After carrots...?

[steveR]

The neighbours have had a crop of organic carrots that have now been harvested. Very impressive crop and some impressive kit!

I had a look over the hedge today as I had wondered about getting rd of all that straw that had been covering the crop. Some sort of device had mixed and buried 90% of the straw. The neighbour had done some ploughing after the burier, but I did wonder firstly, could you drill straight into the buried straw with a DD, and two, how much breaking down will the straw take and how much N would be needed for that process?

 

[Flat 10]

An imants spader? And quite a bit of N....

 

[steveR]

An imants spader? And quite a bit of N....

Spader... that was they are called. Had some sort of press with a spiked finish.

Would it drill straight in...??

 

[Clive]

An imants spader? And quite a bit of N....

AKA the soil destroyer !!

It might look reasonable but it will only grow half a crop for the next year or so

 

[Bury the Trash]

Spader... that was they are called. Had some sort of press with a spiked finish.

Would it drill straight in...??

No, a spader is like a great big hd rotavator.

Cant it be ploughed when it's a bit drier with high clearance?


Or when its dried out ...... Swan vestas ?

 

[Farmer Fin]

We let land for carrots which are always strawed down. Our lads don’t use a spadder but disc it several times. We then plough and power harrow drill OSR. The following crop of OSR is always poor due to the N lock up and compaction, but it tends to get the ground going. Some people do spring barley if the carrots are off early enough but they talk about 2 ton acre. A few have started cover crops if they have livestock which may be the answer.

 

[Will 1594]

Put some turkey or chicken muck on , plough it with no skimmers on , bury what you can , spin some mustard and oil radish on ,let,it grow , flail it off ,or eat it off ,just before flowering , cultivate it up ,mix soil again , sow same again or what ever you have in shed to get some thing growing in it , , then get it ready ,to sow a winter barley crop Use the straw and muck to improve the om of the sandy shite , we did this on 45 acre 2 years ago , has done it good

 

[Classichay]

First rule of farming don’t let carrots that are strawed into your rotation, it’s a 1-6 rotation but it takes 6 years for the field to be worthwhile again, generally the amount of straw in the soil limits nitrogen uptake and cereals following it are badly hindered. The immants spaders are the only way to get rid of the straw - 1 Heston per 50m of bed. But ploughing back after it will just turf the straw residues back to the surface.

If it’s a wet year like this year I witnessed a large Oswestry setup with 4 tractors trying to drag tri axle root trailers all buried and a tracked harvester buried making such a mess on rented ground, if it were my ground I’d of asked them to leave the machines until it dried up and ploughed the lot under. The wet holes these guys can create are deeper than the plough pans so will be visible in future cropping and as I was once told takes 5 minutes to make a wet hole 5 years to dry it back out. It may be tempting to take the higher rate of rent offered but offset over the losses of three years of crops proceeding it’s a false economy.

not to forget to mention the black grass as the straw comes from the cheapest source, so if you have a black grass problem you’ve seen nothing yet.

 

[Hesstondriver]

let the field for maize, maize does very well after straw carrots. but let someone else establish and feed it.

alternatively cover crop or a really early entry to osr

 

[steveR]

We let land for carrots which are always strawed down. Our lads don’t use a spadder but disc it several times. We then plough and power harrow drill OSR. The following crop of OSR is always poor due to the N lock up and compaction, but it tends to get the ground going. Some people do spring barley if the carrots are off early enough but they talk about 2 ton acre. A few have started cover crops if they have livestock which may be the answer.

Thought that myself, a mob of sheep across it.

 

[steveR]

First rule of farming don’t let carrots that are strawed into your rotation, it’s a 1-6 rotation but it takes 6 years for the field to be worthwhile again, generally the amount of straw in the soil limits nitrogen uptake and cereals following it are badly hindered. The immants spaders are the only way to get rid of the straw - 1 Heston per 50m of bed. But ploughing back after it will just turf the straw residues back to the surface.

If it’s a wet year like this year I witnessed a large Oswestry setup with 4 tractors trying to drag tri axle root trailers all buried and a tracked harvester buried making such a mess on rented ground, if it were my ground I’d of asked them to leave the machines until it dried up and ploughed the lot under. The wet holes these guys can create are deeper than the plough pans so will be visible in future cropping and as I was once told takes 5 minutes to make a wet hole 5 years to dry it back out. It may be tempting to take the higher rate of rent offered but offset over the losses of three years of crops proceeding it’s a false economy.

Straw is I believe, 40t/ac... I can believe it will take 2-3 years to get back in order. Cover crop and WW the following Autumn I'd say...

I think that the local Village is surrounded with carrots from the crew you mention... The damage THEY have caused is appalling. Every bit as bad as some late spuds this last time. I am gobsmacked to see huge trailers, loaded to extreme, being hauled off by massive tractors... Worst was seeing trailer, being towed by two tractors AND a Drott... The soil run off (the field is on a steep bank drilled to bottom) was dreadful and the compaction is dire. Way worse than that seen on my neighbours!

 

[steveR]

AKA the soil destroyer !!

