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SW MN and Gold Canyon AZ | To me its all about managing the residue wether your strip till or min till. I have been to the point of to much residue which hinders yield in my clay soils on the cold buffalo ridge here in sw mn. One must find a happy medium. I use lots of manure which increase residue alot. Because I have big heavy tanks running in my ground its a must to break up that compaction once every 2 yrs. This yr it was dry so I used a wisek disk for heavy corn stalks on most of the farms. I felt it was so dry that I wasn't causing a hard pan . One field I ripped didn;t show any signs of compaction unlike last yr. Every yr is different so I manage it that way.
I feel Im leaving as much residue as needed for erosion protection but not enough to hinder yields. Field cultivators seems to bring alot of the residue back to the surface in the spring which is a good thing.
My yields are increasing, OM levels are increasing, and looking at some root pits I dug I am not going backwards.
Here its not about saving soil moisture as much as trying to dry and warm the soils up in the spring.Ussually we have excess moisture and with cooler soil temps to much residue can really hinder crop developement. | |
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soil structure and health
