As part of EFAO’s No-Till Vegetable Trials, Ken Laing no-till planted Butterscotch winter squash into compost mulch. He first established an observational plot 5′ x 25′ and added 1″ thick mulch made of 3/4 wood chips and 1/4 spent mushroom compost on top of tilled soil.
Using a no-till transplanter on June 17, 2020, Ken planted the squash as transplants into the mulch. He irritated the plots twice during a particularly dry spell in July, and tilled the edge of the plot once but did no weeding within the plot.
Throughout the season, Ken observed exceptional weed control, as documented in the photo below. On October 2, Ken harvested and calculated a yield of 202 lb – or around 70,000 lb/acre (header photo), which is a very good yield, indeed!
These observations provide exciting preliminary information to test this system more rigorously next year. Stay tuned!
Plot of Ken’s no-till translated squash with exceptional weed control in-plot. Photo taken September 4, 2020.
Squash plot after harvest.