Drilling at this time of the year

[Deere 6430]

Has anyone direct drilled anything at this time of the year? Got two bits of ground that are dry enough, or will be in two days definitely, and wondered if anyone has ever put winter wheat in now direct?

I’m keen on an experiment with it so mild.

 

[cows r us]

I'm out to put some in when the frost comes over the next couple if days. I will be using a fairly robust seed rate.

 

[bobk]

I drilled a hole for an extractor if that helps

 

[DRC]

Somebody’s got to feed the crows.

 

[Norfolk Olly]

Week before Christmas after beet, still some to do but it's probably going into spring wheat/barley

 

[DrWazzock]

I'm going to drill 8 acres of winter wheat direct on some light land behind sheep on beet tops sometime before mid Feb. Bit of an experiment. Why not? If it doesn't take then it will be Spring barley in March. I have got the scarecrows ready. Hi viz clothing essential. Rooks will be the biggest problem, or a foot of lying snow before I can get on it.

 

[cows r us]

I drilled a hole for an extractor if that helps

It

Somebody’s got to feed the crows.

Don't worry about the crows there still full from eating all my beans

 

[SilliamWhale]

I haven't done but I actually think if I did drill this time of year the crows would have a hard time pulling it up if drilled with a 750

 

[Roy_H]

I remember drilling W. Wheat on some light land taking advantage of a frost in the first week of January. The previous autumn had been absolutely horrible and the already dressed seed was in the bags waiting so we had no choice really. OK at harvest time it didn't break any records maybe but it did surprise us how well it did under the circumstances.

 

[DrWazzock]

Drilled 8 acres of winter wheat (crispin) yesterday into beet land that had been grazed by the sheep. Mostly sandy land but there were some sticky patches which were a bit slotty and difficult to close. 95% of it went in fine though with the old Unidrill.

Actually I cheated and paraplowed it as I don't want it to pond if we get heavy rain. It had had a fair bit of heavy trafficking. I also tickled it with the power Harrow in front of the drill at high speed and very shallow to knock the ridges off that had been made by the beet harvester. This was to help drilling depth.

Busy making a few more scarecrows. Rooks are a problem. The seed is well in but once it sprouts they'll be pulling it out.

 

[wurzell1976]

Finished drilling Belepi a few days ago on black and strong land,dd with Simtech.It seemed to go well,i just thought it could be a whole lot wetter in the spring than now.

 

[Will 1594]

,so we are going to have a demo with a strip till type drill , light sandy soil ,one in stubble ,other has late sown mustard and radish ,in it , ,one is 5 acre other 10 ,

When do we sow , now ,or leave it a month ,drought prone flinty sand ,will be sowing ploughed stuff in next couple weeks ,

 

[Brisel]

Drill it when you can get it sown well. Have you sprayed the stubbles & covers off? Any major weed problems?

 

[Will 1594]

Drill it when you can get it sown well. Have you sprayed the stubbles & covers off? Any major weed problems?

Stubble quite clean ,will just want 12 m round outside for a bit of brome and wicks , other one ,has a patch of brome ,but will spray it all off when we get chance of a spray day , its the sort of land where if we had an inch of rain , you could drag an iron bed stead and a thorn bush over it ,two days later and would have a seed bed,and if had high wind it would be in next field

 

[Brisel]

It sounds like it has little natural structure of its own. My only misgiving about strip tilling sand is whether you can rip it deep enough for the rooting. @Daniel runs a Claydon on light sand, so might be better placed to comment.