Maize Drilling

Whynot

Member
Location
Rugby
Anyone been tempted to make a start yet?
Soil temperatures were heading in the right direction a week ago, but since then we seem to have had a light frost each morning.
I’m glad I decided to have a few days away!
All the land has been ploughed, digestate applied and subsoiled.
Most of the land is like an onion bed, might just try rolling pre drilling instead of the 6m power harrow.
It’s tempted to make a start at the start of the week with the dry weather, but determined to wait till Easter weekend when temps are looking better!?
 

DRC

Member
Whereabouts are you. Big difference in area.
Think i will be waiting until end of the month at least . 1st week of May is usually best here in north shropshire
 

Whynot

Member
Location
Rugby
Whereabouts are you. Big difference in area.
Think i will be waiting until end of the month at least . 1st week of May is usually best here in north shropshire
We’re near Rugby so we might be a little earlier than you, but I agree that we should wait a bit longer.
Wether I’ll manage to stop myself making a start is another thing altogether.
We have 6 different local farmers who grow for us keen to get started so if I don’t start soon it’ll be hard to show my face down the pub!
It’s a bit like wheat drilling last season. We all know we should have waited into October but lots of people wee itching to get started in 2nd week of September.
Patience.........,.,
 

Brisel

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Midlands
It's a hard choice and tempting. I'd do some if you can get it in well and hope you don't get a frost post emergence. Lots down here drilled from mid April in a "normal" year. Sow it at a good depth and it will be a while before it emerges anyway. I've drilled light land on the Cotswolds in mid April and they were good crops. Not that far south of you & at 400 feet AMSL.
 
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Mc115reed

Member
Livestock Farmer
Expensive crop to make a mess of what’s the rush?? No rain forecast for the foreseeable and people are dropping grass like it’s gonna rain tomorrow and they’ve got to get it cut before the never ending storm comes it’s madness
 
This freeby turned up today. No rush to drill here, never seen much advantage from early drilling. Happily drill til 3rd week in May before it's considered 'late'.
IMG_20190412_172718.jpg
 

Serup

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Denmark
Soil temp here. a few weeks ago we were preparing for an early start. That has changed now. Frost the last 3 nights, and not above 5 degrees yesterday. I want it above 8 and rising forecast before i drill any.

Image-1.jpg
 
Soil wants to be 10 degrees I always said.

Some fields which face the right way and don't hang in cold air may be getting there.

I personally would not care if it was drilled the 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th week in May, even June planted stuff catches up in a reasonable year. In warmer soil the stuff is up in a week. Drilled early it seems to take forever to emerge.

I would caution against drilling deep. I don't think it likes it and it always gave me the heebees.

Anyone leaving a coarse seed bed should be forced to eat some of their clods in a breakfast bowl.
 

dowcow

Member
Location
Lancashire
Anyone leaving a coarse seed bed should be forced to eat some of their clods in a breakfast bowl.

While I agree with all the rest, what do you mean by coarse? I try to make it as coarse as possible after power harrowing just enough to enable the drill to do its job correctly, and the drill man has complimented me on my soil, saying he really enjoys drilling my land because the soil is so nice to work with. I find if it goes any finer, it turns to porridge in a wet year. We don't use pre-em, and the only rows where I could justify to use pre-em are the ones with the drill tractors wheelings...

So, I suspect if I rolled after drilling, I would be needing to use a pre-em... which would be the main reason people roll after drilling maize anyway?

I had been wondering about rolling the maize in anyway, not for pre-em efficiancy but in the hope for a firmer field at harvest; but doing the bare minimum with the power harrows after cambridge rolling the ploughing was also my nod towards the harvest end of the year.
 
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While I agree with all the rest, what do you mean by coarse? I try to make it as coarse as possible after power harrowing just enough to enable the drill to do its job correctly, and the drill man has complimented me on my soil, saying he really enjoys drilling my land because the soil is so nice to work with. I find if it goes any finer, it turns to porridge in a wet year. We don't use pre-em, and the only rows where I could justify to use pre-em are the ones with the drill tractors wheelings...

So, I suspect if I rolled after drilling, I would be needing to use a pre-em... which would be the main reason people roll after drilling maize anyway?

I had been wondering about rolling the maize in anyway, not for pre-em efficiancy but in the hope for a firmer field at harvest; but doing the bare minimum with the power harrows after cambridge rolling the ploughing was also my nod towards the harvest end of the year.

A lot of people do not roll it. Coarse as in just a heap of clods the size of golf balls or bigger. You will get away with some clods provided there is some finer dirt around to give the soil to seed contact for a good even emergence.

Coarse seed beds in a dry season cause peculiar germination and isnt off to a good start.

I would not encourage everyone to go for an onion bed- on some soils as you say the slightest bit of rain and its just slop instantly, the water cant get away and it drowns the seed in a horrible layer of foul smelling nastiness. Sometimes less is more.
Ive known people flat roll after drilling. I thought it was madness but it did firm it all down and crumble it down. It was a hellish dry time though.
 

DRC

Member
A thin layer of fine soil is fine. Getting the soil to the state where 12 inches depth of it is fine is gonna be painful.
What about potato ridges. The ones here look pretty fine to me. Same as what I’m ploughing now for maize. The ground is light, you can’t un fine it.
 

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