How long before you saw results

So I was wondering how long it took you to see results from going organic or better. Whether you used chemical methods and switched on current property or took over a new one.

My place was left overgrown and overrun with cedar trees. But no chemicals were used for at least 3years. Not sure before that. My “soil” (lol) is mostly rock.

For smaller scale garden I saw almost immediate results because it was small enough to amend with composts and wood chip etc. However this is not a scale I can use in the pastures. This year has been discouraging to say the least but I’ve held strong to stay organic.

So how long did your fields take to really start to shine???

I know this isn't an exact comparison to your situation, but I ran across this thread on dealing with a very rocky situation and building soil and thought it might at least provide a little fodder for thought on what is a large scale time intensive project: https://permies.com/t/137246/Creating-soil-isn-transforming-pile

Yes that is very similar. And I have done several raised beds, a dug out hugel and some stuff in the ground covered in wood chips and made plenty of progress there in the yard / garden. But 17acres of fields adding chips and such is not financially possible.

I had cows but had to sell due to a bad car wreck I’m still fighting with. Currently all I can do to “improve” pastures is mowing with a bush hog set at about 7”. Or I should say that’s all am doing. Definitely open to suggestions that aren’t very labor intensive because of my injury. My son helps a lot and doesn’t mind work but he’s only 11.

Weeds have been absolutely ridiculous so trying to mow at grass height before weeds go to seed. I’m hoping this gives some help. It’s very discouraging because it was really starting to look good last fall.

Joe Hallmark wrote:Yes that is very similar. And I have done several raised beds, a dug out hugel and some stuff in the ground covered in wood chips and made plenty of progress there in the yard / garden. But 17acres of fields adding chips and such is not financially possible.

I had cows but had to sell due to a bad car wreck I’m still fighting with. Currently all I can do to “improve” pastures is mowing with a bush hog set at about 7”. Or I should say that’s all am doing. Definitely open to suggestions that aren’t very labor intensive because of my injury. My son helps a lot and doesn’t mind work but he’s only 11.

Weeds have been absolutely ridiculous so trying to mow at grass height before weeds go to seed. I’m hoping this gives some help. It’s very discouraging because it was really starting to look good last fall.

Do you maybe have neighbors that would like to pasture their animals on your land?  If you could do some sort of short term intensive grazing, that may give you the most return for the time and effort involved.

Trace Oswald wrote:
Do you maybe have neighbors that would like to pasture their animals on your land?  If you could do some sort of short term intensive grazing, that may give you the most return for the time and effort involved.

I am so glad you mentioned that! I had a thought percolating based on a pasture -based regenerative farm in Maryland I had seen start a lease on some degraded conventional row crop acreage with the goal of regenerating with some cover crops and then pasturing animals. It could be an interesting option if you're in a holding pattern with health issues but would like to see some positive progress on the land.

I found a video the farmers (the leasee, not the landowner) posted on their early assessment of the land and then they have a couple more documenting their progress:

The video also gives some ideas as to how a regenerative approach looks in this situation

I guess the percentage of soil organic matters(SOM) isn't too high. Usually 5% is considered good for gardening, which can be achieved easier in the small scale by bringing in outside organic matters as you've done.

For a large scale, if the initial OM level is too low, it can take a very long time to build up naturally. USDA said soil OM can gain 0.1% a year with good practice. My backyard has a SOM of 2% for many decades with no improvement at all. I doubt mowing high and less frequently is enough to change anything. In the book "Cows save the planet" about holistic livestock management, the author mentioned that in the case of deteriorated soil, some forms of soil disturbance to add organic matters to the soil are necessary. Digging zai pit and put down cow dung is an example, properly managing livestock is another one.

If bringing in cattles isn't possible, maybe you can broadcast mixture of seeds to increase the biodiversity and that will help in the long term.

I do think at one point I’ll have some cows again this year. One of my neighbors will take me up on free grazing. I had so many weeds I was trying to knock them down first to let the grass hopefully get ahead. And for sure I will have them again when my health is better.

On the plus side a lot of the weeds were flowers so I had millions of butterflies. But unfortunately a lot where also poisonous to cattle.

Those were the ones trying to mow before they go to seed

So you are trying to get rid of noxious weeds (broadleaf probably) naturally while many others are taking the quick and easy way?
I am wondering what Gabe Brown would be doing in your situation.

Yes I’m trying to improve soil and reduce weeds (at least the poisonous ones) without using sprays etc.

In one field I was able to do a cover crop that was successful and I overseed clover in another that had moderate success. Perennial grass mix with clover and turnips were planted in that field. Tho weather not overly cooperating as usual.