Master Cho talks about “Till & Fertilize disease.” Till and fertilizer disease is featured by:
1. Laziness
2. Imbalanced Diet
3. Dependence
If plants are put into soft earth full of fertilizer (typically 70-80% of what they will need all season), the plants’ first impression is that life is easy. They get lazy. The roots will resist growing into the hard surrounding soil and away from nutrients. They often get root bound just as if they were grown in a pot that was too small. Inadequate root systems lower their ability to uptake water and minerals and lead to an imbalanced diet. This leads to an increased need for fertilizers and pesticides. The plants become dependent on the farmer for nutrition.
TILLING
Tilling in agriculture has several negative impacts:
Tilled soil is more prone to erosion by wind and water, leading to the loss of topsoil, where the highest concentrations of microbes and organic matter necessary for healthy plant growth are found.
Tilling disrupts microbial communities by physically disturbing the soil structure and breaking up microbial habitats and networks. This can reduce microbial diversity and abundance, particularly for fungi, which form extensive hyphal networks that are used to transport nutrients and act as a warning system for threats to the community.
Tilling exposes soil organic matter to air, leading to oxidation and a rapid loss of soil carbon, which is a crucial survival element for many microbes. The loss of organic matter also reduces the soil's water-holding capacity and nutrient retention.
Tilling alters soil moisture and temperature. Tilled soil often dries out faster and experiences more extreme temperature fluctuations, which can stress or kill sensitive microbial populations.
Many beneficial microbes form symbiotic relationships with plant roots. Tilling can disrupt these associations, particularly for mycorrhizal fungi.
By disturbing microbial communities, tilling can slow down nutrient cycling processes, leading to reduced nutrient availability for crops.
While tilling loosens the top layer, it can create a "plow pan" or compacted layer just below the tilled depth. This compaction can limit root growth and microbial activity in deeper soil layers.
Frequent tilling can favor fast-growing, disturbance-tolerant microbial species, leading to
a less diverse and less resilient microbial community over time.
EXCESS FERTILIZER
Excess fertilizer makes the plant “fat.” Overfed plants and plants with imbalanced diets are unhealthy. The role of pests and disease is to take out unhealthy plants. Therefore, if plants are unhealthy, which they are when nutrients are unbalanced, pests and disease are inevitable. Excess fertilizer, ironically, leads to the need for more fertilizers as well as more pesticides.
Tilling and fertilizing methods are used for the ease of the farmer, not the health and comfort of the plants. The conventional method of fertilizing and planting in tilled soil has detrimental effects on soil biology, leading to the persistence of pests and disease.
Natural Farming techniques avoid these problems. The solution is to develop the Soil Foundation.
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