Are Fall Tillage Plans Changed?

What were your fall tillage plans before we got rain?  Have they changed?  Have you taken a look at your soil with a probe?  I have not been over a lot of ground yet this fall, but soils have been consistently mellow, maybe even loose.  We had not had enough rain to settle things down.  The only surface compaction I have found so far is in places where grain carts or trucks have run over the area repeatedly.  Before the rain I would have been saying that if you are planning fall tillage, just cutting up the residue and getting it to decompose would be going a long way toward getting the ground ready for spring planting.  If you are thinking no-till for next spring, right now conditions are ideal for that.  The question is, did we get so much moisture that we will create compaction with harvest.  I expect that some soils might be wet enough for some compaction.  Be careful about getting back to harvest too fast. 

If you planted cover crops or if you are still planning to plant them, conditions should be ideal at this point.  Crops like annual rye and tillage radishes, could help you get ready for no-till or stip-till in the spring. 

If you plan to get out there with the chisel plow or ripper, hold off until soils have had a few days to soak the moisture deeper. 

Emerson Nafziger covers some dry weather tillage issues in this article.  One issue I have seen raised is that soil might be too dry to till.  Dryness will leave it lumpy and require extra horsepower.  Lumps in the fall do not bother me much.  They will mellow out.  Extra horsepower cost money.  That could be another reason to minimize tillage.  On the other hand, this is probably not an issue in areas that have had rain.