Stubble rake for drying spring stubbles???

[farmer dave136]

has anyone tried running a stubble rake over in front of the drill in spring to just dry the top inch of soil out?? Always seems tacky at this time of year just trying to dd?

 

[Shutesy]

has anyone tried running a stubble rake over in front of the drill in spring to just dry the top inch of soil out?? Always seems tacky at this time of year just trying to dd?

Yes, but I find unless its almost dry enough to drill anyway you end up with tractor wheelings everywhere that the rake doesn't take out. I would think if your DD'ing spring crops its far to early yet, especially if the forecast cold spell comes in the next 2 weeks. Were looking at getting some discs to just mix up the top 2 inches once things start to dry out and were ready to drill. We are strip-till though not full no-till so a light discing isn't going to be the end of the world and a mulched in cover crop should still retain some moisture later into the spring and summer better than if we had ploughed everything.

 

[JAB]

No, I haven’t. But I would say being able to get seeding done in a timely manner has been one of the biggest challenges for me and DD. I have found some useful tips and principles in here:

http://www.dakotalakes.com/media/dl...eneral Practice Guides/No-Till in the Mud.pdf

 

[Devon James]

The Claydon Terrastar was excellent for this when we had it on demo in 2015. When there are not big weather windows, ground can be lightly cultivated to allow the wind and sun to pitch it off, drill the next day before rain the next, for example.
We opted for a Wox Agri Supermaxx in the end which is used in the same manner and for other operations that we do.

 

[Sprayer 1]

Last spring I got fed up waiting for it to dry so went through with the SimTech drill empty one windy morning, I used the drill because I have nothing else. By the afternoon it was fit to drill and did a good job, so was looking for a basic 5 or 6 meter spring tine for this year. loads on ebay but miles away , a lot in your part of the world James, which would cost me a fortune to get back . I bet there are a lot of farms with some parked in the nettles.

 

[Brisel]

I use a light set of Carrier discs to open the top up on heavier ground. Less bothered by wheelings as we let tyre pressures down and drill with a Claydon strip till drill. I have a straw rake but I've never found the residues dry enough to rake in the spring though most have gone into worm stomachs except for the recently desiccated cover crops.

 

[Will7]

On heavy land I do it the other way round. I drill the seed and then if it has left it a bit slotty I will return 24hrs later with the rake to cover it over. The theory being the drill will compact if it is wet whether you have moved 50mm of soil or not

 

[yellow belly]

If it is too wet to drill properly drilling earlier has no benefit
Later drilled with enough seed in good conditions gives a good crop and does not make soil worse for the following crops

Drilling or working land when it is not dry enough takes several years to recover ,the weather after is always more important rushing crops in before a wet week gives poorer crops whatever the cultivation system
Lighter free draining drought prone land is much more forgiving but can still be damage when it is too wet

 

[Cotsfarmer]

We end up just running our dale drill through it empty but we do have sheep grazing stubble turnips on our spring ground.