Lincolnshire drill trial: Anyone go?

[Feldspar]

http://www.fwi.co.uk/machinery/13-drills-go-head-to-head-in-live-drilling-demo.htm

 

[E_B]

Didn't go but read that it was too wet for working plots

 

[Will7]

I went but didn't bother to look at the drills. I have seen them all and seen demos of most and decided I wouldn't learn anything drilling into the land there. It was too wet to drill the plots and the cover crops would not have posed a challenge in themselves anyway.

I have been to 2 cover crop trials in the last month and both have done more to dissuade from growing covers rather than encourage me. Interesting times

 

[Shutesy]

I went but didn't bother to look at the drills. I have seen them all and seen demos of most and decided I wouldn't learn anything drilling into the land there. It was too wet to drill the plots and the cover crops would not have posed a challenge in themselves anyway.

I have been to 2 cover crop trials in the last month and both have done more to dissuade from growing covers rather than encourage me. Interesting times

Whats parts are dissuading you about cover crops @Will7 ?

 

[Will7]

Whats parts are dissuading you about cover crops @Will7 ?

I wasn't hugely clear. All these trials are drilled late so the covers are poor and you are being encouraged to leave them green as long as possible to wick the moisture. Rubbish. The opposite effect is true as has been stated on here many times.
By leaving the covers late you are also drilling into large blackgrass which has a detrimental effect on the following crop.
I believe in the concept and will continue to experiment BUT I think they key on heavy land is to get them established early to do all the growing pre xmas and then destroy in Dec. The only way I can see, I am sure others will disagree, to drill end of March/early April is to have brown soil even if it is surrounded by standing stubbles. Anything with any cover is wet and plasticine and I can't see how it will dry this season

 

[Shutesy]

I wasn't hugely clear. All these trials are drilled late so the covers are poor and you are being encouraged to leave them green as long as possible to wick the moisture. Rubbish. The opposite effect is true as has been stated on here many times.
By leaving the covers late you are also drilling into large blackgrass which has a detrimental effect on the following crop.
I believe in the concept and will continue to experiment BUT I think they key on heavy land is to get them established early to do all the growing pre xmas and then destroy in Dec. The only way I can see, I am sure others will disagree, to drill end of March/early April is to have brown soil even if it is surrounded by standing stubbles. Anything with any cover is wet and plasticine and I can't see how it will dry this season

Agree with all of that still learning here as well.

 

[BigBarl]

My Dad went, he seemed to think that the JD 750a and the Sky were doing the best job with least disturbance. The Vaderstad straight disc conversion also sounded interesting, think Great Plains had something similar there as well where you can swap the cultivator disc for straight discs for going into covers and lower disturbance.

 

[Feldspar]

My Dad went, he seemed to think that the JD 750a and the Sky were doing the best job with least disturbance. The Vaderstad straight disc conversion also sounded interesting, think Great Plains had something similar there as well where you can swap the cultivator disc for straight discs for going into covers and lower disturbance.

Was the Weaving GD there? If so, did your father make any comment on it? Thanks.

 

[BigBarl]

Was the Weaving GD there? If so, did your father make any comment on it? Thanks.

He said there was more disturbance than he thought there would be from it, I think due to the fact it is lifting the soil upwards more than the others.

 

[Will7]

He said there was more disturbance than he thought there would be from it, I think due to the fact it is lifting the soil upwards more than the others.

The land they were playing on was light, all things are relative but Jethro Tulls prototype would have done a good job. The weaving will move less soil on heavier ground simply by there being more soil resistance.

Personally I don't think a bit of controlled disturbance is a bad thing, especially when you see some of the slots on here. I understand the weed argument, but if you are on heavy dirt or in a transitional phase moving to dd then a bit of soil movement can be beneficial.