Direct/Strip-till drilling photo gallery

[Brisel]

Elgar off the heap, vertigo off the heap. (Sim-tec drill)
View attachment 724608

Which are you taking to harvest & how will you take the other out?

 

[Richard III]

Which are you taking to harvest & how will you take the other out?

Harvest the rape (I hope), take the beans out with Astokerb as late as a dare.

 

[Fish]

Three photo taken today
Top- Dunstan wheat into a cover crop, new seed spd, 165kg/ha 300 sm2
Mid- Dunstan, fss off the combine, no dressing, 155kg/ha 280/300 sm2.
Bot- Fss osr, 7kg ha, 5kg iron max pre drill, drilled 5/9, straw raked post drilling to close the slot.
All the above fields are typical heavy land found here in the vale, silty clay loam.

 

[Philip Hedeng]

Elgar off the heap, vertigo off the heap. (Sim-tec drill)
View attachment 724608

Hello @Richard III , what seed depth do you aim for with your Simtech when drilling OSR and do you have any tips for setting up the machine to place those small seeds at the right depth? We did our first fields of OSR and small seed cover crop mixes this year and I think emergance is a bit on the low side and it was hard to get a shallow enough placement and still make a proper slot.

 

[Richard III]

Hello @Richard III , what seed depth do you aim for with your Simtech when drilling OSR and do you have any tips for setting up the machine to place those small seeds at the right depth? We did our first fields of OSR and small seed cover crop mixes this year and I think emergance is a bit on the low side and it was hard to get a shallow enough placement and still make a proper slot.

I normally aim for about 25mm depth and it has always worked fine, although it is usually wet here at sowing time, so doesn't matter if the tine runs very shallow. However this year was very dry at drilling and I set the drill slightly deeper to try and find moisture. I set up on a heavy patch and didn't realize it was going in deeper on light areas, where it was frequently running deeper than 50mm. It all came up, but took longer and made me very nervous for a few days. Where a tine got bent and the seed went in even deeper, emergence was definitely significantly reduced. The forecasters had got the weather forecast wrong and I finished drilling in the pouring rain as usual!

Sorry,I don't really have any tips for you. All I tend to do with the drill is set it so it just gets the seed in the ground when running through the shallow bits. Oilseed rape seems quite forgiving on seed depth, but I don't think all small seeds are though.

 

[Philip Hedeng]

I normally aim for about 25mm depth and it has always worked fine, although it is usually wet here at sowing time, so doesn't matter if the tine runs very shallow. However this year was very dry at drilling and I set the drill slightly deeper to try and find moisture. I set up on a heavy patch and didn't realize it was going in deeper on light areas, where it was frequently running deeper than 50mm. It all came up, but took longer and made me very nervous for a few days. Where a tine got bent and the seed went in even deeper, emergence was definitely significantly reduced. The forecasters had got the weather forecast wrong and I finished drilling in the pouring rain as usual!

Sorry,I don't really have any tips for you. All I tend to do with the drill is set it so it just gets the seed in the ground when running through the shallow bits. Oilseed rape seems quite forgiving on seed depth, but I don't think all small seeds are though.

I find OSR quite hard to please in a no-till environment, but in a drought year like this has been it could be affected by herbicide residue or other weird factors. We drilled at low seed rates again, which was the biggest mistake. Even with hybrids, we should use higher rates than in conventional systems. It's frustrating to wait a whole year to try new settings! Still I think deep seeding depth has been one of the causes of low emergence and small, weak plants. Nice stand in your case though.

 

[Richard III]

I find OSR quite hard to please in a no-till environment, but in a drought year like this has been it could be affected by herbicide residue or other weird factors. We drilled at low seed rates again, which was the biggest mistake. Even with hybrids, we should use higher rates than in conventional systems. It's frustrating to wait a whole year to try new settings! Still I think deep seeding depth has been one of the causes of low emergence and small, weak plants. Nice stand in your case though.

It's quite a cool, moist climate here and slugs are my biggest headache with rape establishment. I have upped my seed rates a little to help, as I was often finding I was ending up with too thin a stand. The seed is home saved, so cost is insignificant.

The biggest difference for me has been mixing in DAP with the seed, this turbo charges the rape out of the ground and helps it get away from slug grazing. I think the Sim-Tec is a great rape drill, sweeping the soil away from the slot and moving a little soil definitely helps. I also have a Weaving GD drill and that stays in the shed at rape drilling time.

 

[Badshot]

 

[Devon James]

Conditions that you dream about. Once over with the Supermaxx and drill. In the vale of Tiverton

 

[Will Blackburn]

Wheat just coming through after maize, will make a change not having badgers rooting up a ploughed field for spilt cobs.

 

[Will Blackburn]

The maize residue is attracting a lot of birds, mostly pigeons, hopefully they don't turn their attention to the emerging crop.

 

[average farmer]

Three photo taken today
Top- Dunstan wheat into a cover crop, new seed spd, 165kg/ha 300 sm2
Mid- Dunstan, fss off the combine, no dressing, 155kg/ha 280/300 sm2.
Bot- Fss osr, 7kg ha, 5kg iron max pre drill, drilled 5/9, straw raked post drilling to close the slot.
All the above fields are typical heavy land found here in the vale, silty clay loam.View attachment 724836 View attachment 724834 View attachment 724832

looking good! could you tell me what was the previous crop in the second picture?

 

[Fish]

looking good! could you tell me what was the previous crop in the second picture?

Spring Linseed

 

[nonemouse]

Lilli wheat just emerging, first play at direct drilling, 170kg/ha sown 2 weeks since with Ryetec ma-ag drill

 

[Badshot]

 

[Tompkins]

Claydon drilled Exalte at 2.5kg/ha on 2/9/18. Pre-em and 3kg slug pellets. No N.

 

[Will Blackburn]

Graham wheat 750a after maize silage on some very light fluff.

 

[devon6400]

Went over with 5m spring tines then drill with this new to me drill normally plough and Combi but hoping to do a lot more of this.

quite happy so far. Spring tines are older than me and I bought the drill for £350 this year

 

[juke]

Had a little walk round the barley this afternoon trying to find aphids thought this was a nice picture opportunity .. sunningdale drilled on ,20 Sept

 

[Tompkins]

Had a quick look at the barley this afternoon.
Orwell drilled on 20/9 at 200kg/ha with Claydon after a light pass with discs and roundup.