A section of our field was "ripped" and plowed about a month ago. In fact...it was also plowed several times to turn the sprouting weeds for a kill off. Ripping is to break up compacted soil......then plowing is to turn the soil finer ....so air will get to the roots of the new plants and irrigation will soak into the ground...... and not simply wash away. All the above .....explained in a simple manner.....there is more to it, but why make the readers here fall asleep with boring details.....
Most old time farmers that used horses to pull plows, discs and other machinery while doing farm work ..... had several verbal commands for the horses to follow the farmer's instructions. "Haw" if farmer wanted the horses to turn left and he would call out "Gee" if he wanted the horses to turn right. I found that these commands are of no use for my tractor....
Later this week we are using a rototiller on the field to create a very fine texture. From there....... planting rows will be created, drip tape lines applied....and finally a 6 to 8 inch thick layer of wood chips to cover 100% of the prepped field. These chips will not be plowed into the soil.....for that will robbed nitrogen out of our field. Also......the mulch chips will create a high water retention as well as low weed growth. It's a win win all the way around. No future plough'ing will ever be needed.
Old timers used the word "plough" and not "plow".
