[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by COMPOSTER

I'm a huge propenent of buiding soil organic matter through composting and mulching. I'm enthusiastic but sceptical about no till. I think that most of us will have a difficult time sufficiently building organic matter in annualy planted garden beds without some form of tilling/cultivating. I believe that composted animal manures with straw or wood shaving bedding worked into the top 2 or 3 inches of soil is an excellent way to build organic matter. It does act act as a fertilizer but the materials that are higher in lignans should increase the organic matter.

It is OK to be skeptical COMPOSTER. Just remember what you said though.

Getting 4-6% organic matter in a perpetually used garden is not as easy as it sounds. A 1/2 inch of compost may maintain organic matter but it might not build it at all. Organic matter is constantly being used up and needs to be replenished at a pretty substantial rate to stay in that 4-6% range.

The prairies had 10% and more meters deep back when they first were plowed, especially the former tall grass prairies. This is a result of a different mechanism than the short term carbon cycle found in the top 2-3 inches of soil which your mulches and manures are promoting, but having difficulty maintaining. A growing plant in symbiosis with beneficial bacteria and fungi sends as much as 20% or more of it's total products of photosynthesis to the roots to feed that deep carbon cycle. The key is to restore the functionality of that deep cycle, because decades ago when the land was first cleared, that cycle was broken.