I enjoyed thatWith feet in both camps, the only comment I can make on this subject at this time goes something along these lines:
DD doesn't work successfully for all farmers that is a fact, it does (demonstrably) work on most soil types however just as reliably as any establishment system does (ie no system is 100%)
The variable is the farmer more than the soil
You’d have both my grandfathers and father turning in their graves!srely leaving the ploughing as close to sowing rather than winter ploughing will help this?
We plough grass in a few weeks before drilling, like to have a green cover over the winter.You’d have both my grandfathers and father turning in their graves!
All land destined for spring cropping needs ploughing in reasonable conditions before Christmas to give it the chance of a good frost mould, before drilling it.
Trying to get any sensible seedbed from fresh ploughed ground in the Spring is usually difficult, forced and doesn’t get the crop off to a decent start unless it is boys land.
You’ll know when it is suitable to work and drill, by dropping you trousers and being able to sit bare arsed on the ploughed land for a couple of minutes without being in too much pain!
Word of advice: Beware of any flint stones.
Yes, grass is a good drainer and even my grandfathers and father might do the same. But they were all mostly arable men. Or ploughed up the grass in the Autumn and planted a Winter crop.We plough grass in a few weeks before drilling, like to have a green cover over the winter.
Depends how heavy the land is surely? We plough in the spring then straight in with combi drill we get great establishment this wayYou’d have both my grandfathers and father turning in their graves!
All land destined for spring cropping needs ploughing in reasonable conditions before Christmas to give it the chance of a good frost mould, before drilling it.
Trying to get any sensible seedbed from fresh ploughed ground in the Spring is usually difficult, forced and doesn’t get the crop off to a decent start unless it is boys land.
You’ll know when it is suitable to work and drill, by dropping you trousers and being able to sit bare arsed on the ploughed land for a couple of minutes without being in too much pain!
Word of advice: Beware of any flint stones.
Depends how heavy the land is surely? We plough in the spring then straight in with combi drill we get great establishment this way
I am sure there are parts of the Country that you can get away with it.Depends how heavy the land is surely? We plough in the spring then straight in with combi drill we get great establishment this way
What is that map showing? It looks like tree cover to me....Whilst cultivation exposes soil OM to oxidation and loss, I’ve often thought that areas of higher rainfall should encourage more soil OM due to more plant material produced, less oxygen getting into the soil as its damper and less arable farming in high rainfall areas.
This map seems to show a trend.
View attachment 938479
Soil Carbon in organic forms in grams per kg of soil. I don’t know what the sampling depth is.What is that map showing? It looks like tree cover to me....
We had to spring plough some heavier fields last year as simply couldn't move the plough in the wet winter . Plough fully closed in , power harrow on stand by and tried a few times before finally going approx 48 hours after the plough , this seemed the right time for not being too raw but before it dried out too much. Rolled then power harrow combi drill and rolled again and again a few weeks later to try and aid emergence.Depends how heavy the land is surely? We plough in the spring then straight in with combi drill we get great establishment this way
theres only bad management not a bad systemThis has always been the case though. DD doesn’t work successfully on all soil types every single year.
Can’t see the point in min-till though now. It just makes matter far far worse.
theres only bad management not a bad system
That goes for any system though.Yes but even with exceptional management you can’t beat the weather. The weather always wins.
That's because the slide in the OP has been misrepresented. Listen to to the webinar for this slide, starts at around 10.10 on this link. The speaker never suggests that ploughing is good for SOM, quite the opposite, she suggests that to increase SOM intensive cultivations need to be reduced. The bullet point about SOM is merely suggesting that Scottish soils has good levels of SOM. Ploughing is never mentioned.Interesting. The slide in the OP appears to be contradicted by this
View attachment 938928
taken from SRUC's website here: https://ww1.sruc.ac.uk/media/4qgfjtuh/valuing-your-soils.pdf