This field is quite light but had areas that lay wet all winter due to the surface running together. I thought Mole draining would help the problem but cannot pull my mole in this field.
Fields that were direct drilled this Autumn but were subsoiled for rape in Aug 14 are wetter inside at depth than the 5 year dd field and mole in those fields pulling nicely with minimal wheel slip.
Not sure if this level of soil density is what long term dd is suppose to achieve or if the dd is not working in hear.
There are less worm holes than fields that have not been dd for as long.
Yield was 1 t/ph down on fields that were cultivated in 2014. It's never been the best field though.
When I lift the mole out it breaks out a huge pice of soil. Right down to the mole depth.
What's interesting is how much dryer at depth this field is compared to fields that were cultivated in 14. I think this must be due to better capillary action due to the increased density of the soil? Peas are the next crop in here, I think I'm just going to leave the field alone and dd the peas in. Hopefully without the effect of drilling with tine drill this Autumn the soil surface won't run together and it will dry out enough in the spring to drill. Unless anyone has some better advice.
I am hiring a grassland subsoiler this summer to try a couple of half field trials to compare with dd, but I don't think I would pull that in here either!
Fields that were direct drilled this Autumn but were subsoiled for rape in Aug 14 are wetter inside at depth than the 5 year dd field and mole in those fields pulling nicely with minimal wheel slip.
Not sure if this level of soil density is what long term dd is suppose to achieve or if the dd is not working in hear.
There are less worm holes than fields that have not been dd for as long.
Yield was 1 t/ph down on fields that were cultivated in 2014. It's never been the best field though.
When I lift the mole out it breaks out a huge pice of soil. Right down to the mole depth.
What's interesting is how much dryer at depth this field is compared to fields that were cultivated in 14. I think this must be due to better capillary action due to the increased density of the soil? Peas are the next crop in here, I think I'm just going to leave the field alone and dd the peas in. Hopefully without the effect of drilling with tine drill this Autumn the soil surface won't run together and it will dry out enough in the spring to drill. Unless anyone has some better advice.
I am hiring a grassland subsoiler this summer to try a couple of half field trials to compare with dd, but I don't think I would pull that in here either!