0:00In the last 13 years since I started Farmers Friend, we've had hundreds,

0:03thousands of questions from customers and we've kind of consolidated that into some topics that we're discussing. I'm here with my dad, John. And one of the

0:12things that people ask about and have issues with is soil compaction,

0:19especially early on as you're developing your farm, developing your field beds. And you know, soil compaction, hard,

0:27rocky, sometimes clay soil can be really challenging. We dealt with that, you know, a lot here. We have very clayy

0:36soil. So, I remember as a kid spending a lot of time working on very compact soil. So, it's an issue other people are

0:44dealing with. What kind of uh wisdom could you share with our viewers and our customers on how to deal with just compacted hard soil and how to avoid it?

0:57Yeah. Well, I the the first thing I think it's important to understand is that soil compaction is is really just

1:06an issue with clay soils. You can't compact sand and um even lom anything

1:14that has a higher organic matter content. The the reality is you go into the forest and take the the soil from

1:23the forest floor, you can't compact it because it's got enough organic matter in it that it won't compact. So

1:32basically that's I think the the ultimate solution is to get enough organic matter in your soil that it

1:40won't compact. In the early years we we brought in a bulldozer to level off pads

1:46for for green houses and I can remember after the bulldozer was finished having to use

1:54picks to to work up our beds. They were that compacted. We had a guy here that was working with us at the time who was

2:03using a digging fork but using a a fiveB

2:09sledge to hit the digging fork into the ground. So we we know about compaction,

2:17but the point is you got to do whatever it takes. you know, if you've got access to somebody with a tractor and a

2:26subsoiler, if you're trying to do a larger area,

2:30um, I would look into hiring somebody with a subsoiler, which is just these big shanks that are, you know, this

2:40long, 18 in long or something that uh,

2:45just go down and, you know, just rip the soil up. So, that's a good place to

2:51start if if you have access and you're doing a larger area. But otherwise, if you're starting

2:59small, whatever it takes, you know, a pick, if it takes that, or um, you know,

3:06a digging fork, a really strong digging fork, or, you know, if there are some

3:13hard pan broad forks, I think you all sell one now, that might work, but, you know, when you get something wider, the

3:22more times it's the the harder it is to get them into the ground. So that's your

3:30first step is initially breaking it up and then adding organic matter. You know, I think

3:39the two main things there is compost or

3:46um Pete Moss. you know, there's there is some sentiment against using Pete Moss,

3:53which is understandable, but sometimes um that's that's the easiest way to get

4:00into it. Um just just trying to get that organic matter into the soil. What's the

4:08reason against Pete Moss? Well, it's interesting. Elliot Coleman has a bit of an essay on this, you know.

4:20It's the the thought is that it's well I know in Europe it it is it has been used

4:28faster than it's being replaced. So just because it's not really a renewable, I mean it is renewable, but it takes time.

4:37But Elliot's point is that Canada has so much Pete that it's not um being used at the rate that it's being produced. Okay.

4:50But I know another argument I've heard recently is that the extraction of Pete can release

4:59some I think it's methane gas or something that you know could be an issue for climate change kind of stuff.

5:08So well you know people can do their own research, you know, figure out what they feel comfortable with. But I know, you know, here we use a lot of Pete Moss uh

5:17in my personal garden. you know, we we used quite a bit. We had a garden down the road that we tried to, you know, develop. And again, it was very hard,

5:26rocky soil, and we had to do one real challenging, you know, uh, digging with

5:36just a a digging fork. I mean, you can't sometimes if it's so hard, you can't even use a broad fork. Even if it's a hard pan, you just you don't have enough

5:43weight to to get it in the ground. So you have to get something that just has like, you know, two or three prongs. And we dug it up and added

5:52Pete Moss. I don't know what rate, you know, but but pretty heavy. I would say 2 or 3 in. And then, you

5:59know, incorporated that into the soil as deep as possible. And that made a huge difference. You know, come the next year, it was pretty easy to dig it up.

6:09So, it's the it's the quickest way to build your your or to to loosen your soil. Yeah, you may still want to add

6:18some compost, but it's a lot of organic matter fairly inexpensively.

6:23And the beauty of Pete Moss is it's fairly um neutral or inert when it comes to to

6:32nutrients and stuff. The challenge with compost can be that if you don't know

6:39where your soils are as far as nutrients go, um, compost can really throw them out of whack depending on what's in the

6:49compost. We learned that the hard way as well. You know, our our soils are very high in phosphorus naturally. And any

6:57manurebased compost is also going to be high in phosphorus.

7:03So yeah, you got to look at that. But I I think the the last thing I would say as far as soil compaction is

7:12once you loosen it, don't compact it again. Don't be running equip heavy equipment on your beds. Don't be

7:21stepping on your beds. You know, the hard work is that in that initial soil

7:28working, but once you do that initial breaking up and as long as you're adding organic

7:37matter, you shouldn't have major issues with compaction anymore. Yeah, great. I think it's a lot of good good thoughts.

7:45So, you know, I think, you know,

7:47important take the time to lay out your your farm and your beds where you want them and and put some some thought into that cuz the last thing you want to do

7:55is spend a bunch of time developing ground and then rearranging it. And I know we've done that a couple of times here where we've invested a lot in in a field plot and then for various reasons,

8:06we've rearranged things whether it's efficiency or whatever and that's kind of frustrating. It feels like work down the drain. So, take the time to lay out

8:15your garden. And then you just have to realize that if you have clay soil and you got a lot of compaction, you're gonna have to do a lot of very backbreaking hard work. You're going to

8:24have blisters and uh you just do that work, incorporate the organic matter.

8:30And we didn't really talk about cover crops, but I know that's something we use a lot. You know, in the off season, even if it's just a couple of months,

8:37you know, you can do a a quick cover crop. Um, cover cropping is good and it will definitely help to to break up

8:45compact soil. I think my only thought there is if you're trying to do something quickly, cover crops are not

8:54the solution, you know. I mean, ideally with cover crops, you need to start 2 or 3 years ahead of time to to really break

9:03up that soil. Yeah, for sure. But, you know, if you're not going to be growing in an area for, you know, a period of

9:10time, like don't don't just leave it. I mean, you got to cover it with something. Either a silage tarp or cover

9:17crop. Um, either one's going to help minimize compaction. Um, so yeah, I think that covers it. I appreciate your

9:26input on this and hope this information has been helpful to our viewers. If you have questions like this, feel free to reach out and and submit those

9:35questions. And until next time, happy growing.

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