Why Tillage Now?

We have been seeing a lot of late winter field activity this year.  If you are putting on Nitrogen, are you doing it knowing you might lose it?  Are you using inhibitor?  This is more like fall applied than spring applied.

What about tillage?  You are killing very few weeds since they are not growing.  You may be smoothing out the ground and setting it ip for erosion.  Rough ground prevents erosion.  You might be smoothing it out and setting it up for crusting.

Do you plan to till it again before planting?  Why till now?  Are you plannig to kill weeds chimically and plant in a stale seedbed?  That might work.

Before you do a winter tillage operation ask yourself why.

Getting Residue to Break Down

Why do we want residue to break down anyway?  Some say we want to release the nutrients.  That may be especially true in the case of nitrogen. More likely we don't want to tie up the nitrogen with residue breakdown because we want it to be furnishing nutrients for our crop.

No-till Farmer ran this article on residue breakdown , but it offers little in the "how" department. One of the reasons I see for wanting residue to break down, is for soil warmth and aeration.  If we are in a high residue cropping system, if the soil is completely covered, it may keep soil wet in the spring. Properly done vertical tillage can help break up the residue and start decomposition in three ways.  One is that we make the pieces smaller. Two is that we mix in small bits of soil which contains microbes that inoculate the residue to decompose.  Three is that we expose a bit of soil to allow improved air and water movement.  Keep in mind that vertical tillage should be shallow and should not bury residue.  Another tool that will have the same effect is the Aerway.  If those tools are not available, a very light disking could help.  The disk should be in the ground an inch or less.

Some people like a bit of UAN over the top to break up residue.  The shortcoming is that it is really a waste of nitrogen.  Something else to keep in mind is that the root residue in the soil maybe more of a drag on yields in corn on corn than the  residue on top. Perhaps a small amount of nitrogen incorporated would help with that issue.  The residue on the surface is not really the problem with nitrogen tie-up, because it has limited contact with the rooting zone.

Good drainage is also important for good residue breakdown.  Tile drainage will promote better aeration, but even good surface drainage can help.

Saving Trips Across the Field

In keeping with a theme, besides fertility and crop protection products, where can you cut back?

When I was a young soil scientist in Madison County, the debate was still open as to whether or not conservation tillage works.  I think that is long settled, but we still sometimes see recreational tillage.  You should definitely be looking at the number of trips you are making.

• Do you really need to "size" that residue with a disking or vertical tillage before chisel plowing? I would say not.  
• Does the soybean stubble really need primary tillage to plant corn or can you get by with just some vertical tillage or field cultivating?
• Do you need to make that second pass of secondary tillage before planting?  The planter will push the clods out of the way.
• If your field was ready to plant and you get a rain on it, why do you want to till it again?  The stale seedbed will be firm and give you a more even stand.
• In the past, researchers have found that soybeans yield best when drilled with no other tillage.

Consider combining crop protectants where possible.  Apply fungicide and insecticides together is one of those combinations.

Can you cut back on seed costs?  I defer to the seed corn people on their population recommendations.  They know what it takes to get the most out of a particular hybrid.  Soybeans however can be very forgiving on populations.  Research I have seen says that 120,000 to 130,000 soybeans per acre is enough in most instances.  Of you are still planting 160,000 try cutting back to 140,000. 

Tilling Wet Soils

I was working an area that is very wet today.  Fields are rutted by harvest equipment.  A few areas were starting to gray off, but low areas are still extremely wet.  One of the big acreage farmers in the area had three 4 Wheel Drive tractors pulling disks through the mud trying to fill in the ruts.  The disks were throwing out balls of mud, and I am sure they were making the compaction worse.

Another thingy tcncerned me was that a few people were applying anhydrous.  I am sure that there were areas in the field where the slit closing.

Getting Ready to Sow Wheat

Today I was sampling a field that was being prepared for wheat sowing with a Turbo-Till verticle tillage tool.  Wheat will be sowed tomorrow. 

Rotary Hoe

I have seen lots of rotary hoe work the last few days.  Crusting is the problem.  One of my friends told me this morning that he had to get his rotary hoe out of the shed and it was behind everything.  It took him 2 hours to get it out.   The rotary hoe is a good crust buster, but it will also flick out of bit of the crop.  No-tillers don't have the crusting problem a rule. 

