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| I see you are in west central Ohio. I have a few thoughts for you coming from a western Ohio notil farmer.
1. Have you ever notilled any crops? There is a learning curve. Do you have any neighbors who notil
that would be willing to give you tips on what works to notil and more importantly what does not
work?
2. What soil types do you have? Some soil types are better to notil and are better to use tillage.
3. Did you rip the entire field? If not, try some notil if you can.
4. The OM on my farm was 2% when I started to notil in 1978. The OM is now 3% or higher.
5. Long term notil soil is firmer. A few years ago I tried putting side dress anhydrous ammonia with a
3 shank bar and no coulters. It was all a strong 110 hp tractor wanted. Yet water infiltration is
faster than neighboring conventional tilled soil.
6. Let the earthworms work. A number of years ago I chopped corn silage and drove the same to and
from the silo packing the ground until it was very smooth. Later in the year I used the same path
hauling manure to the field where silage was chopped. The path was very bumpy because the
earthworms had burrowed through the hard packed areas. I could not visually see any difference
in the soybean crop next year.
Sorry for the length but hope this helps you. Jim | |
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Hard no-till ground