It might look reasonable but it will only grow half a crop for the next year or so

Looked a hell of a lot of straw to be processed by the soil creepy crawlies! :-(

 

[Classichay]

Straw is I believe, 40t/ac... I can believe it will take 2-3 years to get back in order. Cover crop and WW the following Autumn I'd say...

I think that the local Village is covered with carrots from the crew you mention... The damage THEY have caused is appalling. Every bit as bad as some late spuds this last time. I am gobsmacked to see huge trailers, loaded to extreme, being hauled off by massive tractors... Worst was seeing trailer, being towed by two tractors AND a Drott... The soil run off (the field is on a steep bank drilled to bottom) was dreadful and the compaction is dire. Way worse than that seen on my neighbours!

There is two outfits running in the area you are talking about, there’s a huge amount of crop still in the floor, and if their contracts are dated with a lifting time they won’t care what conditions the fields are left in, with wet seasons they cannot lift straw cleanly and the plastic sheet underneath just gets shredded and stays there indefinitely, may as well just spread silage plastic over your field, Seeing the aftermath of a blocked Coulter on a drill from plastic being wedged firmly up there 20 acres later....


Their staffing is very hit and miss from what I’ve seen and been told so uneducated drivers getting buried overloaded making a mess where there shouldn’t be. Local council is having a nightmare with the damage to road gateways as some of these are pulling stuck machines with multiple straps from on the roads. Hearing of all the horror stories and being approached by one of these growers I’d rather grow knotweed.

 

[Landrover]

Used to let ground for carrots here (20yrs ago) only our lightest blow away ground, all the straw used to do wonders for it ! Could do with them growing them around here again ! Wouldn't have them on any stronger ground tho, and they can make a terrible mess if its wet !

 

[warksfarmer]

The neighbours have had a crop of organic carrots that have now been harvested. Very impressive crop and some impressive kit!

I had a look over the hedge today as I had wondered about getting rd of all that straw that had been covering the crop. Some sort of device had mixed and buried 90% of the straw. The neighbour had done some ploughing after the burier, but I did wonder firstly, could you drill straight into the buried straw with a DD, and two, how much breaking down will the straw take and how much N would be needed for that process?

We had carrots that were overwintered - best paying crop ever for us. It was spaded and ploughed by the carrot company and then we planted spring linseed. I’ll have to check but I think it did 1.2t/ac at £385/t so very happy. Followed that with a DD winter wheat which did our average yield of 3.5t/ac of group 1 but masses of straw which ended up at 2.5t/ac over the weighbridge. The straw swaths were nearly as high as a pickup bonnet. Never seen anything like it before.

 

[steveR]

There is two outfits running in the area you are talking about, there’s a huge amount of crop still in the floor, and if their contracts are dated with a lifting time they won’t care what conditions the fields are left in, with wet seasons they cannot lift straw cleanly and the plastic sheet underneath just gets shredded and stays there indefinitely, may as well just spread silage plastic over your field, Seeing the aftermath of a blocked Coulter on a drill from plastic being wedged firmly up there 20 acres later....

Really makes you think why... I can see the instant cash is appealing but deffo needs the right land... super light sand!

Their staffing is very hit and miss from what I’ve seen and been told so uneducated drivers getting buried overloaded making a mess where there shouldn’t be. Local council is having a nightmare with the damage to road gateways as some of these are pulling stuck machines with multiple straps from on the roads. Hearing of all the horror stories and being approached by one of these growers I’d rather grow knotweed.

Hmmm, not an unknown. Same can be said about some of the potato crews I supect, young and/or dozy drivers, lacking commonsense and poor managing of the teams.

 

[berisford]

Do those carrot bedding machines remove the string off the bales or is it done by hand.

 

[Classichay]

Do those carrot bedding machines remove the string off the bales or is it done by hand.

They remove all but 2 strings then spend an hour cutting the string off at the end of the day if it’s not been launched into the straw, does wonders for your power Harrow bed bearing seals I believe

 

[mixed breed]

Straw is I believe, 40t/ac... I can believe it will take 2-3 years to get back in order. Cover crop and WW the following Autumn I'd say...

I think that the local Village is surrounded with carrots from the crew you mention... The damage THEY have caused is appalling. Every bit as bad as some late spuds this last time. I am gobsmacked to see huge trailers, loaded to extreme, being hauled off by massive tractors... Worst was seeing trailer, being towed by two tractors AND a Drott... The soil run off (the field is on a steep bank drilled to bottom) was dreadful and the compaction is dire. Way worse than that seen on my neighbours!

They had a field next door to me 5 years ago, it was like a war zone afterwards, there was a bulldozer working for a week trying to level it out, they eventually sowed fodder beet and unbelievably it looked a very reasonable crop, albeit patchy where the worst compaction was.

I certainly wouldn't want them here.

 

[steveR]

They had a field next door to me 5 years ago, it was like a war zone afterwards, there was a bulldozer working for a week trying to level it out, they eventually sowed fodder beet and unbelievably it looked a very reasonable crop, albeit patchy where the worst compaction was.

I certainly wouldn't want them here.

I have one 5ha patch, nice and near a river for irrigation, essentially blowaway sand... but fortunately, si inaccessible, as to be unavailable for carrits, so I am not temptrd!!