Strip till

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
Does anyone strip till for maize and if so what does it cost ?

We bought the Duro machine about 10 years ago, recently replaced the crinkly discs behind the Duro legs with a home modified rotavator, with one rotor behind each leg. Costs something like 20-25% of plough/power harrow.
We are thinking of trying the Sabre tine drill next year as we can get it in 4"

20210419_142744.jpg
 

Hooch

Member
Location
cambridgeshire
We bought the Duro machine about 10 years ago, recently replaced the crinkly discs behind the Duro legs with a home modified rotavator, with one rotor behind each leg. Costs something like 20-25% of plough/power harrow.
We are thinking of trying the Sabre tine drill next year as we can get it in 4"

View attachment 998145
Thanks for the reply have been offered a demo from Kuhn so will have to see how it goes going to try some now and some in the spring.
 

E_B

Member
Location
Norfolk
Been doing it with a mzuri for a few years. But I assume you mean one pass with a strip tiller and another with the planter?
 

Devon James

Member
Location
Devon
Hi. We have built a strip till cultivater with Grange Machinery. I havent put any info on here, perhaps I should. Very pleased with the results in a season where a wide range of weather conditons were chucked at it.
The machine will be at Croptec next week. I will dig some photos out and post here
 

Two Tone

Member
Mixed Farmer
We bought the Duro machine about 10 years ago, recently replaced the crinkly discs behind the Duro legs with a home modified rotavator, with one rotor behind each leg. Costs something like 20-25% of plough/power harrow.
We are thinking of trying the Sabre tine drill next year as we can get it in 4"

View attachment 998145
A very interesting setup you have there for Maize. I would definitely call that Strip tillage as you have disturbed some, but not all the soil surface, one hell of lot less than Ploughing or Min-till would do.

Interesting also that I refer to a Claydon Drill as a “Strip tillage drill” rather than a No/zero/direct drill, because it does in fact move all the soil surface, but definitely not as much as Ploughing or Min-till (such as using a Sumo Trio type of cultivator).

Harry Metcalfe uses a Claydon Drill and reckons his fuel consumption for cereals establishment 75%, being 25% of conventional planting.
This includes rolling after the drill.
Nonetheless a very substantial saving over conventional drilling after Ploughing/Min-tilling


You also mention a Sabre tine drill (Weaving) which is becoming a very popular drill around here.
Jeremy Clarkson and Caleb Cooper now use this drill.

I don’t grow maize other than for pheasant cover. Providing it has been Round-up’d off, it seems to work fine as soil conditions improve substantially in the Spring, by the time it is right to drill maize.
I decided to go for a Weaving GD disk type drill to cause absolute minimal soil disturbance, primarily to avoid waking up Blackgrass, which if left unmoved, won’t readily germinate.
I also do not need to roll after drilling, because the following wheels on the GD dose that job for me.
My own saving in fuel cost for establishment are 87.5%, being only 12.5% (ie 1/8th!!) of what it used to be for ploughing, some power-harrowing where necessary, combi-drilling and rolling.

On top of which, because I disturb so little of the soil surface, on the vast majority of this farm, I only need to use 1/2 the rate of Pre-em herbicides I used to require!

This is not only a huge saving in costs but a massive savings in CO2 emissions.
Not just in fuel usage and herbicide usage, but in the fact that a very much larger than those two CO2 emissions is NOT released by disturbed soils, which releases CO2 by oxidisation of Organic matter, when soils are loosened.



If only we could persuade those that refuse to believe that any type of Zero Tillage, including Strip Tillage will work on ALL soil types, we could make a substantial contribution to CO2/Climate change.
But as the old saying goes “You can lead a horse to water………..!
Some just don’t want to believe that it works.
If it can be done on this farm, it’ll work on every farm.
 
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Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
Correct me if I'm wrong - and I often am - but we are looking at strip drill on maize and were told by the Kverneland rep that we should leave the strip 7 days between stripping & sowing to allow the berm to settle or, in other words, get the air pockets out
Anyone else heard/do this?
 

Devon James

Member
Location
Devon
Hi. We have built a strip till cultivater with Grange Machinery. I havent put any info on here, perhaps I should. Very pleased with the results in a season where a wide range of weather conditons were chucked at it.
The machine will be at Croptec next week. I will dig some photos out and post here
 

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Devon James

Member
Location
Devon
Strip till maize into grass ley taken for silage. And into an arable rotation following stubble turnips and a cover crop trial of oats and beans. Yields were pleasing
 

Devon James

Member
Location
Devon
Correct me if I'm wrong - and I often am - but we are looking at strip drill on maize and were told by the Kverneland rep that we should leave the strip 7 days between stripping & sowing to allow the berm to settle or, in other words, get the air pockets out
Anyone else heard/do this?
A two pass system is more adaptable to the conditions in my opinion. If soil comes up damp it can be left to pitch off before drilling
 

sjt01

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
North Norfolk
Correct me if I'm wrong - and I often am - but we are looking at strip drill on maize and were told by the Kverneland rep that we should leave the strip 7 days between stripping & sowing to allow the berm to settle or, in other words, get the air pockets out
Anyone else heard/do this?
We do a single pass operation, but when we went to France to see the Duro machine, they said on heavy land they leave the slots some time to dry out before drilling.
 

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