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Aberdeen MS | I'm not sure where you are, but Jim did mention "further north".
It's not quite a shot across the bow at Orthman, a shot across the bow against all the rest of the shank/knife type units (about 15 or 16 of them), yes.
In heavier clay soils in northern Ia, Mn, SD, ND, (for examples), doing any tillage of any sort deeper than about 4" in the spring is setting up a scenario that may be disastrous if certain weather conditions follows after stripping. If a person would ask conventional tillage guys if they would go out with their "ripper" in the spring, the answer would probably be NO. So why do it in a narrow band? But that is "here" not sure what it is "there".
The soils that are prevalent "up here" sometimes will still have frost deep when the top 3-4" are fit to go. Using a knife/shank unit in heavier clay type soils MAY end up with a smeared, compacted side wall that when dried out becomes quite "brick" like which only lead to the plant doing what it does naturally when putting roots down. That's taking the path of least resistance which takes them down the trench first into the concentrated nutrient band before attempting to branch out.
Why are those that direct seed/plant so concerned with side wall compaction in wetter conditions?? A knife/shank type set up accomplishes it's designed action by compression of the soil structure. That eliminates the air in the mix leaving only soil and water, which as you know, when the water evaporates out, clay only becomes quite a brick. A vertical tillage type coulter set up doesn't not compress the structure, actually injects a bit more air into the zone keeping the seed zone closer to the 50/25/25 ideal mix (in wetter spring time conditions).
It is all so very dependent on soil type, internal drainage capability, and local climate conditions as to what degree of possible failure that MAY take place using a knife/shank unit in the spring.
Past agronomic practice comes into play as well. A very well structured soil profile basically only needs a strip worked 3" deep to provide a bit of drying with a residue free surface to give a better guarantee of seed to soil contact (basically the only reason spring tillage is done in the first place). That structure is not achieved in one year when converting from conventional/mulch till to conservation type tillage.
Nutrients place to the side of the band, complimented with a small amount placed right below the seed zone, followed with a side dress of N (for corn) at the time closer to when the plant needs it gives one the best bang for the buck of nutrient applied in that crop year than just about any other system on the market today.
Each strip till tool does what it is designed to do and they all do it well. When applied into the conditions they were designed for. Knife/shank type units were not designed to operate in wet high clay type soils in the spring, a coulter type unit is however more suited to that type of operation.
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Building a strip till
