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<pre>If you are not convinced by the logic of Gerhard's argument about
better structured soils and more organic matter take a trip to Spain or
italy and see for yourself the eroded olive groves. Admittedly the
cause is weed control through excessive cultivation but weed control
(year after year) with chemicals will reach the same point of soil
degradation even if it take a little longer. Of course young trees need
an area around them free of weeds to reduce competition but there is no
need to turn the whole grove into a desert.

Cheers Brian Chatterton.
</pre>
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<pre>Just be aware that a continuous blanket of nice dry mulch requires just
one match, cigarette butt or lightning strike to take out your whole
orchard, and more. Then you'd be doing your bit for global warming.

It's rare that you see Spanish orchards burning down, and they seem to
bear nicely, considering their perfectly clean cultivation and massive
planting widths. Economics is another thing, and without subsidies,
things would look totally different.

I'm certainly not an advocate of such unnecessary clean cultivation.
Closer to nature is good, but large tracts of monoculture don't occur in
nature, so one neeeds to adapt one's approach accordingly.

Ciao,

Guido


-----Original Message-----
From: OliveOil@yahoogroups.com [mailto:OliveOil@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Brian Chatterton
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2005 10:22 AM
To: Olive Olive List
Subject: [OliveOil] Soil structure


If you are not convinced by the logic of Gerhard's argument about
better structured soils and more organic matter take a trip to Spain or
italy and see for yourself the eroded olive groves. Admittedly the
cause is weed control through excessive cultivation but weed control
(year after year) with chemicals will reach the same point of soil
degradation even if it take a little longer. Of course young trees need
an area around them free of weeds to reduce competition but there is no
need to turn the whole grove into a desert.

Cheers Brian Chatterton.
</pre>
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