The reality of heavier soil no till

[warksfarmer]

First and fourth picture shows a mustard and rye cover crop sown in late August. Harvest conditions for the previous wheat were moist and every single combine track mark can be seen. Trailers were kept to tramlines and were unloaded stationary. A horsch sprinter with Vos points were used. The crop emerged into rows then it rained ..... today as you can see it’s in clear distinctive lines. The mustard is in patches but the rye has all but failed.

Second and third picture mustard which was no tilled into harvested rye stubble in early August. No harvest damage and good conditions afterwards. This however now is a problem as it’s retaining to much water and not drying out. Mowing it will leave a slug haven mess.

Had we lifted the harvest traffic wheel marks from the first picture I suspect we’d have a cover crop today.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I'm confused. Are you planning on drilling something now into it?

 

[teslacoils]

"but just think how well it will travel in another ten years time".

 

[Clive]

a good case for controlled traffic !

 

[Clive]

what was drilling date Lee ? none of our later drilled cover crops have come to much this year the early stuff is fantastic though

 

[fudge]

Why add the phrase “no till” to the thread title? Any heavy land system would be tested under this autumn’s weather.

 

[ajd132]

Not sure what point you are making here Lee?

 

[warksfarmer]

I'm confused. Are you planning on drilling something now into it?

It was always going to a spring crop.

 

[warksfarmer]

Why add the phrase “no till” to the thread title? Any heavy land system would be tested under this autumn’s weather.

because it’s a no tilled field. Why else!

 

[rob1]

some have been saying for quite a while that cover crops on heavy land are not good, not because they dont grow but because they keep the soil wet.

 

[warksfarmer]

Not sure what point you are making here Lee?

that unless everything is perfect - weather, soil, drilling date etc it simply isn’t reliable enough system every single year.

 

[rob1]

The only reliable system in a year like this is a plough followed by a PH drill, plenty of undrillable mintill fields round here, but can we all afford to use the plough every year ?

 

[SilliamWhale]

I wonder if something like fodder radish may have been different? Obvs ££ and harder to get to grow well compared to mustard but do you really need all that mustard biomass?

You may find that mustard might winter kill ok and leave a reasonable tilth in early march. At the end of the day its a wet year

 

[Clive]

The only reliable system in a year like this is a plough followed by a PH drill, plenty of undrillable mintill fields round here, but can we all afford to use the plough every year ?

Are you sure?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1189575927140929536

I'm pretty glad we didn't move soil and established cover crops this year as it's about the only crops that have gone in well

 

[Michael3112]

We drilled alot of rye an mustard cover this year all drilled straight into stubble on mostly heavy ground an some light ground an as @Clive says early drilled stuff is brilliant later stuff did get away eventuallybut didnt look cery great for awhile, all mintill here an awful lot of traffic in fields we put more down to drillng date than anything else

 

[DrWazzock]

You would think a big cover crop would keep sucking the moisture out and the roots would help condition the soil. We see that effect here with OSR volunteers on heavy land. It always direct drills (or even ploughs) better than bare stubbles, that's in a "normal" year.

It is atrociously wet this year but I can't help but think that the more living vegetative cover we maintain, the more protection we afford our soils and the more we improve their condition long term. Cultivated bare stubbles look pretty disastrous around here. Soil washing off, nutrients down the river, slumping and ponding, unworkable, can't travel on them. Every year seems to be different though, so there isn't a hard and fast rule or silver bullet system that inhale found yet.

Just have to accept now that some years we won't drill. And suddenly agriculture became unreliable.

 

[rob1]

Are you sure ?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1189575927140929536

Are you sure ?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1189575927140929536

That ground is dry, there is no mud on the wheels, try that round here, even on our DD ground and it would be impossible, up till this monday it would have been possible to plough and PH drill if you chose the right days but lots of mintilled ground is bottomless atm, Im not giving up all the advantages we have worked for by DD'ing since 2012/13 by getting the plough out, but our ground is now sodden, any seed that isnt above ground now is likely to rot, it would be ok on boys land but not on real heavy ground

 

[l'ordinary bonville]

On heavy soils further north we also have the issue that harvest is later by a couple of weeks, meaning even less time to get a cover crop away in time to build some good biomass
Added to that the country is narrow between Cumbria and North Yorks/Durham so it tends to be wetter more frequently. Obviously this year is exceptional

It is frustrating that the only decent crops round here now were either sown very early or plough combi drilled.

Both Lee's images and Clive's video look like they are from a different season or a parallel universe. I see standing water wherever I look around here

 

[Clive]

.

Both Lee's images and Clive's video look like they are from a different season or a parallel universe. I see standing water wherever I look around here

geographically we are 20 miles apart! however, Lee's soils are much heavier than mine

 

[teslacoils]

Cover crop experiments here have all been a failure. Green manures work well, but only as a whole season crop. I'd like to try a grazed oat or rye crop simply as a way to last on the digestate and provide a good entry to a cereal rather than a bare fallow.