Quote:
Originally Posted by Cole_Robbie
I may have overdone it a little on transporting too many pill bugs. One plant site out of my 77 in the high tunnel keeps getting eaten. It's on plant #3 at the moment. Several of my other plants have chewed-on stems.
But overall, everything looks great. The high tunnel plants are taking off and have begun to flower. When I pull weeds from around the edges of the black plastic, ants and pill bugs erupt out of the ground. I know I have a lot of earthworms and grub worms as well. My beds are a colony of life.
By contrast, I also planted some tilled ground in a couple rows a family member let me use in their garden. I never saw a single worm, or really any living thing in the soil at all. I don't expect the tomatoes there to taste very good; I just want them for seed.
I had a few outdoor plants eaten by a rabbit. When I replanted those sites, I eventually stopped carrying my little hand shovel that I usually plant with. I don't need it, because my hand easily slides a foot deep into the soil to set a new plant.
I'm convinced that these will be the best-tasting tomatoes that I have ever grown.
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Congratulations! Wish you the best Robbie.
I found that to be the case myself.
Once you go no till you never go back!
But that doesn't mean there are no nuances here and there. Like you said there is a whole teaming colony of life. Not all that life is beneficial, but most is. You still get some pest damages, but seldom a whole crop. I also lose a few plants here and there. The ones that make it though, WOW.
And the soil simply is incredible. No wonder there is no need to till. With all that teaming life, the soil for sure gets plenty churned up by worms and such.