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frederick, MD | Brian, I know the soils you have in gettysburg I have farmed soil like that years ago. It is a real challenge. I contend that the clay soils of your are have very low water holding capacity. So when you do get a rain, much less is absorbed into the soil then on my limestone and gravel loam soils south of you. On top of the low water holding capacity the clay washes esaily magnifying the problem. I have seen wash outs in your area that would not occur here on triple the slope.
Beating this seems to be a real challenge. The soils are saturated in the spring and bone dry in the summer. I can raise a decent corn crop with 2 rainfalls all summer while your crops would die. I have found in your soils that subsoiling seemed to increase water intake of the soil and reduce erosion. The problem then was in a wet fall the ground would not be be able to support harvest equipment. The subsoilerI had was a old one the disturbed the soil a lot. Maybe a min tillage type ripper would retain enough soil structure to leave the ground firm enough for equipment.
With that said, if I had to farm in your area, I would leave and never come back. | |
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no till and water runoff
