Combine drilling

[Cowcorn]

Went down to Carlow on wednesday for the crops and spreaders event at Oak park Teagasc research farm .
Very good day and lots of things of intrest, including wheat trials for septoria resistance . But the standout thing for me was the research that showed a clear advantage of up to1 and a half ton to the hectare from combine drilling on hungry index 2 and 3 soils.. The difference was the same in both spring barley or winter wheat. To achieve the same yield with broadcasting fert would require substanially more fert .

 

[Flat 10]

That's not ideal. i don't want to buy a combine drill. Is it better if you incorporate P&K in the seed bed? As opposed to broadcasting on top?

 

[Brisel]

Who sponsored the trial? A manufacturer of seed & fertiliser drills? Are Teagasc truly independent?

I can believe a response on lower index soils below 1 but if the soil is in good condition with plenty of available nutrients then I fail to see a significant response. Placed fertiliser has been in use for decades, especially where the crop needs to establish quickly e.g. Spring drilling and direct drilling where moisture could be an issue slowing the fertiliser getting into the soil solution. Mixing in broadcast product doesn't concentrate it close to the seed but must be the next best way after placing it near the seed.

 

[Cowcorn]

Who sponsored the trial? A manufacturer of seed & fertiliser drills? Are Teagasc truly independent?

I can believe a response on lower index soils below 1 but if the soil is in good condition with plenty of available nutrients then I fail to see a significant response. Placed fertiliser has been in use for decades, especially where the crop needs to establish quickly e.g. Spring drilling and direct drilling where moisture could be an issue slowing the fertiliser getting into the soil solution. Mixing in broadcast product doesn't concentrate it close to the seed but must be the next best way after placing it near the seed.

Dont be so cynical, nobody sponsored the trial Teagasc are funded by the taxpayer and are awfully good at upsetting machinery companies as well as chemical suppliers . The data was collected over several years and if your soils are index 1 for p and k then no problem broadcast to replace what your crop will take out but if you are dealing with index 2 and 3 then either broadcast more fert or combine drill . A ton and a half is not to be sniffed at and if you can increase yield without increasing your fert spend on rented ground especially then a combine drill should be a good investment .
If you own the land i would just up the broadcast rate to get the index up . Teagasc say start with a soil test and take it from there .
Also the w wheat trials on 140 units of n looked impressive. Wonder how well the will yield ?

 

[Beefsmith]

Dont be so cynical, nobody sponsored the trial Teagasc are funded by the taxpayer and are awfully good at upsetting machinery companies as well as chemical suppliers . The data was collected over several years and if your soils are index 1 for p and k then no problem broadcast to replace what your crop will take out but if you are dealing with index 2 and 3 then either broadcast more fert or combine drill . A ton and a half is not to be sniffed at and if you can increase yield without increasing your fert spend on rented ground especially then a combine drill should be a good investment .
If you own the land i would just up the broadcast rate to get the index up . Teagasc say start with a soil test and take it from there .
Also the w wheat trials on 140 units of n looked impressive. Wonder how well the will yield ?

So if you’ve got soil index’s of 2 and 3 for p & k they say combine drill more p & k.

Yet at a lower index 1 of p & k they say spread it on?

That makes no sense.

Also there’s thousands of farmers not applying any p & k if they’ve got index’s of 3 as it’s not needed. Good regular soil testing is far cheaper than buying many tonnes of fertiliser.

 

[Brisel]

Dont be so cynical, nobody sponsored the trial Teagasc are funded by the taxpayer and are awfully good at upsetting machinery companies as well as chemical suppliers . The data was collected over several years and if your soils are index 1 for p and k then no problem broadcast to replace what your crop will take out but if you are dealing with index 2 and 3 then either broadcast more fert or combine drill . A ton and a half is not to be sniffed at and if you can increase yield without increasing your fert spend on rented ground especially then a combine drill should be a good investment .
If you own the land i would just up the broadcast rate to get the index up . Teagasc say start with a soil test and take it from there .
Also the w wheat trials on 140 units of n looked impressive. Wonder how well the will yield ?

Ha ha! - just checking. I don't know much about Teagasc as I'm from across the water. Some of what you say really goes against "the norm." Low indices mean fertiliser down the spout is better. Perhaps that was a typo?

As I said above, I get the idea on placed fertiliser - lots of starter fertiliser used in oilseed rape and spring crops. Where rainfall is limited it's even more important.

This is all good information - every day is a school day. A lab test for soil is just that - the chemical analysis does not necessarily mean that the nutrients are available although the tests have been carefully designed to show just that. Why do we do Olsen P yet you guys use the Morgan test instead? Mostly because your soils are a bit different. Plant tissue tests would be a good way of following up during the growing season. Were these done in the Teagasc trials? What soil type are their plots on?

 

[Cowcorn]

my apoligies, i appear to have got my figures back to front hope fully the inserted page will make things clearer . Oak park is light to medium soil easily worked and has been cropped for a very long time .