield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Intercropping<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019ve taken to direct sowing radish seeds into any beds where the transplants will be slow to put out a canopy of their own.  The crop I trialed this on the most this season was lisianthus, a infamously slow grower.  Intercropping with radishes (which were sown into the bed immediately after the lisianthus were transplanted) has been tremendously effective for reducing weeds in the beds and has also been fun to have a bit of food to harvest.  The radishes aren\u2019t a cash crop for me at all; simply, I want them to create a big root that will then decay and release nutrients back into the soil as well as provide some quick canopy while the lisianthus are slowly puttering along.  I\u2019m using regular red radishes (cheapest bulk organic seed I could find), not tillage radishes, which I think would be too big for intercropping with lisianthus in particular.  When the radishes start to bolt, we cut the leaves off at the base and have just left the radish bulb to rot in the ground.  I\u2019ve never had better-looking lisianthus in my entire farming career and I\u2019m so excited to see them bloom in just a week or two!!!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No-till<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 7:  Most crops like a deep-mulch no-till system.  Some really don\u2019t!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another lesson learned the hard way.  Most of our flower crops thrive in the deep mulch system.  However, a few notably hated it and suffered a lot as a result!  Those were lisianthus, celosia, basil and eucalyptus.  The lisianthus is a bit of a mystery, but the other three make sense now that I thought it through.  They are heat loving crops that want warm soil.  When we created beds for them in 2019 with the deep compost mulch in May, the soil was still cool and the mulch over it meant that it stayed cool for a long time.  These heat lovers hated that and were very stunted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, to avoid this problem, I changed two things.  For beds that would be planted in heat-loving crops, I put black landscape fabric on them for 5 days prior to establishing the bed (before mulching even). The goal was to have the black fabric collect and trap heat to warm up the soil.  Then, immediately after removing the fabric, we put just 1\u201d of compost on the bed (plus the cardboard<\/a>) and planted right away.  The eucalyptus, celosia, lisianthus and basil are doing MUCH better this year as a result! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"No-Till<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lesson 8:  Weeding definitely still needs to happen, but it\u2019s much faster!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there\u2019s this notion that no-till farming means you won\u2019t have weeds.  I\u2019m here to testify that that is decidedly not true.  At least not in the first few seasons!  But what I can<\/em> say is that the process of removing weeds is so much faster!!  A crew of three can now weed over an acre in one afternoon now that we are no-till farming! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I see two reasons for this increase in weeding efficiency:  1) with the dark compost on the bed, we can much more easily see the weeds than we would if the soil was tilled and light brown so we can zip along rather mindlessly.  2) Weeds pull up much<\/em> easier out of the loose compost on top of cardboard than out of our formally very<\/em> compacted clay\/loam dirt. Especially things like crab grass and dandelion! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And while there are still a lot of weeds at the farm, I have noticed a substantial decrease in crab grass, which used to be one of our biggest \u201cbad guys\u201d.  Tilling would chop up crab grass into a million little pieces that could propagate to become new clumps.  Crab grass also loves depleted compacted soils.  So with tilling out the picture and the soil loose and loamy with life, the crab grass is dwindling.  Hooray!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Establishing<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, there you have it:  Eight important observations for anyone starting out on their no-till farming journey.  Please feel free to share some of your own observations here in the Regenerative Flower Farmers Network so we can all learn together!  #NoToLowTillPractices<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a follow up to my last post, No-Till Flowers Farming: The First Step to Regenerative Flower Farming, here are some practical lessons on no-till farming, be it flowers or other crops.  Important to note is that we use the “deep mulch system” here at Love ‘n Fresh Flowers, which is a scaled-up version of lasagna gardening. 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