When you finish harvesting this year, the work is not over yet. As the season ends, you attract a new one by the way you till the soil and prepare it for spring planting in a matter of months. Tillage to improve soil is one way to take on this responsibility.
Field Preparation
It is important to protect the soil and create a suitable seed environment for the next year. Tillage to improve soil is one way to take on this responsibility. This includes removing crop residues, breaking compaction, and making changes to the soil, such as using manure, fertilizer, and even cover crops seeds.
Tillage goals
Do you have ruts? Compression? Fertility problems? Cold floors? Weed control? Whatever the potential problem in your soil, determine what you want to achieve and adapt your tillage methods to your goal.
Chief engineer, McFarlane Manufacturing, Aaron Faessler, “We can modify the tools to meet customer goals.” For example, if they want to bury trash, especially heavier trash like corn, we recommend a ‘more traditional’ product that buries 6 to 10 inches.
On the other hand, farmers who are cultivating crop residues or laying the soil at a shallower depth, such as 3 inches, use a vertical tillage tool. If you are looking for a hybrid option, there are tools on the market that can land both debris and size without completely disturbing the soil profile as deep horizontal tillage tools do.
There are several hybrid tillage options on the market. Mach Till for hybrid-horizontal tillage is offered by Kinze. In addition, Great-Plains recently released its hybrid instrument called the Terra-Max.
Tillage Tool Strength
This is not as simple as using a hammer to fix screw in the wall. Likewise, you need to make sure that your instrument performs in a way that meets your expectations in every area.
“For example, if you are switching from one high-carbon crop to another, such as maize to maize, you need to chop up those residues,” says Justin Render, tillage product-specialist at Kinze. “For this and weed control, you probably want to use hybrid horizontal-tillage.”
Several Tillage Practices Options
With conventional tillage, more soil is moved, debris, including weeds, is filled deeper, and the soil usually appears looser after tillage. It is unsafe for erosion, including wind and water erosion. So, know your fields and their risks. If your field has a large hill, it may be worth trying a different management method for that particular area.
Vertical tillage can deliver more assistance than traditional tillage does not. Farm-journal test site studies gave a value of 12.7 bushels. per acre of corn for practice. It creates less mess on the ground and does not move as much ground as the discs are upright rather than horizontal as with many traditional instruments. This can help with compaction but does not go deeper than other tools.
Hybrid-tool companies now offer tools that combine the essential components of traditional and vertical tillage. Great Plains attributes this to a mix of vertical and normal, allowing it to tackle aggressive fields at higher speeds than normal. It also offers more options for leveling the field, collecting debris, and controlling weeds than just vertical tillage.
Conservative tillage embraces methods such as zero tillage or strip tillage. This ensures the least disturbance to the soil cover. Strip-Till provides a small area that heats fasters because it has been tilled, while no-till soils can often stay cold longer in the spring. On the other hand, water and wind erosion are lessened and water in-filtration can be increased with these methods in addition to falling compaction.
Check with your trusted advisors to make sure you are using the right tool for your job. Also, check attachments and settings in each field to ensure maximum performance based on field features and soil type.
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1 comment
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