SilliamWhale
Member
Would have been good this year. Last year was particularly bad; the year to learn lessons and build mistakes.
My plan to enter the DD world
- Thread starter B&B Pig Man
- Start date
Would have been good this year. Last year was particularly bad; the year to learn lessons and build mistakes.
Muddyboots
Member
- Location
- Suffolk
I am thinking the same as you and v much like the look of the zip till, I am sure that it would work well in your situation. What worries me is I know of someone that has been strip tilling for several years but has gone back to the plough as bg has beaten them and another whose slug pellet use is horrendous which is my piont that all you do is shift the costs.
07tractorman
New Member
Couldn't risk it this year,land in such a bad state after 3 years DD,sad stale and anaerobic,used a Sumo Trio on it all to breath some life back into it.
That was true for most crops last year though, regardless of establishment method. My DD after beans was fine, as was my second wheat, however the little test patch I done in rape stubble didn't survive. The cultivated bits of rape stubble and combi drilled did survive but was the worst wheat I harvested this year and it just about f**ked the ground up doing it. Last year was extreme and hopefully won't be repeated for a long time.
Will Blackburn
Member
- Location
- Cheshire
Funny enough everything here DDed this Autumn has established beyond any expectations, the very same ground that last year was a slug ravaged waste land.
- Location
- Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Do agree with this.
Ours has been a different farm since I started using the flatlift with discs as primary cultivator.
Quite a bit of what would normally be winter rape or cereals ended up being direct drilled with spring crops last year. Seemed to do ok, and into soil that had stood very wet all winter.
07tractorman
New Member
No wheat lost to conventional systems round here last year but 80% lost in DD,simply the water couldn't get away from the seeding zone.
Sorry, I like 2nd wheats or did!Where has this talk of second wheats come from?
I only have one wheat in my plan?!
WW Spr Beans WB WOSR
Absolutely, mine no exception and they done well this spring. But the bit of winter wheat I tried in the autumn never made it out of the ground in spite of pellets being applied, had it been dry enough to roll I think it would have been fine.
Lots of crops post to all systems in this area last year, no matter how much diesel was thrown at them. It was luck more than anything if they survived or not.
Was it dd that has made it anaerobic or years of carbon burning through cultivation ? I'm pretty sure nature didn't make it that way and once upon a time it would have grown things without mans intervention ? Like a drug addict it sounds like the soil is now addicted to cultivation just to function, choices are stay on that hamster wheel putting more and more power, time and fuel in or cold turkey and a pain barrier as you slowly break its habit
If a soil is in a bad way you can't expect to just stop cultivating and everything will be ok
It is that easy, even the compaction bit is over stated and not understood properly by most I reckon
07tractorman
New Member
It wasn't in a bad way before,just proved in a wet year nature can't do everything,remove compaction etc,still got a direct drill so in the right conditions in the future might risk an area but whole farm every year has proved a no no.
07tractorman
New Member
Weeds seem to love it,unfortunately the crops we rely on for income don't in wet years lol.
That's why I think @B&B Pig Man may have been on the cider to be considering laying out all that dosh on a drill for half his arable area if conditions are right. Better with a 4m rigid Moore drill or something that will work in the current system. Can nip over here and do me some stubble turnips too
4m rigid Moore or 750A I would go halves on that to test it out.
07tractorman
New Member
We went for a 6m Weaving Sabre drill,brilliant for conventional drilling but can also DD in the right conditions.
- Location
- Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Does it handle trash well?
Have been considering one of those along with a dale mtd.
07tractorman
New Member
No problems so far with trash,the mounted Dale isn't a direct drill,this is,same tines as the trailed Dale.
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Surely anything with tines and no discs is going to turn into a rake at some point. If you want bullet proof the go for a 750a or a Unidrill variant but don't go when it's too wet. timeliness is the key. it's simple really.