New direct drillers

[Clive]

I hope you are right about the blackgrass, but how are you so sure? I've had some fields into 3 years of Spring crop and there is still plenty of blackgrass. The most worrying was that because my 750 drilled Spring crops went in so late (end April) due to soil conditions, I wasn't expecting any blackgrass. Unfortunately because the crops had such a short season they didn't thicken up to outcompete the blackgrass that did come and its shed as much seed as I probably got rid of in the previous Spring crops.

By spring cropping I don't mean wheats and barleys etc - will use very late drilled crops like linseed and millet that also have in crop chemistry options

3 years is a very short time in farming to sort out an issue that was decades in the making.

 

[Andrew K]

James,
Did you use the JD for beans or the Claydon drill?

 

[Feldspar]

James,
Did you use the JD for beans or the Claydon drill?

JD. Claydon was set up for wheat and we thought that the Claydon would pull up dry lumps given the lack of rain. In the Terrastarred land the JD when very well. In a few more solid fields we did earlier we might have got better depth with the Claydon. 5 minute job to swap between crops makes the JD easy.

How have you got on this season?

 

[Andrew K]

JD. Claydon was set up for wheat and we thought that the Claydon would pull up dry lumps given the lack of rain. In the Terrastarred land the JD when very well. In a few more solid fields we did earlier we might have got better depth with the Claydon. 5 minute job to swap between crops makes the JD easy.

How have you got on this season?

We have Terrastarred most of ours once or twice then Claydon drilled with the Twin tine kit in an attempt to reduce space for blackgrass to thrive, we have also tried VR seeding on a couple of fields to add extra seed in known blackgrass spots. I havent ploughed an acre, there was little chance of achieving a decent standard of burial.

I think No till has been a good choice in this dry season, if a good blackgrass chit was achieved before drilling.

 

[Feldspar]

We have Terrastarred most of ours once or twice then Claydon drilled with the Twin tine kit in an attempt to reduce space for blackgrass to thrive, we have also tried VR seeding on a couple of fields to add extra seed in known blackgrass spots. I havent ploughed an acre, there was little chance of achieving a decent standard of burial.

I think No till has been a good choice in this dry season, if a good blackgrass chit was achieved before drilling.

What are you thoughts on the Terrastar?

Ploughing was horrendously expensive this year. We broke £500 worth of plough parts in a few bouts in the really dry period. Pressing twice, then maschio, then roll and then roll again after drilling. We spent so much time on a few acres that we did plough. It's been a godsend of a year to have had the Terrastar and 750a (so far at least). We'd have spent a fortune if we were still ploughing every acre like we used to do.

 

[Andrew K]

Have been pleased with the Terrastar, it produces tilth that the old rake just cant manage, and also helps level ground surprisingly well.
I see it fitting in with either strip till or No till regimes well, so it should be future proof?Not sure on running costs so far, but guessing around £5 per acre.

Without it, we would have struggled this year.In a wetter year i think it will work even better. I do wish the stands were tucked away inside the frames though.

 

[Feldspar]

Have been pleased with the Terrastar, it produces tilth that the old rake just cant manage, and also helps level ground surprisingly well.
I see it fitting in with either strip till or No till regimes well, so it should be future proof?Not sure on running costs so far, but guessing around £5 per acre.

Without it, we would have struggled this year.In a wetter year i think it will work even better. I do wish the stands were tucked away inside the frames though.

I hate the stands. Have already bent them multiple times. Will get them modified overwinter to be able to adjust the height and fold away. Agree on them working better in damp conditions. We made the best job a day or so behind what rain we had. Need a new set of blades now though.

 

[Andrew K]

Any idea what a re - blade will cost?

 

[Feldspar]

Any idea what a re - blade will cost?

£800 to reblade back and front. Must have done about 1500ac with ours.

 

[warksfarmer]

I think maybe it's a little bit of jumping in feet first without realising the down sides that no till has ( it all seems very feasible on a hot dry August day) I personally found too much straw to be the Bain of my life on heavy cold land, so now I bale heavy with land wheat straw and chop all other crops. But it Is a lesson you learn as you go along and each to their own.

As for cover crops, I graze it all with sheep and struggle to see any benefit from having loads of green mass in the spring that is shading the soil from drying....but I am a simple dd not a no till guru,

@Will7 I think your spot on with this. See attached picture. This is a strip of spring linseed left in some really heavy clay land that will ultimately end up being grass. We no tilled some wheat into it yesterday as a trial. The weaving drill has been working a treat covering the seed in the same and surrounding fields for the last few days where crops were harvested and straw removed. It immediately started slotting which means poor seed coverage and slug pellets I am sure. We have not used slug pellets for nearly 5 years but we will on this trial. Its been the driest summer/autumn here for years and we've had no rain until this morning funnily enough.

 

[Will7]

By spring cropping I don't mean wheats and barleys etc - will use very late drilled crops like linseed and millet that also have in crop chemistry options

3 years is a very short time in farming to sort out an issue that was decades in the making.

How late into May are you drilling the linseed and then what does that make the harvest date? I drilled spr barley and beans on the 24th April this year, both allowed some blackgrass seed return. The fields are now clean enough to grow spring crops without a pre-em next year but I wouldn't be rushing to put a winter crop in.

Next year looks like it might be 100% spring cropping, which I must admit doesn't worry me too much.

