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Aberdeen MS | Compaction from wheel traffic goes down in a V shape. The width of course depends on your wheel width.... the depth is dependant on soil conditions and weight. Crop roots go out in a /\ pattern. Theoretically, the roots will go "under" the compaction zone on their normal course of growth. Now some moderation needs to be addressed here as well. For those that are running an 1100 bu cart on a single axle, well... there will be some lapping and some detrimental results may be seen.
One thing to remember, one does not go out when it is "mud" unless absolutely necesary. The "un" strip till part of the field will have a higher moisture content than the strip will. But, IMO, if you are leaving ruts, it's time to head for the house and wait for a better day. The purpose for drying out is to minimize the sidewall compaction of the seed opener and give better soil/seed contact with friable soil, rather than achieving that with the planter solely. The strip band then is able to also convert radiant energy for having a warmed up bed the seed is in BEFORE planting, rather than wait for it to occur after planting and clearing a strip as in no till. All depends on the geographic area. Southern Ohio, Ind, Ill, Mo, KS, Neb, etc can generally count on warmer soil conditions on April 10 - 15, than we can up here in SC MN. Heck our lakes are just opening up from ice at that time, and the 3 - 4' frost levels have opened maybe a week prior to that normally. Makes for cold soils, add in a rain here and there, it stays cold unless you can blacken up the soil a bit and let the sun do it's natural thing.
This last spring for myself, that wasn't really an option. We recieved about a 10 - 12" heavy wet snowfall right after frost went out this past spring. All that moisture went down into the soil that the profile was full from last fall already. There were a few days that were "fit" to go (got the bean stubble stripped in excellent shape), but it went down hill quickly with additional moisture. The few spots that are not tiled high enough out of some of the draws (normal years they aren't a problem), were in "rut forming conditions", and one just had to go through to get done in a timely fashion. Couldn't find those spots this fall looking at the crop.
A note on the compaction issue and strip tilling. I have an 80 that I split in the middle length wise with "headlands". Normally I pick out of the middle so I only need my one truck. It was too wet to take the truck into the field last fall when this field was picked. Borrowed a neighbor's cart, and rounded up a couple extra hands and we carted the entire "back 40" down 4 rows and out one approach. During the crop year this year, one could not find those 4 rows by looking at the beans. Yield monitor never really found em either (although 4 out of 10 will be a tough find). | |
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Strip-till pic from below
