Getting a little dry

[Sonoftheheir]

I manage, roughly £600/ha profit from my no-till spuds...

Grown under plastic sheeting?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Grown under plastic sheeting?

I use silage sheet for a start but not too long as it encourages "pioneer plants" ie weeds
Then we mulch with deep straw, I buy hesstons and a few "loony cubes" as well.
We put the tubers under a conventional bale slice and run irrigation under it.. once or maybe twice I'll throw more straw on depending on rain.
Only a tiny patch but it roughly came back to about 38 ton per hectare this year! Cannot complain!

We did still use an awful lot of water but it actually goes into production rather than evaporate, as is always the problem before canopy closure.

The proceeds paid for my son's school camp - for the whole class!

We'll probably grow a crop of notill carrots for livestock feed and then potatoes again.

 

[Werzle]

Plenty of moisture down in here but driving round there is plenty of water being pumped on the spuds and i can still see flecks of compound fert on the 2nd cut silage stubbles that havent completely dissolved since being applied 2 weeks ago, regrowth is good though

 

[Surgery]

Try growing a profitable crop of potatoes without it.

Exactly , don’t know why some folk bother posting.

 

[jonnyjon]

And your point is what , it’s an un planted tramline by look of it . Water will run down wheeling and collect

Point was that heavy tillage destroys soil structure which prevents or slows water getting into the soil, very simple. Seeing water lying in a field in a dry summer is a reflection of modern farming which is unfortunate imv

 

[Nearly]

Point was that heavy tillage destroys soil structure which prevents or slows water getting into the soil, very simple. Seeing water lying in a field in a dry summer is a reflection of modern farming which is unfortunate imv

This year I'll take anything that slows water going through the soil.

 

[jonnyjon]

This year I'll take anything that slows water going through the soil.

Soil needs water holding capacity I agree, very different to not getting the water into the soil