Hi Victoria,
Here are contacts the main spader dealers in the U.S. (I will gladly
take contacts for other dealers if anybody has any):
Autrusa Compost/Imants U.S.A.
[George Leidig]
P.O. Box 1133
Blue Bell, PA 19422
610-825-2973
autrusa@aol.com
http://www.autrusa.com
----U.S. distributor for Imants Spaders, Sandberger Compost Turners,
----and Top Tex Compost Fleece
Imants web site in The Netherlands
http://www.imants.com/
Market Farm Implements
[Ralph Moore]
257 Fawn Hollow Road
Friedans, PA 15541
814-443-1931
----Distributor for multiple brands of spaders and market
----garden/truck farming vegetable production implements
Ferrari Tractor C.I.E.
[Eugene Canales]
PO Box 1045
Gridley, CA 95948
916-846-6401
916-846-0390 Fax
----U.S. distributor for Celli, Torteli, etc brands of European
----spaders. Ferrari Tractor C.I.E. -- like its counterpart Market
----Farm Implements on the East -- carries a wide assortment of
----small-farm equipment. Spaders available as attachments to
----walk-behind tractors or regular pull-type tractors.
Here is the contact for Carroll Montgomery and Christian
Agriculture Stewardship Institute (CASI):
Christian Agriculture Stewardship Institute (CASI)
Rt. 1, Box 364
Dexter, MO 63841
314-624-3709
314-624-4391 Fax
CASI Publications:
"God's Stewards... Caring for His Soil"
"Alternatives for American Agriculture: CASI Soil Analysis Training"
"Alternatives That Few Consider"
"Why We Do Have Weeds and Grass"
Soil management tidbits, a spader story:
Fyi, at the 1995 Acres USA conference there was an interesting
presentation by M.R. Foulks, who is the largest organic soybean
grower in Virginia. He discussed his organic production system, and
presented data on soil health improvements through the adaption of
innovative soil management practices. The Foulks had attended
some of the controlled microbial composting and humus management
practices taught in seminars in Pennsylvania by the Siegfried Luebke
family of Austria, hosted by George Liedig of Autrusa Compost.
The CMC Compost-Humus Mgm't System emphasizes specialized
compost turners, microbial inoculation, clay additions, frequent
turning, daily monitoring for temperature and CO2, compost fleece to
cover and protect the windrow, and qualitative testing for finished
compost. Promotion of clay-humus crumb formation and a
microbially-rich compost is a primary goal. Coupled with CMC
compost, emphasis is placed at the farm level on a whole series of
well-known organic agricultural practices that promote soil
health, soil humus, soil biology, soil tilth, soil fertility etc.
These include crop rotations, cover crops, green manures,
microbially-inoculated composts, sod rotations mixed with crop
rotations, grazing, urine, etc. "Humus management" encompasses
these soil-enhancing organic farming practices along with the deep
humus knowledge from the organic pioneeers: Efrenfried
Pfeiffer, Sir Albert Howard, Lady Eve Balfour, as well as the
microbial-humus scientists like Selman Waksman of Rutgers University
and the Russian scientiests Kononova and Krasilnikov, among others.
This is where the spader comes into the picture. In addition
to the cover cropping and compost applications, choice of tillage
implement can make a big difference in soil tilth and humus content.
The Luebkes found that spading implements are superior as a humus
management tool in vegetable production, especially in comaparison to
tillers etc. At the Acres conference, M.R. Foulks presented the
following data on humus values based on early adoption of
large-sized spading implements for agronomic crop production in
the U.S. The humus value is the sodium hydroxide colorimetric humus
value test.
Humus Value Humus Value
Soil Depth Chisel Plow/Disc Spader
0-3" 14 20
3-6" 7 15
9-12" 7 18
The data shows that tillage implement alone can affect
soil conditions that favor microbial populations, and their
ability to humify soil organic matter from crop residues,
cover crops, and composts.
Steve Diver
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