|
Western Iowa | As I am out there disking the heavy clay, i find myself wanting to beat the crap out of the ground......deep rip. I need to get air down in the soil to fluff and make a good warm seed bed in the spring. It just is the place my mind always ends up as the solution to getting the stuff to produce. I have worked hard on drainage and soil fertility. One thing I cannot get a handle on is magnesium. I am loaded with it on the heavy clay. Its kind of funny....the ground that can be easily tilled like keg or silt loam is the ground that notill is easiest to practice in my opinion. VS the ground that is a fuel nitemare to work and manage is the hardest to get a handle on notill.
They heavy clay in my area has been a struggle to manage for 100yrs. People have fought it, worked with it, practically begged it to cooperate. For a few years calcium was the magic bullet. Now hardly anyone uses it. Its hard to ignore the fact that it always looks the best in the spring after you have treated it like crap in the fall and lightly hit it with a cultivator before planting. Its beautiful when it is worked when dry in the spring. But it doesnt take long for it to firm up and by July you cant shove your plier handle in the ground more than two inches without using a hammer.
I am thankful for the people on this site that "give up" their knowledge that you take years for me to lean by myself.
Ken | |
|
No till troubles in heavy clay (gumbo) Solil Life and others