 

[Clive]

How late into May are you drilling the linseed and then what does that make the harvest date? I drilled spr barley and beans on the 24th April this year, both allowed some blackgrass seed return. The fields are now clean enough to grow spring crops without a pre-em next year but I wouldn't be rushing to put a winter crop in.

Next year looks like it might be 100% spring cropping, which I must admit doesn't worry me too much.

not drilling on a date but conditions and glypho kill opportunity - date doesn't really seem to change harvest much

Millet is very late May drill

 

[Andrew K]

£800 to reblade back and front. Must have done about 1500ac with ours.

Thanks,
I take it the bearing castings show a bit of wear when the blades are finished?

 

[Will7]

glypho kill opportunity

This is the problem. I spray off the bg pre xmas because crops do not like to be sown into lots of blackgrass. I then glyphosate pre drilling which has been from late March to Late April which always feels like a waste of time because there is so little bg. Drill the field and some blackgrass comes both in and out of the rows.

This year the drilling was going so badly at the end of April I left 2 small fields to experiment on. 1 was redrained and moled, the other was in its original state as an overwintered spr barley stubble (this field has not had wheat since harvest 2012 due to bg). I planted a radish/phacellia/beseem clover mix on the 8th July with a krm tined seeder to try and create lots of disturbance to flush the remaining bg. The cover was fantastic but only the odd bg plant grew (anyone who has tried to flush blackgrass on a summer fallow knows it is a waste of time so I should have known better!). This was destroyed with glyphosate towards the end of September before any seeds set on either the cover or the bg. It looked clean as a whistle and then it fortunately rained. By the 20th October I had a small flush of bg. This was tidied up pre drilling and yesterday it had another spray 9 days after drilling as there was some more bg coming. I am hoping the level of bg in the crop will be low enough to allow it to be hand rogued.

This year I am going to trial raking the soil in mid March to try and stimulate a flush to destroy pre drilling. This will give me yet another opportunity for a glyphosate kill. That and I am going to trial some linseed and possibly millet, although my one experience of combining millet was not enjoyable.

 

[Shutesy]

This year I am going to trial raking the soil in mid March to try and stimulate a flush to destroy pre drilling. This will give me yet another opportunity for a glyphosate kill.

Going to try the same here, spray off covers around christmas/ early Jan. Then rake perhaps 2 weeks before drilling like you around mid March if its dry enough to travel, disturb a bit of trash so hopefully a bit of bg will grow, a few slugs will get a knock on the head and should let some air into the top of the soil to aid drying. A drier spring than this year and some hard frosts over winter to create a bit of frost tilth would be excellent!

 

[Andrew K]

Think we will use the Terrastar ahead of Borage sowing this spring in order to achieve a chit pre drill?

 

[Tractor Boy]

By spring cropping I don't mean wheats and barleys etc - will use very late drilled crops like linseed and millet that also have in crop chemistry options

3 years is a very short time in farming to sort out an issue that was decades in the making.

I agree about linseed but isn't Millet just another cereal relying on SU chemistry? I can see that it's very late drilling is a benefit.

 

[Feldspar]

Thanks,
I take it the bearing castings show a bit of wear when the blades are finished?

Just beginning to get a bit of wear on these now. Front blades have worn more than the backs (despite getting the machine fairly level). Will replace both sets though I think.

 

[Cutlerstom]

When did you spray of your osr ? Are there still osr plants in the field ?

Key is to keep slugs eating the osr (they will in preference to wheat as long as osr is there) while wheat grows away from them

With luck and good timing when osr is gone the frosts come and slug pressure drops

Here's some of mine this weekend - plenty of slugs to be found but all feasting on the osr and not touching the wheat

It was sprayed with glypho 4daya after drilling

View attachment 420990 View attachment 420992 View attachment 420994

Sorry Clive, but that is a soil type, or initial slug pressure thing in my very limited experience. On heavy land I left my OSR volunteers this year hoping for what you describe, but on my land slugs very definitely prefer hollowing out a nice deter treated wheat seed. We have had huge losses this autumn, and am nursing some very thin crops through now.
Next autumn I will be destroying any osr volunteers on sight as all they do is provide a constant food source and consequently a happy breeding slug population!
It seems not just to be osr either. Over winter cover crops have harboured slugs all winter on some light land where I've never had slugs before. I'm getting bad grazing on emerging spring barley. The little barstewards are my main hurdle to overcome in moving to DD

 

[Feldspar]

Sorry Clive, but that is a soil type, or initial slug pressure thing in my very limited experience. On heavy land I left my OSR volunteers this year hoping for what you describe, but on my land slugs very definitely prefer hollowing out a nice deter treated wheat seed. We have had huge losses this autumn, and am nursing some very thin crops through now.
Next autumn I will be destroying any osr volunteers on sight as all they do is provide a constant food source and consequently a happy breeding slug population!
It seems not just to be osr either. Over winter cover crops have harboured slugs all winter on some light land where I've never had slugs before. I'm getting bad grazing on emerging spring barley. The little barstewards are my main hurdle to overcome in moving to DD

I entirely agree with this. In my experience the slugs go in the slot for the seed rather than munching on volunteers and cover crops. Leave the soil bare when starting off. Best field to drill this spring was the barest. Cover crop experiment field was the worst. I know quite a lot of people who have tried cover crops on heavy land who have given up -- and then they were people who wanted them to work too.