warksfarmer
Member
A bit more circumstancial eveidence
2 fields of wheat on a block of land with same rotation for at least 20 years drilled same day same seed, same seed rate and same operator even and treated identically since drilling
solitice following spring oats, straw chopped both had no cultivation
first field drilled with 750a, could find evidence of hair-pining on the day second field drilled with Dale
the Dale field is much thicker and plants are taller, no thin or bare patches
750a field is fine but notably thinner and plants smaller in areas where straw has overlapped (headland meets middle) there are some bare areas still with a thick straw mat present
fits this theory nicely, ie the tine of the Dale has row cleaned where as the disc drills hair pining in this case was detrimental
This all seems logical as we have a 4ha field (1st wheat) that went flat as a pancake last harvest due to it having lots of manure previously. Sod to combine which we had to do across the tramlines just to pick up the crop. The stubble was left very long because of this but the straw was removed. Then planted with 2nd wheat and its not good now at all. Cleavers are attacking it but the crop just isn't good which initially we thought lack of water because it is a bit dry but the rest of the land around it looks much better and healthier.
All we did was pan bust it then press in front of the vaderstad so we were not inverting the residue which meant the new crop (2nd wheat) was growing around the last crops residue. Im sure many people will say you should plough for a 2nd wheat but we haven't done for about 15 years but normally the stubbles are cut short and the chopped residue is mixed thoroughly using something like a Sumo, so we are moving the toxins into at least 8 inches of soil thats loosened. This year we did not do that ........
@Clive would you think about a rake?