SilliamWhale
Member
25.4mm actually...
Ready to drill
- Thread starter Clive
- Start date
25.4mm actually...
SilliamWhale
Member
Who knows? I don't think anyone really got to grips with it beyond the obvious one of changing rotation
- Location
- Essex Coast
Which is why I am trying some triticale this year
In this situation you would have had some good BG control opportunity through winter and up to the June cover planting date
You would get another control opportunity now at planting as well with glyphosate and with min soil disturbance at planting hopefully seeing less in crop germination as a result ?
Last thing I would do would be disturb soil pre drilling with a carrier or anything else if I had BG to deal with.
Also if I had BG I would delay drilling until late oct / November and feel safe to do so as with green cover like this my experience is you can drill no matter how wet it gets
TelesnaAg
Member
- Location
- Portland, Victoria - Australia
Good work Clive, i have given up trying to grow clean crops in high rainfall, plan is to get into clover cover crops etc, graze before seeding if a bit high or even give a 100ml of Kamba before seding just to stunt a bit...if i can pick up some feed and drop pre ems id be happy - they are expensive. I dont know if pre ems would work in that cover crop personally. Also my agro is not big on spraying weeds post sowing as in some cases new crop can touch sprayed crop and cop damage...be interesting to see how you go?
Ant....
Ant....
farmideas
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire and West Wales
Fascinating discussion - I'm amazed, dumbfounded.
- Location
- Ashford, Kent
@Clive did you drill the headlands first? Doing mine tomorrow just thinking of the practicalities
We did them last which is normal here
- Location
- Ashford, Kent
Just thought it would be simpler to drill them first. Normally do them last
Why dumbfounded?
- Location
- S. Staffs
Interesting to see someone sowing on ploughed ground on Sunday, he had just finished the headlands and was about to set up his first run. Never seems right to me to turn over your sown crop, but I remarked to the OH that when we used a trailed drill with manual in/ out of work lever and the old man riding the drill, they always sowed the headlands first so as to have a mark to work to, GPS etc makes it so easy to be accurate now.
Steevo
Member
- Location
- Gloucestershire
Everything sown headlands first here. Makes no difference to the crop at all and is much easier to do with or without GPS.
farmideas
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire and West Wales
Because farmers have been married to ploughs and big tractors for the 50 years I've been around farming. Because hard work and turning tons of soil has been an essential part of farming and gardening for generations.
This mode of crop production comes well before the printing press, yet we all are pretty dumbfounded by being able to read a long novel on a piece of plastic, or having another piece of plastic in your pocket and using it to chat and see your mate in Colorado!
By dumbfounded I don't mean I can't talk or write about it - I find the whole technique fascinating, which is why I now have a section in Practical Farm Ideas called Soil + Cover Cropping International. But what we, as an industry have to learn and find out... it's not far from starting again. We all need to be hugely grateful to those farmers who are prepared to experiment and post what they are doing. Dumbfounded might not be the right word, but these are my thoughts as to the importance of the work you guys are doing out there in the field.
Baling Hay
Member
Not really as not many grass species in the cover plus dry conditions and warm soil
warksfarmer
Member
I would think this thread has the input industry and machinery industry quaking in their boots as its clear to see in the right situation you can farm in a very simple but effective way.
Home made cover crop with a 15 year old drill with a few adaptations and done.
Off on a tangent slightly but clearly establishing a cover in june is better than behind the combine so what about spinning a mix on into a standing crop say a month prior to expected harvest date and then cut the harvested crop a bit higher to avoid taking in any growth?
If that was possible then surely winter wheat followed by winter wheat is a big possibility?
Home made cover crop with a 15 year old drill with a few adaptations and done.
Off on a tangent slightly but clearly establishing a cover in june is better than behind the combine so what about spinning a mix on into a standing crop say a month prior to expected harvest date and then cut the harvested crop a bit higher to avoid taking in any growth?
If that was possible then surely winter wheat followed by winter wheat is a big possibility?
- Location
- Kenilworth
We've been thinking about doing this. The only problem could be finding a mix that we can broadcast to a reasonable width with some accuracy.
It's amazing the difference a few days in late July/early August can make to growth.
farmideas
Member
- Location
- Herefordshire and West Wales
IN my research for the Soil + section of Prac Farm Ideas I've come across exactly this being done in the USA, covers broadcast by plane and also using spinners mounted on a frame on the tractor 3-pt. Some like to 'terminate' with a ribbed roller - there's a how-to-build-it guide in PFI 22-2 http://bit.ly/139YSsX pgs 12 & 13 if you've got the copy. The cover is flattened in the same direction as you're going to drill. They say you need to drill straight away or leave it for some time to really wilt - in between and the cover stems are tough to cut through.
Would be v interested in the drill adaptations you have made. PLease PM me if you have a minute. Thanks.
Would be v interested in the drill adaptations you have made. PLease PM me if you have a minute. Thanks.
Tractor Boy
Member
- Location
- Suffolk
Sorry, I don't get your last statement/question. Why is wheat fb wheat more likely to succeed with a short term cover crop in between?
its something that I have had many conversations about, some on here and some via BASE meets etc and there are members here @Andy Howard for example who have tried
success spinning on depends very much on rainfall it seems but then there is also the rsk of too much rain and delayed harvest and then trying to cut crops with a significant under-story of green material
there are drills that can actually drill into standing crops between rows etc as well
its the holly grain of proper zero-till really, not sure it can be done under UK cropping systems as we know them yet however
Speed is essential with cover crops, every day (hour even) counts. My next plan is going to be to try auto-casting my covers from combine header I think to get them in even faster and under straw rather than mixed with it, this will hopefully preserve max moisture as well for fast germination and early growth with the added benefit of cheapening the operation further
cover crops can be hit and miss depending on circumstance beyond your control (weather) IMO so you have to manage expectation and spend accordingly realistic in the knowledge that maybe 1 year in 3 it could be a total waste of time and cash !