Vertical Tillage and Soil Conservation

Vertical tillage can be a useful tool in soil management and conservation.  When I started working for Soil Conservation Service in the late 70's we were starting to talk about keeping the soil surface covered to reduce soil erosion.  The Universal Soil loss equation said that reside cover was the primary means to control erosion on cropland.  In those days, conservation tillage methods usually left us with 50% residue or less on the surface.  No-till was the way to go on steeper soils because it was the only way to get 80% residue on the surface after planting.

I remember doing a conservation compliance check on someone who had a plan that called for 60% residue on the surface.  To achieve that level in those days, no-till was the only way to go.  It was obvious that the land had been tilled, but he had the residue cover so he passed.  This ground had been worked with an early vertical tillage tool.

Soil Conservation Service and its successor agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service continued to research soil erosion and found that soil erodability factors were too high, and that crop residue protected even better than original estimates.  That is the good news.  The bad news is that any soil disturbance increased soil loss even with high amounts of residue.  So, if the machinery salesman is telling you that vertical tillage is just as good for your conservation plan as no-till or strip till, take a conservative approach.  Ask NRCS to review your conservation plan and see if you will still be legal.

No-till Farmer publicized this webinar on conservation tillage.  While soils and rainfall may affect your soil loss numbers differently than they do in Kansas, a lot of what is said has applicability everywhere.  It takes about an hour to watch.  

Tillage - Roughness and Residue

Both the pictures below are taken on fairly flat land, but they illustrate a point very well.  Soils this fall are for the most part very mellow.  Dry weather prevented a lot of the puddling we have grown accustomed to in the recent past wet years. Crop residue is not heavy because of drought and poor yields.  Crop residue helps prevent both wind and water erosion.  The top picture was actually from a field that had decent yields all things considered.  The producer used a vertical tillage tool to chop up his residue and then he went in a chisel plowed it.  The chisel plow buried most of the residue; in addition, the mellow soil broke apart easily and left very little surface roughness.  The lack of roughness and residue leaves the soil vulnerable to both wind and water erosion.  The bottom picture does not have much more residue that the top one, but at least there is some roughness to break up the fall  of the raindrop and slow down soil movement on windy days.   The point of this discussion is that our soils are in good shape to do minimal tillage this fall.  In addition, if your conservation plan on highly erodible land calls for 30% residue, care is needed to make sure you don't bury it all. 

Vertical tilled and chiseled

Chiseled and rough

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. 

Variation in Final Tillage Practice

I sampled today a bit Northwest of Carlinville.  One of my interesting observations was in tillage practice to plant soybeans.  One customer had done tillage after the last big rain and planted soybeans.  The other planted in stale seedbed.  Both were in 15 inch rows.  I saw no difference in emergence.  Weeds may be a day or 2 ahead on the stale seedbed.  Soybean emergence was ok but not great with either practice.  Again I am not sure if it is the treated seed. 

Soil moisture was still adequate and in some cases excessive on poorly drained soils.  The surface in the stale seedbed had a thick hard crust, but plenty of moisture below that,  The tilled soils were dry a little deeper.  Yes we would still welcome a bit of rain because corn is rolling leaves.  Evapo-transpiration in the big corn is taking a good bit of moisture right now.  Some moisture would help the corn develop a better root system. 

I visited the earliest planted field that I know of and it will be tasseling in 10 days to 2 weeks. 

Cultivate Corn?

Earlier in the year there was a lot of talk about cultivating corn for weed control.  I saw cultivator in the field on my home.  It is in a place I regularly pass so I am looking forward to seeing how it looks in a few days.  I am not sure why the producer was cultivating.  Was it tough weeds, or was it to provide some surface aeration.  The short answer the headline question is: "if you have time." 

In the early 70's some research was done on cultivating corn.  At that time, the researchers found a 10% yield advantage.  After a wet spell like we have had recently, cultivation could be a good idea.  I know that some still have corn to plant or replant and most people still have lots of soybeans to plant.  Even if you do not have time to cultivate it all, this might be a good thing to look at with some strip trials.  Keep in mind that soils need to be similar if you are doing trials.  Weed control and aeration are both benefits of cultivation.  As with all tillage decisions check your conservation plan to see cultivation is allowed. 

