Does maize ground need a shakerator/subsoiler first?

[BenSimons]

This is the first year we are having a field of Maize on our farm to sell the standing crop. The only machine we don’t have is a shakerator (or similar) and I always see maize people shakerate the field before or after ploughing… is this necessary? The field is light and has been in an arable rotation for years. Thanks in advance.

 

[mo!]

Depends if you have compaction. Maize hates compaction so get in there with a spade or penetrometer and find out what's going on.

We use the Trio after the plough to relieve any tough bits, level and press. I can usually combi drill after.

 

[le bon paysan]

If the ground is wet underneath don't do anything until it's dry(ish). Will cause more problems.

 

[deleted user 837354]

If you have any compaction, maize will find it. Best to avoid ploughing land that is wet as if you create a pan you will have a yellow stunted crop all season.

 

[Mc115reed]

Some people get carried away for some unknown reason! Iv seen people shakerate, plough, shakerate, power Harrow twice, drill and then Cambridge roll.. and they get the same crop as the bloke next door that’s just ploughed, power harrowed and drilled and shut the gate

 

[deleted user 837354]

Some people get carried away for some unknown reason! Iv seen people shakerate, plough, shakerate, power Harrow twice, drill and then Cambridge roll.. and they get the same crop as the bloke next door that’s just ploughed, power harrowed and drilled and shut the gate

You gotta do what you gotta do to get a decent seed bed. It's an expensive crop to get wrong. Seen indifferent or trash maize barely worth harvesting too many times.

Some land around here you really need to powerharrow twice to get the seed bed and cambridge rolling is no bad thing given the way the roots sometimes go at it!

 

[SilliamWhale]

Some people get carried away for some unknown reason! Iv seen people shakerate, plough, shakerate, power Harrow twice, drill and then Cambridge roll.. and they get the same crop as the bloke next door that’s just ploughed, power harrowed and drilled and shut the gate

Most no tilled crop in the world...

 

[crashbox]

This is the first year we are having a field of Maize on our farm to sell the standing crop. The only machine we don’t have is a shakerator (or similar) and I always see maize people shakerate the field before or after ploughing… is this necessary? The field is light and has been in an arable rotation for years. Thanks in advance.

Not necessarily.

And if it's light land and been in rotation, it may not need the plough.

We usually subsoil-power harrow combination, one pass. Unless it's old ley ground, which is ploughed.

 

[Milkingforfun]

We are on reasonably light ground and have weaned ourselves off cultivations for maize. As mentioned above, it is easy to over complicate maize. A decade ago we used to plough, subsoil, powerharrow (sometimes twice), drill and roll. We now test the field for compaction with a penetrometer and assuming we find no compaction - go straight into the overwinter cover (usually a westerwold ley which has been cut for silage) with the Mzuri and then roll with minimal yield penalty but a lot lower establishment costs.

 

[som farmer]

we have problems with panning, when we can see big 'puddles' of standing water on fields, we can be sure that surface panning is under it.

but the only certain way to actually know, is to start digging holes, to see if there is a pan, and at what depth that pan is.

all our maize ground this spring, has grass as a cover crop, that will be cut for silage. After a seriously wet winter, and heavy silage kit, we are thinking it will need the plough, rather than just tines, and possibly the subsoiler.

time will tell, or perhaps l should say, the spade will tell.

 

[Headless chicken]

Are all pentameters created equal?

Agreto Soil Compaction Tester

The Agreto penetrometer combines Austrian precision with a strong Stainless steel construction to give a high quality simple to use Soil Compaction

www.agrisupplyservices.co.uk

Any issue with this one? Any idea if it could be used to test consolidation on a silage pit?

 

[Brisel]

A piece of rod will suffice. Mark it with inches (or cm) and push it into the soil. When the effort required suddenly becomes harder, that's your pan. Dig with a spade to investigate if you find consistency in the depth of the tight horizon.

Penetrometers are great but the force will vary with soil moisture so don't read too much into what the gauge says. Stones make the job very tricky!

For silage, you'll want to put the wider cone end on the device as the resistance level will be very different than for soils. Again, moisture will vary the readings. High dry matter wholecrop isn't really comparable to low dry matter grass silage.

 

[Brisel]

thinksoils | AHDB

The ‘think soils’ manual is a practical guide to soil assessment. It aims to help farmers, land managers, government and non-government advisers to recognise problems with erosion and runoff from agricultural land. Our changing climate makes this issue increasingly important.

ahdb.org.uk

Some essential reading for you @shakalakka

 

[Hampton]

A few years ago I wanted to put some maize on a grass field that had been quarried ten years previous.
I couldn’t plough it, and the shakerator wouldn’t go in the ground either (in patches, not the whole field).
Ended up just drilling the maize.
where there was compaction the maize only grew to 3-4 feet high. Where no compaction 12+ feet high.
However, when I ploughed it after the maize, it ploughed beautifully, so the maize did and amazing job at subsoiling the land

 

[shakalakka]

thinksoils | AHDB

The ‘think soils’ manual is a practical guide to soil assessment. It aims to help farmers, land managers, government and non-government advisers to recognise problems with erosion and runoff from agricultural land. Our changing climate makes this issue increasingly important.

ahdb.org.uk

Some essential reading for you @shakalakka

Very good read, thanks!

 

[deleted user 837354]

A few years ago I wanted to put some maize on a grass field that had been quarried ten years previous.
I couldn’t plough it, and the shakerator wouldn’t go in the ground either (in patches, not the whole field).
Ended up just drilling the maize.
where there was compaction the maize only grew to 3-4 feet high. Where no compaction 12+ feet high.
However, when I ploughed it after the maize, it ploughed beautifully, so the maize did and amazing job at subsoiling the land

This is the bizarre thing I used to find, behind maize, the land can be in very good condition- it's the machinery that borks it by being on it in less than ideal conditions, not the crop itself. Wheat or grass behind maize is a lark because there is usually very little weed ingress and very little cultivation required. Also, no slugs!

 

[som farmer]

This is the bizarre thing I used to find, behind maize, the land can be in very good condition- it's the machinery that borks it by being on it in less than ideal conditions, not the crop itself. Wheat or grass behind maize is a lark because there is usually very little weed ingress and very little cultivation required. Also, no slugs!

we DD grass and corn into maize stubble, no problem.

think it might benefit from ploughing, for maize, this year, depends what it looks like after silageing the grass...