Colder soils in no till

[Andy Howard]

http://www.no-tillfarmer.com/pages/...er-Myth-With-No-Till,-Cover-Crops-8-14-13.php
Interesting article about the myth of cold soils no-till and cover crops. Obviously not very scientific.

 

[britt]

That's an experiment we could all do.
Pull a cultivator on a short strip in autumn planted stubble and another in a stubble to be planted in spring. With the readings taken only a few feet apart, and all other aspects being equal we could get some useful results.

 

[rob1]

Only had a quick look at the article but they were taking the temps quite late in spring and when the covers would be growing so removing moisture allowing it to warm up, and why take the temps at four inches down thats not where the seed is. From most of the comments on here in the spring and from my ground any that had covers were colder and wetter than land that didnt, quite glad that the rain and slugs combined with late drilling ruined most of my experiment. As the tests were done by a firm promoting cover crop seed the results are what they wanted, for me the jury is still out

 

[JD-Kid]

ummm to a point cooler early in the spring but with cover shoild be warmer later in to the autrum .. seem to recall some US drills haveing scalpers to bare the ground on the planting row to alow the soil to warm up for early plantings .. but once the dark ground drys out it would be a light colour reflecting the sunsrays