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southern MN | Some corn ears might be moving downward here in the wind, but not much dirt.
Way too wet for any dirt to blow.
If we were on lighter soils, or had earlier milder springs, or we had less ground water (even with tile) or if frost wasn't so deep or if erosion was more of a concern or .....
Then maybe.
But here you will fail 2 out of 5 years if you try notill. Just a perfect setup of harsh Mother Nature, the ground doesn't dry, doesn't perk, rolling hills that don't let the frost out on the north side, gathers the water in open ponds on 1/4 of the farm 2-3 springs out of 5, and so forth.
Even strip till would be tough, Greywolf tried and made a lot of progress, but it is a difficult thing.
Snowmelt happens relatively slowly, but the water accumulates on the frozen low ground, can be a foot or two of water sitting in March. The corn stalks float and make huge muscrat piles on the downwind side of the low spots. The ground never dries out under those, and even good notill planter can't penetrate a one foot mass of wet stalks or bean stubble.
The water in our low spots doesn't even come from the surface always; it will flow out of sidehills and under ground and rise up in the low areas. Most all of our fields are a string of sidehill clay springs. This rising water in spring is very cold, passing through up to 4 feet of frost to get to the surface.
If one of the issues is removed that Mother Nature throws at us (I would believe you have much lighter soil?) then there is an angle to work. Lighter soil will drain faster internally, and will warm up quicker.
Sure, I can do notill for 5 years, and proclaim wonderful success 2 of those years....
But in a long term farming operation, there would be many failures!
We have tried a lot of different things. We do less 'black' tillage than we used to.
But without some black showing, and without a rough surface in spring, there is great risk of over saturated soils (even with tile) staying very cold and wet into June. Not every acre, but in a round through the field you easily pass through 2 low spots and 3 bleeding sidehills on our irregular topography.
Notill = poor crops in this climate and soil type and topography.
Paul | |
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Fall Tillage in MN
