Is Crop Rotation Necessary? 

Thanks for all those hours of reading research papers ! Say, I didn't quite understand what you plan to do now with your in-tunnel rotations of tomatoes and cucumbers. What are you planting in the year in-between, in the tomato and cucumber beds, respectively.. ? Thanks !

​@@ajb.822plant corn, it is the best in between crop for crop rotation. In my own opinion.

Thank you for sharing what you found out on your research! I am experimenting on planting anything in my home garden and see which one thrive, survive or die. 😂 It seems like gardeners have different experiences of growing plants. I know I am doing against what’s in the book when I was a dummy gardener but some plants survive and thrive in part-shade when they are supposed to be in full sun. I guess we will learn if we are willing to make mistakes to learn from it. Anyway, I enjoyed your videos especially the humor you insert here and there. It’s funny! 😂 Thanks again! 💪❤️🙏

So what you are saying is we need to completely change what we are doing and follow your program to the letter, got it.

I have been thinking about rotating my beds and after watching the video I wasn’t sure. After your comment here, I think I will leave things as is. Thanks for all the info! Very much enjoy your videos!

That's why this platform is so invaluable.. People who are speaking from experience.

Yeah science gives you findings, turning these findings into actual actionable principles is more like art or philosophy. That’s why many great scientists are rather dumb, they are technicians not deep thinkers.

Thank you @bobnewkirk I appreciate this information and your time for writing it. 💕🇨🇦

Yup, I might borrow that.

Phytosporafacetiousmanfrengenson...

Spotted the environmental historian 😄 I was looking for this comment

yes! we learnt this in horticulture class in college ,

I hate how much I like this joke

Serious belly laughs!!!@@notillgrowers

This guy gets it 🤜🤛

I think that part of the issue that is not well enough understood is scale. A small garden, say for herbs and whatnot is not only easier to manage, but if it fails it isn't the end of your family. On the other hand an acre or two of corn would be more difficult to generate enough compost and notice problems forming.

Correct! The term for this is "ecological succession".

Neat ! I haven't grown them under cover yet much ( just a home gardener so far) but when I 1st started dealing with it more and more in my garden 14 yrs ago - not remembering my mom having this issue w our cukes, growing up - I tried to treat, next yr tried to prevent then treat, then finally realized - their numbers had become obvious plus I'd read it - that it was the lil yellow, striped cucumber beetles who were prob. causing/spreading it. By then I was searching high and low for OG or even Non-OG sprays that even claimed to kill them, only finding one non-OG of such, and trying to use it without killing any bees was nerve wracking ( but I really, really love cucumbers and was down to getting almost nil). Anyway, moved out of state and right away, whether in pots in a campground at 1st, then in new garden there ( we did plow & till it 1st, I was newer to no-till, not on YT yet, and didn't know how to start without that). Right about then I was reading some notes I'd taken from various sources, this one from the old book "carrots love tomatoes" . It was on using tobacco for squash beetle prevention/repelling. I guess I thought to try it for this, my husband found me plain tobacco in the form of pipe tobacco from a smoke shop, and I put a palmful in the soil with the seeds or roots at planting time ( or added a touch later if they're already in). Lo and behold - no cuke beetle pressure ever since ! And , usually little to no downy mildew either ! I had been down to needing to BUY zucchini in the summer (!), now I'm back to giving extra away from only 2 plants. I use it on all my cukes, squashes and now tomatillos and cantaloupes too if/when I grow them... the cuke beetles apparently LOVE tomatillos and ground cherries and I wasn't taking chances on the cantaloupe. I have moved a few times since that year I started this, so, keep having sub-par soils and low budget for compost ( saving $ for own property currently, and never sure what's worth it for a garden that'll pry be back to lawn when we leave.. ), or what we bought turned out to be not great.. ( or success at making my own in time). So, idk if any of that played a part but my buttercup squash was very plagued by squash bugs in spite of the tobacco thing, last yr., but it was also a very dry year here. It was at a newer, tilled garden at a friend's house. The musquee de provence ( tasted horrible btw, won't grow that again) also had some bug pressure there, both late in season and most of those were older and hard enough to survive ok. The MDPs I grew at where we live were un-molested, and that was a no-till garden, 2 yrs in.. . I made up a tobacco and neem spray for over at other and it did seem to cut down on the amount of bugs except on the most narly/affected buttercups. I later learned their species is the most susceptible too, sad because they're my fave to eat.

​@ajb.822 If you had issues with a crop during a dry year, try watering a bit more. when a plant wilts in the heat/dry, it is inviting bugs and disease.

If you don't harvest it.

japanese natural farming is the same in that point as jadam. interesting, since it goes against the logic of the organic farming in our region.

Woo-woo placebo is a hell of a drug.

Perhaps one thing to note for most urban gardens: they are quite small and beds are usually very close compared to a farm. Any disease or pest will probably have little trouble moving a few feet from one bed to the next. And there is often quite a lot of compost or soil added to the beds each year too. All of which make urban crop rotation pretty much useless.

He ignores that continued monocropping lessens topsoil depth. Monocropping lacks a healthy diverse plant life above, it is the same below. This is why "sustainable agriculture" is a problem. We need regenerative (read soil-building) or restorative ag methods that can bring back *healthy* soil biomes that increase soil fertility, soil depth, carbon sequestration, etc. This includes polycropping, moving away from primarily annual agriculture and its related faults, and using livestock to manage culls, crop residues, weeds, pests, fertility, etc. Stepping away from conventional ag builds resiliency, financial independence, etc. I am consistently disappointed with this channel for its "sustainable," compromised approach.

