strip till drilling and blackgrass management

[Mattch]

I had intended to drill my winter wheat straight into the previous crops stubble, in my case predominately winter wheat into wosr stubbles.

My concern is that if I do not produce a stale seedbed first to try and get a flush of blackgrass then the first real soil movement will be whilst drilling and rolling. Rolling will probably require levelling boards to move soil over the seed band as the untilled strips tend to sit proud of the tilled strips.

I could use our existing cld to work a couple of inches deep but this defeats the whole object of trying to reduce tillage. Would I be better to buy a rake or perhaps not roll after drilling?

I have experimented with not rolling this spring, with no problems, but the slug pressure will be higher after osr - or possibly this dry, hot spell will reduce numbers significantly.

My original plan was to buy a rake but after reading conflicting comments on this forum I am not so sure it is the right tool, perhaps a carrier may be more suitable?

Thanks for any suggestions,

Matt

 

[SilliamWhale]

What drill are you using? For what its worth I don't think tillage does a lot for blackgrass. The less you can distriubute your blackgrass plants seeds through various layers the better I think but then if you have a higher distubance drill this will help germination of blackgrass around seeding time which is not ideal.

Fwiw I would think about rolling after harvest

 

[Feldspar]

The messages I heard back from the Hutchinson's event was that rolling by itself was better than a shallow surface movement alone (like raking) but that the two combined together was the best. I am going to try raking and rolling straight after the combine followed by one or maybe more spray passes before strip-till drilling. General practice behind a Claydon seems to be to roll whereas Mzuri (dependent on pre-emergence constraints) claim rolling makes to difference. I have heard (can't remember where from though) that not rolling the strip-tilled ridges does reduce blackgrass pressure in those areas which could be a tactic in the case of the Mzuri. One of our drills can apply Avadex granules which will be an extra tool in the box. We bought a Weaving rake last year which was useful insofar as it stopped the Claydon SR blocking quite as much as it used to and it did even out the distribution of residue. That said the surface of a lot of the fields was very firm and consequently hardly any soil was moved by the rake and I don't think it caused very much of an extra weed chit effect. This year, however, there seems to be quite a bit of surface tilth still in existence and so I'm hoping the rake will do a better job this year.

 

[Mattch]

I am using a Mzuri, which from experience to date should produce a decent environment for the wheat seeds to germinate on most of my land without needing extra cultivations. I have experimented with rolling after harvest but have not seen an increase in blackgrass germination over not rolling. Rolling after any form of cultivation is essential though, which is why I am concerned about rolling after drilling!

 

[Feldspar]

I am using a Mzuri, which from experience to date should produce a decent environment for the wheat seeds to germinate on most of my land without needing extra cultivations. I have experimented with rolling after harvest but have not seen an increase in blackgrass germination over not rolling. Rolling after any form of cultivation is essential though, which is why I am concerned about rolling after drilling!

Why do you say this?

 

[Mattch]

It will be the first pass post harvest and I am concerned it will encourage blackgrass germination in the untilled strips. As for rolling after cultivation I am refering to good seed/soil contact for weed seed germination in a stale seed bed situation.

 

[Feldspar]

It will be the first pass post harvest and I am concerned it will encourage blackgrass germination in the untilled strips. As for rolling after cultivation I am refering to good seed/soil contact for weed seed germination in a stale seed bed situation.

I see what you mean, misread your first post.

 

[Andrew K]

I am going to be using different harrows and other tweaks on our Mzuri this autumn to try to get the rolls/drill to consolidate better, will post some pics when we try it out.

Having said that, Mzuris levelling board option should help as well.

 

[tillboy]

It will be the first pass post harvest and I am concerned it will encourage blackgrass germination in the untilled strips. As for rolling after cultivation I am refering to good seed/soil contact for weed seed germination in a stale seed bed situation.

Does black grass seed no need exposure to light to germinate, therefore just rolling won't germinate all the seed, raking will get more to germinate, raking followed by the rolls might be even better.
I always think that combining the rake and roll is wrong as the speeds needed for each bit to work best are too different