As mentioned above, in corn on corn strip till, next spring's corn has generally been planted between this year's rows - right where most folks drive. And right where they often pull a grain cart with axle loads that if you were caught on an interstate highway with 10" of concrete they would put you in jail....

Two approaches to the problem used by some of our strip till customers are:

1) drive on the stalks in the fall, not in the middles where you will be stripping and planting in the spring. Customers use stalk stompers on the combine, hang a bar under the corn head, leave a bit more stalk standing (12-16" pushes over rather than into tires). Customers using larger low pressure tires spaced to run at least partially on the just harvested row report better traction and less rutting compared to driving in the middles in a fall like this one.

2) strip till and plant next springs corn (or beans) at an angle to the harvested stalks.  This minimizes the effect of compaction in the middles and does tend to level out any ruts a bit but prevention of rutting is still important. Here is a central IL customer's photo of his strips made at an angle to the harvested corn rows. This photo was taken last fall but the same can and has been done in the spring.

Jim at Dawn

(Dawn Strip Till C IL Hvy COC Fall at an Angle 11-2008 Customer Photo 009.jpg)

Dawn Strip Till C IL Hvy COC Fall at an Angle 11-2008 Customer Photo 009.jpg (102KB - 70 downloads)