Teaching Organic Farming and Gardening

Tillage and Cultivation

Unit 1.2 | 5

Lecture Outline: Soil Tillage and Cultivation

for the instructor

A. Pre-Assessment Questions

1. What is soil cultivation?


2. What is tillage?


3. Why till the soil?


4. What are some possible negative impacts of intensive and frequent tillage on soil
   quality?

B. Defining Soil Cultivation and Soil Tillage

1. Cultivation


2. Tillage

C. Aims of Soil Cultivation

1. To promote and maintain good soil structure and tilth

a) Soil structure

b) Soil tilth

2. To prevent or break up soil pans

a) Clay pans

b) Plow pans

c) Traffic pans

d) Other:

3. To aerate the soil

a) Increase soil air/gas exchange with the atmosphere

i. Nitrogen (N 2 )

ii. Oxygen (O 2 )

iii. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 )

b) Increase water infiltration and percolation

c) Balance water retention and drainage characteristics

d) Increase the rate of mineralization of organic matter and the release of nutrients

4. To increase the temperature of cold soils in the spring


5. To incorporate soil amendments

a) Composts, manures

b) Mineral amendments

6. To manage crop residues and cover crops

a) Crop residues

b) Cover crops

7. To control weeds

a) Pre-transplant

b) Post-transplant

8. To create particulate seed beds and root beds

a) Seed bed preparation

b) Root bed preparation

Instructor’s Lecture Outline