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West TN | 1. Utilizing annual ryegrass to dissolve our naturally occurring fragipan. Dr. Lloyd Murdock has demonstrated that getting rid of a fragipan can happen in 6 years utilizing a heavy rate of annual ryegrass. We have been using light rates of annual ryegrass for 5 years before intensifying our rates 2 years ago. We have currently dissolved approximately 10-11” of a 20-20” fragipan layer.
2. Raising K levels fertilizing for 5% base saturation. It takes a few years and a lot $$$ of fertilizer, but it does work. This is the only method I’ve used where I was actually successful raising K levels in our soil and I believe our crops have responded.
3. Using chicken litter to raise yields. It takes a few years before we see a significant response as chicken litter has a cumulative effect with year after year application. Not sure if yield bump is due to the slow release of fertility, adding OM, or being supplied with micronutrients that are not traditionally applied.
4. Zero tolerance on resistant weeds. It can take 4+ years to eradicate resistant palmer amaranth but it can be done. I spend a lot of time every summer scouting and manually controlling escapes but have cleaned up new farms and kept the problem from beginning on my other farms. The only pigweed I have show up in my field are from seed brought onto the farm by wildlife or are from the rare escape that I missed the previous year. | |
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Management that takes patience to see results