Stale seedbed

This was supposed to be my blog yesterday because it has been on my mind for a few days.  I talked to someone recently who had done some tillage on a field to smooth it out and kill weeds, but he had rain on it before he got it planted.  He was saying he wanted to till it again to break up the crust.  I said he should plant without tillage.  The seedbed is already there.  The weed control is already there.  The planter will do an adequate job breaking the crust and the soil being slightly firmer should allow for more even seed depth. 

Even planting in fall tilled soil is a viable option if it is not too rough.  This article in Prairie Farmer seems to validate my thinking as well.  with all the rain we have had, Planting at this point is considered to be late in some respects.  Speeding up the process by planting a stale seedbed is certainly a viable option.

Rolling baskets.

Regular readers, I appreciate your support and strive to give you something new every day.  Beware that the timing on my posting is now on a field work schedule.  I post after supper when I get home.  Sometimes that can be 8PM or later. 

I guess today is a good day for my annual rant about rolling baskets.  Soil finishers with rolling baskets are all the rage these days.  You can take some pretty rough ground and make it look like a lettuce bed.  Why do I have  a problem with that?  It makes your soil very vulnerable to crusting and puddling especially when you have low residue soybean stubble to start with.  As you know, crusting can seal off sprouting seeds from the oxygen they need to make it to the surface.  To avoid crusting, lots of residue and some moderate clods are in order. 

Soils with 15% clay or less are very common in our area.  When the rolling basket hits those soils, they look like floor.  And you know what happens to flour when water hits it.  Yes, paste.  You get my point. 

On a different note, some nice prairie soils north of Carlinville sold today for $10,075.  It is good soil, but I think it might benefit from some addition tile. 

Carrollton

I worked in the Wrights and Carrollton area today. Soil is drying out much more than I expected although I can hardly say it is dry.   Tillage would go well with a minimum of lumps.  I took the soil temperature at 10AM to see where we are for nitrogen application.  fall Nitrogen should not be applied until soil temperatures reach 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  This is despite the fact that the IL Agronomy Handbook says 60.  The reason for 50 is that at 60 it is very likely to get warmer at some time.  At 50, we hope it will stay below 60.  Remember to use Nitrification inhibitor.  Soil temperatures will be pretty variable.  Today is was 58 in corn stalks.  Chiseled ground will be much warmer.  Hang in there guys.  With the good harvest weather, there is bound to be a window to apply your anhydrous.

Meantime get a thermometer like the one below for less than $10 at Walmart.  It needs to have a probe 4 inches or longer. 

Fillmore

I worked north of Fillmore today.  The landscape looks very open by now although there are still plenty of soybeans to harvest.  Corn was still being harvested as well, but it is 90% done.  I sampled soybean ground all day. 

The ground was not particularly dry, but it is getting very hard.  Combine and auger wagon tire tracks were especially hard.  Ground seems to be working better now for those who are tilling.  Moisture content seems about right for tillage now, even deep tillage if you want. 

We should be thankful for the wonderful harvest so far.  I don't usually comment on markets but it was interesting how much USDA downgraded the corn crop and what that did to the market.  If I remember the numbers correctly, the shorter new crop just about made up for the extra old crop corn we found a few weeks ago.  I think the downgrading of the yield is pretty reflective of what is actually going on.  It might drop more because the later corn will not be as good as what is harvested already.

More Tillage Comments

Lots of ground was getting worked or had already been worked today. I had the unfortunate experience of needing to sample some of it that was very rough. Below is a DMI Tiger. It generally leaves the ground in rough condition which is not a huge problem to me, but I don't like the cause of the roughness. Usually the ground is too wet to till when it is really rough.
Today, this field was not too bad. The untilled parts seemed very moist, but for the most part ground was in reasonable condition on this field. I also sampled some fields where the soil was tilled when it was still gummy. Gummy is not good. It was not only very rough, but I suspect there was some compaction at the chisel points and maybe it was even wet enough that the tire tracks caused some deep compaction.

This field was disked fairly shallow. It was gummy at about 4 inches. This disking keeps the compaction close to the surface. It also gets some soil on the stalks and gets them to start decomposition. If things dry out enough to do some deep tillage that would be OK. If not, I think a soil finisher could make an acceptable seedbed in this field in the spring, especially for soybeans.