Cover crop Rollers

[155tm]

Popped up on twitter this afternoon, and I had a quick google search about.

http://www.croproller.com

http://www.rolojack.com/

American and french versions.

Has anyone built/imported one in the uk or even tried one in the uk yet?

 

[marco]

would a flat roll work?

 

[martian]

would a flat roll work?

Not so well, I think the ribs crush the life from the cover crop and the whole assembly can be much lighter on the front linkage. Not sure whether it would be sufficiently lethal on any stray brome or blackgrass lurking in the cover though

 

[155tm]

Hello Mark how are you getting on?

'they' say that the ribs or blades on the crimper rollers break the stems of the cover you are rolling to kill it. The flat roll would knock it all over but not break the stems?

 

[155tm]

which one of us hit the 'all post at once button?!'

 

[martian]

Something odd going on with my computer. Must be bedtime...

 

[BSH]

Have a look at the Actisol crop roller from France. Also Dalbo do a roller that be be front or rear mounted.

 

[155tm]

any experience of using them BSH?

 

[Jim Bullock]

For a cover-crop roller (FACU roller) to work properly to kill of the "cover-crop" you need to be hitting it as it runs up to seed ie: at stem extension which will exclude most species when drilled in the late summer prior to an autumn sown cash crop...You might just be able to use it in the late winter/early spring when hitting an over-wintered cover crop prior to spring cash crop...but you will need some frost either at the time of rolling or very soon afterwards if you are to do a half decent job....In the UK it will do nothing for any of our more difficult to control grass weeds...they will still need some glyphosate to get rid of them...If you can except that you will still need to be spraying... the advantage of using the cover-crop-roller (IMO) is that it produces a bit of surface tillage and it "lays" the residue which helps with establishing the next crop..
Another example.. http://rolofaca.fr/agricole/ have look at the vine drill on the website...very simple and could well be adapted to planting OSR or Beans..

 

[Barleycorn]

The Rodale institute has been experimenting with these for a long while. You can even download a set of plans to build your own.

http://rodaleinstitute.org/our-work/organic-no-till/

I think it works better with bigger seeds like soya, not sure about drilling cerials with this system.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I looked at these once but went of them.

1. Suits single species cover crops more than multi which people prefer
2. Finding a cover crop that flowers at the right time for the cash crop
3. We are colder in the UK. So unless you are seeding into it late spring/early summer then it could be a pain.

 

[York]

a roller made in Austria:
http://www.schreiberlandmaschinen.at/produkte/item/93-messerwalze
some general comments:
Dalbo: it's working tooo aggressive. Our observation.
lining of knives: if they are in an angle, like the Austrian one, they run smoother and you need less weight when operating. the Dalbo one is running very "uneven" and when you run it on peat you will fell the impact. it's like a "compactor", rely vibrating. :-(
Diameter is also a big thing. There is a reason for larger diameters.
York-Th.

 

[BSH]

any experience of using them BSH?

No, only seen youtube videos of them.

 

[BSH]

This looks good. http://www.eversagro.com/landbouwmachines/Znslerwals/#/5