I do find it interesting sometimes that with some breaking the ground is of the devil but we dont talk about all the poison we are spraying everywhere and on that soil. For the record, i dont till any soil currently and use a sprayer. Im still trying to figure out where i am with all of it but i will say I certainly dont like the spraying either. I‘m sorry but when im out there with protection on and a respirator spraying and it smells like death after im done no one is going to convince me that’s the greatest thing to be doing either. I dont have the answers and certainly not going to fault someone for tilling if they feel thats the best way to do things at there place.
You are absolutely right! There is a big downside to deep tillage as we destroy the natural soil microbiology and reduce nutrient cycling. On the upside, weeds are turned upside down and you can grow stuff without herbicides. There are risks and rewards both ways. Highly fertile soils seem to be able to tolerate tillage much better than the marginal soils most of us are using for food plots. The most fertile soil is usually farmed as it is more economically viable than trying to farm on marginal soils. That is why most of us who own land for deer hunting and recreational use don't have the best soils.
I find that the less I bend nature to benefit deer or other specific species, the more benefit I get for less time and money. The more I try to bend it, the less the marginal benefit and higher the cost. For most of us who are managing for deer, I think the balance favors no-till methods judiciously using herbicides. As I have evolved in deer management, I've significantly reduced both tillage and herbicide use. What is a weed to a farmer may well be more nutritious to deer than the crop we plant. So, weed tolerance has worked its way into my process.
I find that clover is the anchor of my deer program. I no longer want a clover field that looks like a clean farm crop. I no longer spray grass selective herbicides. I burn down a field, use a WR nurse crop, and use best practices to establish a clean field of clover. After it is established, I just tolerate weeds. In the summer you wouldn't even know it was a clover field from a distance, but after I mow in the fall just as evenings are cooling off and fall rains start, the clover that was under the weeds all along, dominates the field again. Eventually, grasses and other weeds will become dominate even after a fall mowing, but by then the field is 7 to 10 years old and it is time to rotate into an N-seeking crop.
The other thing I've found is that there are plenty of crops we can plant that benefit deer that are tolerant of poor fertility and low pH. They also seem to compete better with weeds. Why? Because the weeds that are growing in your area are the ones that are well adapted to the soil and climate. By choosing deer crops that have similar characteristics, I'm bending nature less and still covering our summer stress period.
While I'm generally an advocate of no-till/min-till for food plots, there is no one answer that is a fit for every situation.
Thanks,
Jack
