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gardening for beginners

Planter for minimal/no till market gardens?

R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4146

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 11 years ago

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It is easy to plant a couple beds manually, so leaving all the good rough compost and organic matter are easy to plant around. But all the market garden/SPIN planters (Earthway, Jang, Hoss, Johnny's etc.) are made for perfectly dead soil.

I can get a one or two row no-till corn planter for a tractor--wonderful old farm too--but that only works for large beds and certain crops. They cheaper than the higher end walking planters, BTW, so if you can adapt one they aren't a bad option.

Is there something in-between? A walking planter or system that can handle some debris or trash (big ag's terms for organic matter and mulch)?

"You must be the change you want to see in the world." "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." --Mahatma Gandhi
"Preach the Gospel always, and if necessary, use words." --Francis of Assisi.
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Waldo Schafli

Posts: 29

Location: Western Cape - South Africa

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posted 9 years ago

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Did you get an answer R Scott?

Pay it forward. Everyday. Every-way.

R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4146

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 9 years ago

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No, never did. The bigger market gardeners, even those that say they are no till, still use a tilther or rotary harrow to prepare a fine seedbed. They may only be tilling a half inch deep, but they are still making that pass with a machine before the seeder.

Joseph Lofthouse

author & steward

Posts: 7371

Location: Cache Valley, zone 4b, Irrigated, 9" rain in badlands.

3579

posted 9 years ago

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Check out my tube planter... If made from steel pipe instead of PVC, it can handle any amount of plant debris, and any amount of rocks in the soil. It's easy as can be to plant hundreds of row-feet of seeds in a few minutes. Planting transplants takes about 5 seconds per plant. If the ground is hard enough to need a steel tube, I recommend that this planter be used with a robust pair of boots rather than flimsy tennis shoes or sandals.

Joseph Lofthouse's Tube Seeder.

Landrace Gardening, author
Open Source Plant Breeding Forum, founder
Adaptation Agriculture: Video Course, Community, and Seed Share

R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4146

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 9 years ago

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I love it! KISS

John Polk

steward

Posts: 7926

Location: Currently in Lake Stevens, WA. Home in Spokane

360

posted 9 years ago

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Check out my tube planter...

I've thought of using an old ski pole for this...hollow aluminum.
Put an aluminum funnel in the top, and ready to go.

R Scott

pollinator

Posts: 4146

Location: Kansas Zone 6a

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posted 9 years ago

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i am thinking 1 inch emt. thin wall metal conduit. Fairly light but should be strong enough, could weld a reinforced point if needed.

Joseph Lofthouse

author & steward

Posts: 7371

Location: Cache Valley, zone 4b, Irrigated, 9" rain in badlands.

3579

posted 9 years ago

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I like the diameter of the tube to fit my grasp well, so between 1" and 1.5" works well for me. I like planting with 1.25" pots, because then 1.5" diameter tubing accommodates them really well. I have some tube planters up to 3" in diameter, so that I can plant potted plants in larger pots. I really aught to do a re-make of that video to demonstrate how incredibly useful tube seeders have become on my farm. I plant thousands of row-feet per year with them, and can do it while standing up!!! I really don't like bending over. I have to be careful in really muddy soil to not clog the tip, but other than that, they have worked really reliably for me.

Landrace Gardening, author
Open Source Plant Breeding Forum, founder
Adaptation Agriculture: Video Course, Community, and Seed Share

Drew Moffatt

pollinator

Posts: 276

Location: New Zealand

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posted 9 years ago

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Seedlings or seeds?

Joseph Lofthouse

author & steward

Posts: 7371

Location: Cache Valley, zone 4b, Irrigated, 9" rain in badlands.

3579

posted 9 years ago

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Andy Moffatt wrote:Seedlings or seeds?

I use a tube seeder to plant seeds, onion bulbs, and potted plants. Pretty much anything that needs to be planted. The onion bulbs right themselves about 95% of the time and grow normally.

Landrace Gardening, author
Open Source Plant Breeding Forum, founder
Adaptation Agriculture: Video Course, Community, and Seed Share

Drew Moffatt

pollinator

Posts: 276

Location: New Zealand

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posted 9 years ago

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I'm going to be learning about no till organic large scale growing this summer, I'll be doing a lot of seeding with a cross slot drill what else I don't know. I'll find out soon

Wayne Veasey

Posts: 13

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posted 8 years ago

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The Hoss garden seeder has a double-disk furrow opener, which works well in soils that have leftover organic debris. We use ours in areas where we have incorporated cover crops as green manure.

There's no such thing a walk-behind planter that will work in an absolute "no-till", heavy mulch, or thick cover crop situation. You would need a no-till planter that goes behind a tractor for that.

But for minimal till situations, the Hoss planter works well for soils with organic residue present during planting.

Dalem Wells

Posts: 3

posted 5 years ago

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Any further conversation on this topic? I've decide to commit to no-till, permanent cover crop gardening and have been mulling ways to convert a market-garden scaled planter to a no-till unit.

Shannon Hickman

Posts: 4

Location: Eastern Washington

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posted 3 years ago

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I’ve been most impressed by Singing Frogs Farm in California. I believe they have 3 acres in year round production for CSA and local farmers markets. It’s all no till in hand labor with high intensity 3 to 7 crops in a given area each year.

Nine minute interview with Curtis Stone:

Longer No-till Farmers Elizabeth and Paul Kaiser Keynote 2017 NOFA/Mass Winter Conference

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