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JackE · October 17, 2011

We've been doing some experimentation today with burying the tape directly beneath the crop row in order to facilitate cultivation/weed control. A review of the literature indicates that subsurface placement in-row, with the depth determined by soil conditions and the crop itself, is widely practiced.

First we made sure we had a perfectly flat and clean seed bed. We then ran a string between stakes at each end of the 100' row and carefully drew a line with the hoe handle directly under the string for guidance, removed the string and made a 4" furrow with a narrow blade on the wheel hoe. We then layed the tape flat and straight in the furrow with each end lined-up with the stakes, and covered it by hand with a hoe. We ran the string again to make sure we were directly over the tape, made another line in the soil to guide the front wheel on the Earthway planter, and planted the row with turnip greens.

We'll water this row by hand until the seed germinates. If we didn't mess-up, the seedling line should be precisely over the tape and hopefully we can cultivate with the tiller as usual without hitting the tape. We had a long discussion over whether to bury the tape at 2" or 4". I wanted to bury it at 4" and, since I'm the boss, that's what we did.

The chief climatologist at TX A&M says that this drought will last for several years - that another La Nin~a is already forming in the Pacific, which assures a repeat of this horrible year!

There was a bad drought here in the late fifties and he says that present oceanic patterns are almost indentical to that time with, he added, considerably higher carbon content in the atmosphere (read: global warming) which is an aggravating factor.

Jack

October 17, 2011	#56
JackE Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Woodville, Texas Posts: 520	We've been doing some experimentation today with burying the tape directly beneath the crop row in order to facilitate cultivation/weed control. A review of the literature indicates that subsurface placement in-row, with the depth determined by soil conditions and the crop itself, is widely practiced. First we made sure we had a perfectly flat and clean seed bed. We then ran a string between stakes at each end of the 100' row and carefully drew a line with the hoe handle directly under the string for guidance, removed the string and made a 4" furrow with a narrow blade on the wheel hoe. We then layed the tape flat and straight in the furrow with each end lined-up with the stakes, and covered it by hand with a hoe. We ran the string again to make sure we were directly over the tape, made another line in the soil to guide the front wheel on the Earthway planter, and planted the row with turnip greens. We'll water this row by hand until the seed germinates. If we didn't mess-up, the seedling line should be precisely over the tape and hopefully we can cultivate with the tiller as usual without hitting the tape. We had a long discussion over whether to bury the tape at 2" or 4". I wanted to bury it at 4" and, since I'm the boss, that's what we did. The chief climatologist at TX A&M says that this drought will last for several years - that another La Nin~a is already forming in the Pacific, which assures a repeat of this horrible year! There was a bad drought here in the late fifties and he says that present oceanic patterns are almost indentical to that time with, he added, considerably higher carbon content in the atmosphere (read: global warming) which is an aggravating factor. Jack Last edited by JackE; October 17, 2011 at 08:05 PM.