What Does Tilling Soil Do?

History

• The type of soil you are tilling is an important determinant regarding what happens when you till. Sandy soils tend to have large pore space, allowing for more water and air to flow through the soil, while clay and silt soils have small pores. Tilling cannot change the size of the particles of your soil. For example, if you till clay soil, you will still have clay soil. Tilling can destroy pore space and create denser clay soil in some cases. Tilling may also temporarily create larger pores.

Methods

• On the typical tiller, a central rod turns and moves tines through the soil. The location, shape and sharpness of the tines determine how well they cultivate the soil. Tines break through the surface layer and churn the soil, mixing layers of soil. You can hold smaller tillers in your hand, walking through the area you need to till. For larger areas, attach a tiller to a tractor to pull it through the soil.

Concerns

• Tilling breaks up some soil, but the process may cause greater compaction overall. Good soil has pores or sections of open space that hold air and water. Compaction destroys these pores. By turning the soil to try to create pores, it is inevitable that you will destroy neighboring pores. Heavy machinery further compacts the soil when it rolls over and crushes the pores. Without the pores, there is no space for air and water to flow over the top of the soil, instead of through the soil. Without air and water, beneficial microorganisms and plant roots die.

Benefits

• Tilling is one of the few techniques that can break through heavily compacted soil rapidly. Completely covering the soil with organic matter and waiting for microorganisms to transform the soil takes months or years. Tilling can break up the soil and at the same time incorporate large amounts of organic material, such as compost, leaf mold or manure, to improve the soil’s structure. Tillers with rear tines tend to be more expensive, but because they do not roll over the soil after they have processed it, you remove one source of compaction from the equation.