Water pooling

[Flat 10]

Aye right. I left a small bit of the beet field unploughed and direct drilled it to see what would happen. It's under water, yet dry underneath. The rest of the field which we ploughed, power harrowed lightly at 15mph and drilled with the Unidrill is fine. Land after a root harvest is entirely a different matter to land after a cereal harvest. A lot more tackier wheelings.

I didn't use a power Harrow combi however. Went off the idea when realised the weight those things put on the tractor wheels. Better spreading the weight across the full width, as the Unidrill does, and power harrowing in front with a very light tractor and power Harrow with duals on just for levelling and consolidation really.

It's a fickle business alright.

My combi is only putting weight on the wheels when you lift it up.....
Otherwise I run the weight on the packer and have a front press so not lugging a counter balance around....
After spuds I would ideally either subsoil or chisel plough. Tends to be harder after beet as wet tops stick to the tilth which goes a bit smeary on top. Tend to plough this.

 

[Clive]

Have noticed fields that were ploughed and combicrop drilled after roots, into what I once thought was perfect seedbeds, crops were lifted in lovely dry conditions, they are now lying in pools of slop after a bit of rain. I can walk in my d d fields in short boots and hardly any soil sticks. If there was any doubt that tillage wrecks soil structure, this must prove it?

Have said many times the only reason I own a pair of wellies these days is so I can go shooting on other peoples farms !

 

[Clive]

I find that min tilled or ploughed ground after heavy rain goes solid or sloppy even when you think you’ve made a lovely seed bed on light land. Direct drilled doesn’t seem to do this

Eureka !

This is because contrary to popular believe cultivation does not create structure ....... it completely destroys it

 

[Kevtherev]

Also there maybe an underlying issue like a plough pan or compaction stopping the water percolating away.
Have a dig in those areas and see the soil structure it will give you the answer to why the water is pooling up.

 

[Surgery]

Horses for courses , if any drilling gets wet pre drilling or after drilling it will sit wet , pooling now goes with the time of year now , none of our ploughed and power harrowed ground is sitting in water at all and quite the opposite that the ploughed and harrowed ground walks far better than the min tilled

 

[Clive]

Horses for courses , if any drilling gets wet pre drilling or after drilling it will sit wet , pooling now goes with the time of year now , none of our ploughed and power harrowed ground is sitting in water at all and quite the opposite that the ploughed and harrowed ground walks far better than the min tilled

Min tilled - god how it annoys me that that term is even mentioned in the same context or threads as zerotill !

Mintill is utter shite, the absolute worst of all worlds, ploughing is far better than bloody "min till" .............................. min till is certainly not zerotill, poles apart !

 

[Bury the Trash]

Also there maybe an underlying issue like a plough pan or compaction stopping the water percolating away.
Have a dig in those areas and see the soil structure it will give you the answer to why the water is pooling up.

If its clay subsoil and on level ground the only way for water to 'go away' is through evaporation or respiration.

 

[jonnyjon]

If its clay subsoil and on level ground the only way for water to 'go away' is through evaporation or respiration.

It will soak away if the soil structure is good enough

 

[Bury the Trash]

It will soak away if the soil structure is good enough

clay is waterproof.

 

[jonnyjon]

clay is waterproof.

Don't agree but each to their own

 

[Badshot]

clay is waterproof.

Only if puddled about.
If there is good structure, natural fissures, roots, organic matter, worms, then it will find its way down.

 

[Brisel]

Min tilled - god how it annoys me that that term is even mentioned in the same context or threads as zerotill !

Mintill is utter shite, the absolute worst of all worlds, ploughing is far better than bloody "min till" .............................. min till is certainly not zerotill, poles apart !

Min till is just a misnomer that covers anything from scratching the top couple of inches to a high hp requirement deep disc/tine/press combination implement that can work anything from 4" to 18"+. Other than the phrase you've just used what else do you call it? Deep non inversion tillage?

 

[yellow belly]

Round here on clay soils the cracks are still present down to 1.5 mor deeper
Had a soil inovation day with Lincoln university this week they dug a soil pit 2 m deep with cracks down to the bottom
If it has been cultivated the crack is sealed
Notilled ground has a continuous crack twice as deep as the drains with continuous worm channels well molled drained land 20 or more deep worms per m2 each 5 mm diameter
Nature is amazing what it gives for free if looked after

 

[marc jonah]

Min tilled - god how it annoys me that that term is even mentioned in the same context or threads as zerotill !

Mintill is utter shite, the absolute worst of all worlds, ploughing is far better than bloody "min till" .............................. min till is certainly not zerotill, poles apart !

What’s the answer “genuine question!!!” For lumpy, ridge and furrow type land that needs levelling out? We’re a mixed farm that has just got a dd and was hoping to subsoil if needed then run and xpress over to level out over the next few years before dd’ing with a weaving gd, very heavy clay ground. Never really been farmer (in the last 60 years)

 

[Bury the Trash]

What’s the answer “genuine question!!!” For lumpy, ridge and furrow type land that needs levelling out? We’re a mixed farm that has just got a dd and was hoping to subsoil if needed then run and xpress over to level out over the next few years before dd’ing with a weaving gd, very heavy clay ground. Never really been farmer (in the last 60 years)

plough and then working it across will level it out enough.....when ts well dry enough of course.
dont waste fuel by using a subsoiller.

 

[marc jonah]

It’s really nasty clay that I don’t want to turn up, shallow Plough will only Plough half field

 

[tr250]

Heavy non inversion type tillage sumo trio simba solo etc then powerharrow a couple of times then drill if its ridge and furrows as I know it will take 3 or 4 years till it's level. Then it could be direct drilled after that

 

[Bury the Trash]

It’s really nasty clay that I don’t want to turn up, shallow Plough will only Plough half field

It was ploughed to put in the ridge and furrow .
Just take care and put down a relatively short term ley then have another go in a few years time
That's how we got rid of ours.
Soil type was/is approx. 9 /10 inches of loam over clay
subsoil.
We generally plough at 7 .5 inches so its touch and go if there is a proper low place where the furrow was.

But then to put into context we dont have a sumo trio etc.
Just good ploughs and older lighter weight type harrows power harrows and springtines .and more often than not broadcast seed .