nrh0011
Senior Member
Sometimes you need to do some tillage to reinvigorate an established plot, lime it deeper, repair damage from hogs or erosion, deal with weeds you don't have a chemical for, etc... With certain crops (alfalfa, for instance), you must rotate to a different crop after a few years. That's the perfect time to fix any other problems. Don't over do it, don't do it when the soil is too moist & don't do it too often & you can still maintain good OM levels. I have to periodically terminate my perennial clover plots & start over; horsenettle, hog rooting, loggers...something eventually wins out, forcing a re-do.
When you need to surface fertilize, use ammonium sources:
ammoniated phosphates (MAP & DAP), ammonium sulfate (AMS, my favorite), ammonium nitrate (more readily available, but more leacheable & no S).
I use ammoniated P04's + AMS + potash as my fall fertilizer base.
Avoid urea for surface application unless you can hear the thunder & will get at least 0.5" of rain out of it. If your plot has a lot of residue, it can tie up N for quite a long time (1 of the problems with the wood chip method lauded above by Mr Baby). But if you are getting good breakdown TO humus, but not beyond it to mineral soil, you will get good retention & availability of nutrients. Unless the ground floods for a couple of weeks, or somebody works it wet; then you start over at square one.
When you do your soil test, pick one that gives you CEC. CEC X 10 = the lbs of N your soil is capable of holding. Any excess you apply will leach away in rainwater. Don't try to build K if your pH is above 6.5; just put on what the plants need that year/season.
Ding Ding Ding!! I fully believe in no till planting, but tillage will always be needed in some scenarios, i.e. compaction and other reasons mentioned above by Forest.