OK I guess and are we even watching the same channel???

@@aileensmith3062 Apparently you failed to understand my comment, and how it addresses the shortcomings of "sustainable" ag principles. It's why it is considered "greenwashing." "Sustainable" ag includes practices that still degrade soil with only short term usability in mind. You still lose soil depth, soil health, and you remove nature's ability to be self-fertile. It may be about "reduction in harm," but it is still has more harm than help. The point of terms like "regenerative" and "restorative" ag, is soil- and resiliency-building. Those that go fully into restorative-type ag practices find it much more profitable than conventional. It does take a few years to convert, but avoiding the boom *and bust* cycles wins the war over other methods...

@@b_uppy Quite sure that I did fail to understand your comment??? There are shortcomings everyday. What I believe the Gentleman was trying to convey was having only limited space for one's garden. Our garden is only about 6,000 square feet. With the exception of the tomatoes we try to rotate every year. Sometimes more than once a year and rotate our crops. We are also getting more and more into succession planting as well as using cover crops. As we are limited on space we can only so so much. Or would you suggest us simply leaving the land idle? I apologize but not all of us have the luxury/convenience of rejuvenating a 6,000 acre farm!

@@aileensmith3062 The term "agriculture" denotes large scale activities, whereas gardens/gardening, like you've mentioned, denotes smaller scale operations. A crop is different from "the pumpkin patch. "No-till at a large scale is a problem as remediation is scaled up and presents logistical issues as well. A home gardener with a compost heap in the corner is different from manure ponds, and burning crop residues of larger scale no till "operations"...

I have grown tomatoes in my greenhouses for 6 years now because I don't have any other way to rotate but like you do I have other crops before them and during their time. I think this helps when you can't rotate. I try to rotate most things but when they are only moving 50-200ft away does that really help?

My kind of rotation involves succession planting. So, for example, I plant green beans after spinach or potatoes, lettuce after beets or vice versa, so that deep rooting plants follow shallow rooting ones, or legumes follow heavy feeders. In the course of that the distance to what you planted last year only matters with cucurbits, like squash, cucumbers etc, because you do not want the pests have it too easy finding them@@matprather5833

Man. A Charles Dowding video had me about completely ignoring the companion planting guides I noted down years ago and try to follow when I can, because I usually can ( just growing for own use mainly so far).. and other than paying attn to obvious things such as what will shade out what, just plant whereever. But, If I recall aright, both my lists had tomatoes "disliking" cucumbers. So, I usually have at least one crop between em. I haven't paid attn. to year to year rotation of them much, but I also keep moving and starting new gardens, so, it hasn't really come up. Last year's tomatoes went where corn had been yr before. Cukes went into same spot and did terrible, but I think too much of the woodchips I'd mulched the area with yr b4, were getting into the "soil" ( dead, compacted sand) and I didn't give them that much or that amazing of compost where/when the seeds went.. then it was suddenly hot and no rain all sum. . I'd had a great crop of cukes on 2nd yr woodchip mulched area in previous garden in another state, so, I was taking things a bit too for granted I think.

what's your winter kill cover crop? I'm considering to use white clover (trifolium repens) "between the seasons", since that is growing natively around here and is a nitrogen fixer, too. Working on building the soil up with compost and weed/compost tea. And looking at all the wormcastings on the lawn, i think i might get some help from underground, too :D

@@ForestTiefling Web search Peaceful Valley winter kill cover crop blend. It is heavy on beans & peas for N. Usually contains oats for above ground coverage. Their blend sometimes varies. Read the description. It usually self-terninates reliably.

Same issue.. mostly nightshades. Tomatoes are particularly tricky because they need to be placed where they won't shade other crops and have a good support system.

@@karenr7931 exactly, and peppers hog the warm spot 😂.

I wonder how that would work in light of slug issues tho.. . Keeping everything really clean and tidy ( it all goes to the compost piles and that compost goes on garden every year.. ) makes a big, positive difference for him with keeping slug issues to a minimum. I have had slugs issues majorly in cabbage family plants in past, and also possibly be what ate off young seedlings of things like beans at times.

@@ajb.822 some say slugs remove weak plants, the Jadam plants look super healthy.

I hadn't seen but heard of it, thanks for the reminder ( I'm not Jesse but I thank u too). I'm on a m/l only a home garden scale yet for now, at this rental property, and very low budget. Just built my 1st hoophouse last yr., a cattle panel one on skids, based on Al Lumnah's 1st flex-use build of such ( may have chickens in the title of vlog or his playlist). We added a panel so it's 12 not 8 ft. long, so, had to do some addtl. things to keep sides from bowing out so much. Anyway, it's small-ish but mobile. I can move it by hand to some degree (if ground and mulch aren't too lumpy, and I'm strong for a female, use to do tons of grunt work on folks dairy farm), but foresee usually using a lawn tractor or etc. to pull it. In this case the bottom boards on the ends don't clear the ground by much tho. It would have to be done when the ground is bare-ish.

ThankYOU!

Interesting idea. I may try on a small scale. Did you find anything on this in the literature, either scientific or internet folk lore? It would be good to see if others have tried this before.

I put garlic and onions everywhere, every tomato and pepper and around the lettuces. I did not interplant with the brassicas, which did not have any insect pressure, unlike the tomatoes. I have less insect pressure with tomatoes and peppers due to the garlic and onions. In central Florida, hot and wet most of the time. Can only do brassicas and lettuce in winter months, when it rarely drops to freezing temperatures.

I think he grew potatoes 7 years in a row at the same spot. Only top dressing the soil. But he is the GOAT, so it's probably not for us common folk. 😅😁