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Aberdeen MS | If you get a freeze and it stays frozen, the relief of the compaction layer by frost is minimal at best.
Repeated thaw/freeze cycles is the compaction buster.
In your case with frost only going to 6" you probably will get several cycles over the winter and a layer only a couple inches deep would more than likely be taken care of by the frost.
Depending on the equipment .... i.e. size of tractor and implement, I'd be more concerned with the compaction resulting from the tires that are not following a controlled traffic pattern.
80% of the ending compaction is achieved on the first pass in the soil, that's why controlled traffic patterns are beneficial. The depth of that compaction depends on the weight of the equipment and the footprint of tires.
Up here in the "nort" country....once frost gets past 2-3", there are no repeated cycles to speak of in 19 out of 20 yrs. Heavy equipment can put compaction layers down around 12" and deeper.
If compaction is a concern of yours, google Jodi DeJong-Hughes of the University of MN Extension and compaction to get a read on what she has published on footprint size and resulting compaction. | |
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Will a disk really destroy no-till soil structure
