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Mid-Michigan | I've got lots of the stuff you are describing. Lots of brookston clay. It's good dirt and very productive but a challenge. I think tile is a must. Otherwise, keep doing the best you can with whatever mother nature give you. Some things that have worked for us, but it's not an overnight fix (none of the things I mention are).
1. Tile but it's not magic bullet. Tile only gets rid of excess water and takes at least 3 years to start working at maximum efficiency. Also, Tile is worthless if you can't stay off it when it's wet. I watch guys do this all the time. Because they now have a tiled field they think they can go a week early. You can't. You are just compounding what you just spent a fortune to fix with your 600 hp tractor and high speed disc.
2. Once it's tiled, those wet areas that have been worked wet for 150 years and has the weight of standing water on it for a 1000 years wont come alive for several years.
3. Gypsum or high cal lime every 5 years has done miracles on what you describe. I'm no soil scientist but understand the calcium/magnesium ratio just enough to be dangerous. It works but takes at least 2 years before you see the benefit.
I'm not a no tiller but have been using some sort of cover crop for as long as I can remember. I think they help.
4. Reducing your trips across your field to a minimum. I don't care if it's bone dry, you are creating compaction, especially with the stuff we are running out there now.
I think deep tillage can help but without the stuff I've mentioned above (for me at least), it's like sticking your finger in the leaking dike. Tile and staying off it when it's wet are the biggest for me. Trying to eliminate passes with things like a disc for me is very important (sometimes it cant be helped). Good luck. It takes time.
Edited by AGB 12/1/2024 09:00
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Compaction
