Fixing Your Ruts

[franklin]

So I walked on a field today in my trainers and didnt bring half of it back home. But there is that unhappy squelching sound. Also, many of these in the fields. Some fallowed land has combine ruts like this for most of the length. So, how do you fix them and (DD purists avert your eyes) get this land dried out?

Plenty of kit in the shed so not short of options. Do I just keep running a heavy drag through it, going a bit deeper each time until I can subsoil? Mole-plough and wait until it dries to plough it normally? Chopped straw on top is all nice and brittle, but two people have now said I need to get some air into it.

 

[Refco]

Static,
I have some similar. I will be ploughing and then power harrowing, which i think is the quickest solution. However, I'm aware that not everybody likes ploughing, in which case i think several passes with some kind of deep cultivator may do the trick.

 

[warksfarmer]

Dont subsoil until conditions allow which wont be until the summer. By far the best form of cultivation this year has got to be the plough. Gets air into the soil whilst levelling up or leave it alone completely.

 

[franklin]

Here is another one for the collection. I am thinking the plough will be the better tool - sure there will be a tricky moment or two but I can do some remedial ripping / moling in those spots before. Trouble will be the nasty furrow bottom left. Might plough then subsoil. I dislike the power harrow more than the plough thats for sure! Note, despite all this lovely fine chopped straw (and on one field well rotted muck) there are less worm castings than I would have hoped

Would I be happier with 10" of clay set like concrete, or 2" of dry OM rich tilth over 8" of utterly butterly?

Not in a rush to start ploughing, but I would like to be well ahead with land work by July. Would opening up the ground with a tyne let it dry quicker at depth to be subsoiled then?

 

[Andy26]

I use a Bomford Chisel plough with depth wheels removed. Just do subsequent passes getting deeper each time. Then power harrow to level it up.

I had to repair some serious ruts when we were extracting timber from a wood across a wet clay field down to PP, there was some serious ruts there, but 6 months later with grass resown you wouldn't of known.

In my case a plough would of gone deep enough, I don't think.

 

[JCA]

Not sure what you are on about. Where are these deep tracks?
These wee ruts are easily levelled with a plough, bit of weather to soften the top and get a crop in. You will never know what had happened.

Just my thoughts.

 

[franklin]

Hope so. I will go down the lane and take some pictures of where the trailers were pulled out

Enough sun to make even looking at ruts seem not so terrible as last month.

 

[JCA]

Patience is the key. Do nothing for at least another month, the weather will work for you better then.
A lot of land around here way way worse than that but same remedy. wait, plough, level and all will be well.

 

[yellow belly]

To cold for crops on heavy land here some are ploughing which is making a terrible mess

If it becomes dry enough for spring crops they will get planted if its too wet whatever the cultivations it will be a bad job
Heavy land needs ploughing early pre November for a good crop

 

[franklin]

None of those pics of ruts will have a spring crop on them. I am not a silly sausage. How much better ploughing on the land for heavy land?

 

[JCA]

My mistake, I thought you were looking for ways to level ruts and establish a cover crop.

 

[The_Swede]

A friend has been running an old howard para-plough along the knee deep ruts on his heavy-ish loam maize ground then immediately power-harrowing it, results are obviously not perfect but as good as he dared expect.

 

[franklin]

My mistake, I thought you were looking for ways to level ruts and establish a cover crop.

I am going to have a cover crop on some of the fields. Will go on with a slug pelleter and be rolled in. The ruts will have to be fixed in a dryish time, but in a "normal" year it is often not terribly dry. Thats why I am thinking it may be worth opening the land up a bit and dry it out in stages hence the tynes, or plough which will let it dry out but make a mess deeper down, then subsoil to remedy?

 

[Andyrob]

Spoke to a guy today who is considering buying a simba dtx to deal with the badly tracked fields. He reckons being able to get down and subsoil the ground and level up at same time.

Think plough will be solution for some bit not all of the ground that Ruts are very deep

 

[Jaypee]

Patience is the key. Do nothing for at least another month, the weather will work for you better then.
A lot of land around here way way worse than that but same remedy. wait, plough, level and all will be well.

Yup, I agree with that. At this time of year I never cease to be amazed at what a few days dry weather will do. Even after the extremes we have had.