west central ohio | robbertsfarms - 11/3/2024 08:02
Did your chisel plow yield any better?
I had some corn acreage that were also previously long term no-till, only had a disc run across it in the fall, then had a finisher run across it in the spring 1 time, then planted. Those acres yielded about 12 bu less compared to the chiseled area. My only hang up on being extremely confident of the outcome, is that those acres were a different hybrid. They were the same maturity and brand, and had a similar plant date (within 3 days). So it is hard to pinpoint the exact reasoning. In the future I plan going back to mainly notill, after I get everything chiseled once, and leveled with the finisher. Just to try to get things flattened out, and relieve some compaction.
Also, I was trying to get cover crops (cereal rye every year) to break any compaction, and build tilth. What I found out is that without having your soil ripped or chiseled before you start, and have good drainage established, you are spinning your wheels. I kept seeing my ground getting harder and harder every year. I didnt feel like my fertilizer was showing a response anymore, and my corn was always yellow. I had soil samples taken, tissue samples taken as well, and things didnt look too bad really. The Soil Nerd told me that the main issue was drainage, and lack of oxygen in the soil. I was kinda miffed as I was told that cover crop roots would allow for all of this, What I found out was that the cover crops can only fix so much, and that you will not start "fixing the soil" unless you have tile (drainage). The magnesium levels will remain high if you cannot flush it out of the soil profile. And that will never happen with cover crops alone. And this cycle will just keep repeating no matter how much no-till you do back to back.
Compaction----Cover roots wont penetrate----Water wont leach-----Magnesium levels wont lower---High Mag makes for smaller soil particles that bind tightly===Compaction-----Repeat.
And to just be clear, not all compaction is mechanical.....3 and 4" rain events cause most of it here. I do believe notill its still the best practice, but I need to do a maintenance chisel every once and a while as I do not have adequate drainage. Deep ripping did not show a better return "here".
Edited by WAYNE0224 11/3/2024 10:07
|
Ripping Ground or Getting Ripped Off?
