Strip till cultivators for cereal growing

[John Pawsey]

Does anyone know of a machinery manufacturer who produces a strip till cultivator (not a drill) that can work in rows less that 45cms? I’m looking for something to work in 321mm rows in a 120mm strip which is possibly too narrow but that’s what I am ideally looking for.

 

[Rob Holmes]

I messaged @charlie@claydon a few days ago about whether Claydon could build something similar, I reckon there could be a market for such a machine.
Basically a Claydon drill without hopper or metering system,
Replace front leading tines with either straight, wavy or even crop cutter discs
Choice of width of sweep points
Choice of following harrows, maybe an option of a DD roller?

 

[John Pawsey]

Brilliant Rob. I will contact him too and hopefully we can get some dialogue going...

 

[Chae1]

I messaged @charlie@claydon a few days ago about whether Claydon could build something similar, I reckon there could be a market for such a machine.
Basically a Claydon drill without hopper or metering system,
Replace front leading tines with either straight, wavy or even crop cutter discs
Choice of width of sweep points
Choice of following harrows, maybe an option of a DD roller?

I would like that to work with my front hopper. Ive got a metering unit and hopper.

Probably still be too expensive.

 

[Luke Cropwalker]

I have often thought that strip till would be better if it were possible to have separate tilling and drilling passes. The tilling could be done immediately behind the combine when the soils are usually drier. The lighter weight drill could then follow later after a glyphosate pass. Must be technically possible with GPS etc but would it be any better than what is currently available?

 

[John Pawsey]

I agree. It would be good to be able to strip cultivate with a simpler machine. In our case it would enable us to potentially create a false seedbed in the strips to them hoe out those weeds with our Cameleon drill as we are planting the cereal.

 

[Farmer Fin]

Garford?

 

[John Pawsey]

Definitely worth asking

 

[Brisel]

Have a word with George Sly at Horizon too.

@fleetg

 

[simonk88]

Just get a Sumo DTS - 2nd hand if required and use that? Everything you need is there, can add extra weight in the tank? We use ours for this purpose and they work very well.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I have often thought that strip till would be better if it were possible to have separate tilling and drilling passes. The tilling could be done immediately behind the combine when the soils are usually drier. The lighter weight drill could then follow later after a glyphosate pass. Must be technically possible with GPS etc but would it be any better than what is currently available?

Thats what it actually did orginally when first invented in USA.

The UK version of strip till is basically higher disturbance cultivator drill seeding.

 

[bald on top]

Could use the drill to cultivate without seeding then drill later, one machine two jobs?

 

[SilliamWhale]

Could use the drill to cultivate without seeding then drill later, one machine two jobs?

Vaderstad invented something like that for a bit

 

[clbarclay]

The purpose made strip cultivators tend be more focused on limiting the cultivation to a zone than the strip drills. My experience of the drills is they throw disturbed soil over the whole surface. I saw a strip cultivator demo and the cut off between the cultivated and uncultivated strips was incredibly well defined in comparison. The strip cultivators tend to shroud the ripping tine with discs to achieve that effect. But without staggering the units over more rows, they may be too wide with the discs to just narrow a standard one down to strip drill row spacing.

 

[John Pawsey]

The purpose made strip cultivators tend be more focused on limiting the cultivation to a zone than the strip drills. My experience of the drills is they throw disturbed soil over the whole surface. I saw a strip cultivator demo and the cut off between the cultivated and uncultivated strips was incredibly well defined in comparison. The strip cultivators tend to shroud the ripping tine with discs to achieve that effect. But without staggering the units over more rows, they may be too wide with the discs to just narrow a standard one down to strip drill row spacing.

I think that you have hit the nail on the head. We do need that definition. The Carre one seems to do just that but as you say, to get to narrower rows the units will have to be staggered https://www.carre.fr/preparation-de-sol-profond/inro/?lang=en I also think that the cultivated strips need to be narrower which maybe further complicates the design?

 

[Brisel]

The purpose made strip cultivators tend be more focused on limiting the cultivation to a zone than the strip drills. My experience of the drills is they throw disturbed soil over the whole surface. I saw a strip cultivator demo and the cut off between the cultivated and uncultivated strips was incredibly well defined in comparison. The strip cultivators tend to shroud the ripping tine with discs to achieve that effect. But without staggering the units over more rows, they may be too wide with the discs to just narrow a standard one down to strip drill row spacing.

That's a very good analysis. It's also one of the criticisms of strip till drills, especially when I'd like that soil back on top of the seed & crop residues mean I can't scrape it back again without causing blockages. Lowering forward speed does reduce the distance thrown considerably.

 

[E_B]

That's a very good analysis. It's also one of the criticisms of strip till drills, especially when I'd like that soil back on top of the seed & crop residues mean I can't scrape it back again without causing blockages. Lowering forward speed does reduce the distance thrown considerably.

Depends on the situation and the drill, I feel strip till drills get unfair criticism sometimes. This is the same spot two years apart, with a wheat crop and a cover in between.

Sorry to be off topic.

 

[Spud]

Personally I favour an overall scratch post combine, then a strip til drill in one pass - it gets the weeds chitted, is easy to consolidate, and allows the seed to be planted into moisture. Breaking the stubbble surface also reduces the ripping by the legs - this can be a problem in dry conditions, even though the LD legs each have a leading disc.

We drill our cover crops preceding spring cereals with the legs in front of the drill (strip til style) then remove the legs in spring, and drill the cash crop with as little disturbance as possible.

Covers pre roots are drilled direct without the legs, in order to preserve the stiffness of the land to carry muck spreaders later in the winter.

 

[Rihards]

Personally I favour an overall scratch post combine, then a strip til drill in one pass - it gets the weeds chitted, is easy to consolidate, and allows the seed to be planted into moisture. Breaking the stubbble surface also reduces the ripping by the legs - this can be a problem in dry conditions, even though the LD legs each have a leading disc.

We drill our cover crops preceding spring cereals with the legs in front of the drill (strip til style) then remove the legs in spring, and drill the cash crop with as little disturbance as possible.

Covers pre roots are drilled direct without the legs, in order to preserve the stiffness of the land to carry muck spreaders later in the winter.

What drill did you use?

 

[Try to succeed]

Personally I favour an overall scratch post combine, then a strip til drill in one pass - it gets the weeds chitted, is easy to consolidate, and allows the seed to be planted into moisture. Breaking the stubbble surface also reduces the ripping by the legs - this can be a problem in dry conditions, even though the LD legs each have a leading disc.

We drill our cover crops preceding spring cereals with the legs in front of the drill (strip til style) then remove the legs in spring, and drill the cash crop with as little disturbance as possible.

Covers pre roots are drilled direct without the legs, in order to preserve the stiffness of the land to carry muck spreaders later in the winter.

How do you get on with October drilling in smeary/wetter conditions with the leg at any depth?