tillage radishes

I came across this article today and since I garden in clay soil was extremely interested in this idea. Apparently some farmers are planting fall crops of these very long radishes and leaving them in the soil to decompose. The radishes are over a foot long and absorb and then release nutrients back into the soil when they decompose. They also leave the soil much softer. Has anyone heard of this or tried this?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jFAIcYgK_oJSaHAw5YqM3jlN0DwQD9APJ29G1

I used a couple of Daikon radishes last fall to break up a dense patch of clay soil where the runoff from my roof pounds it flat. The Louisiana Irises loved the aerated soil when I put them in this spring, and I'll be planting some more radishes around them this week to re-open the clay.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/search.php?forum=&search_text=daikon&limit=soil&search_area=body&limit_poster=&Search=Search

http://davesgarden.com/tools/tags/tag.php?tag=daikon+radishes

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/adv_search.php?searcher[common]=Daikon+radish&searcher[family]=&searcher[genus]=&searcher[species]=&searcher[cultivar]=&searcher[hybridizer]=&searcher[grex]=&search_prefs[blank_cultivar]=&search_prefs[sort_by]=rating&images_prefs=both&Search=Search

Thanks Puddlepirate I will look through these threads. I am glad to hear that someone has tried this. Even though it is a little late in the season to plant radishes I am going to try planting some radish seeds in my flower beds since we often have a long mild fall season here.

A friend of mine is trying to reclaim 4 acres of farmland to use for orgainc gardens. He's been using daikon radishes for a couple of years. He said it's made a big difference in his soil.

Seeds are cheap, lilyfantn. Not much downside to planting 'em this week.

Have you considered combining the radishes with some other fall cover crops? Some varieties of clover do a great job of fixing nitrogen and mining nutrients from deep in the subsoil.

I just got the seeds in the mail today and sprinkled them in my beds. Like you said ... if there isn't enough time for them to get to their full size I am not out a lot of money. :-) I am not planting any other fall cover crops because I have sprinkled the seeds in my perennial beds which are pretty full already. I don't actually grow any veggies. A veggie garden would be ideal for planting cover crops though! I am also e-mailing this article to all my gardener friends.

way cool!