What is the most reliable establishment technique?

[L P]

I'm always finding the key to a good year being good establishment. This year has been hard with the weather and even with my old fashioned style of plough, cultivate, drill, the spring corn isn't great. More intensive one pass onto plough with a combi could have got timeliness better this year and done me better.... but... its miles off a Regenerative farming DD cult that we are persuaded to follow...

We've all had many moons to find a reliable establishment technique. Appreciate all need different methods and technique towards success, along with working with your ground.

Boxing gloves on, which is most reliable to feed the population, leave pollution out of it.
I'll start, I reckon plough, press, combi drill, probably double disc coulters on the drill would be the most guaranteed way to spring a crop out of the ground

 

[Sam Partridge]

One off or year after year? I would vote shallow cultivation and drill but no doubt would come up against grassweed problems

 

[Clive]

depends on soil type / om / weather etc

 

[L P]

One off or year after year? I would vote shallow cultivation and drill but no doubt would come up against grassweed problems

Year on year, decade on decade as to the best chance your crop has without interference

 

[L P]

depends on soil type / om / weather etc

For sure it does.... most reliable year on year outcome when you take weather out of the picture, the other two are not really variables. I'm talking, good, steady but progressive farming practice and I don't think we are advancing fast from the plough, despite a lot of pressure to not invert soil, I think current 'new techniques' will make for volatile markets in poor years

 

[Sam Partridge]

So you just want everyone to say plough then

 

[L P]

So you just want everyone to say plough then

No, not if anyone is doing better, I'm just one man on one farm and stuck in the past possibly, I tried the future and went back, so quite possibly I failed to move forward. We did ICI trials for DD in 70s, had the second 750a in the country, DD for over a decade, One of the first Mzuri users... I'd say we are progressive if we didn't keep returning to the bloomin plough

 

[teslacoils]

I mean, there is no way you could plough here *and* press in one operation. Similarly, there is no way you could plough, press separately, then combi in succession without significant weathering.

The best way to get a crop growing here is:

Straw off.
Plough.
Power harrow soon after to level out.
Perhaps roll.
Dont look at it for a month.
Go back and drill it.
Roll if it doesnt look like youll get more than 12mm in the week.

Second best is:

Rotationally mole.
Straw off.
Leave the stuff alone for a month.
Spray off crap.
Solo, power harrow, drill, roll all tightish behind each other.

 

[L P]

I mean, there is no way you could plough here *and* press in one operation. Similarly, there is no way you could plough, press separately, then combi in succession without significant weathering.

The best way to get a crop growing here is:

Straw off.
Plough.
Power harrow soon after to level out.
Perhaps roll.
Dont look at it for a month.
Go back and drill it.
Roll if it doesnt look like youll get more than 12mm in the week.

Second best is:

Rotationally mole.
Straw off.
Leave the stuff alone for a month.
Spray off crap.
Solo, power harrow, drill, roll all tightish behind each other.

Not sure there are enough voting lines, but interesting combi is key for you too

 

[teslacoils]

Not sure there are enough voting lines, but interesting combi is key for you too

It would be a cultivator drill here.

 

[yellow belly]

Used all the options over the last 50 years
failed with every one to establish crops in the autumn at least once

when it’s too wet every one has failed
when its too dry late emergence from dried out highly cultivated soil has lead to late harvest followed by wet autumn

heavy silty clay soil

 

[Wombat]

No way could I get most from plough to drill in with one press and cultivate in between

 

[mixedfmr]

So you just want everyone to say plough then

Everyone to their own (land), ive tried DD and its a failure here, When the same drill was used on frost mold ploughed, 50% increase, an expensive trial / mistake.
Contractors DD more expensive than his combi (+£5/ACRE) so i ii stick to makeing a good job, plough and my combi
Govs DD sub has encouraged alot to dip their toe in and drill the lot, only this year they have been buying combis to get the job done. Two drills instead of one, thats a negative £
To use fancy cultivation pre DD (or semi DD) is trying to rush the job, and follow an idiology, and still not doing the job right, spending as much or more in relation to the yield
Even my contractor pre cultivates his own pre DD for OSR. But ploughs, power harrows then combis, he has expensive rents and cant afford to chance it
After all the top yielding crops are the most profitable and more carbon efficient, so here its plough combi all the way,
But as i say it depends on your land

 

[PSQ]

There is no such thing as “one size fits all”, it’s too soil texture and location dependent to get anything meaningful from the poll.

 

[tr250]

You’ll not get a straight answer on this as there is so many variables but I voted deep cultivation and drill so sumo type cultivator and a cultivator drill of some sort reason being we all know dd can be inconsistent but with a plough there is more potential for compaction as it’s so fluffy more chance of it baking out into lumps the size of footballs and more chance of it being eaten by slugs due to clods

 

[T Hectares]

There is no such thing as “one size fits all”, it’s too soil texture and location dependent to get anything meaningful from the poll.

And it changes from year to year, crop to crop

Flexibility is key

 

[benny6910]

The correct weather at the correct time is what makes any system work properly, only some systems still work when the weather is against you.

 

[L P]

There is no such thing as “one size fits all”, it’s too soil texture and location dependent to get anything meaningful from the poll.

I can't disagree with you there, it's a generalisation in the poll but hopefully the votes cover most bases for establishment options.. meaningful, outcome, I suspect £/lb many think they are being ecologically friendly but might be doing more harm than its worth?

 

[L P]

And it changes from year to year, crop to crop

Flexibility is key

Right, that's good, so why are all arable grants based on dd only? It's ideology without enough scientific backup... what's the likely chance of gov uk supporting financially a transitional system? For instance a 60k outlay on a 3m disc combi with interchangeable power harrow/ short disc unit, 100kg coulter pressure on disc drill capable of DD. its a prohibitively expensive transitional drill without financial help, but the ultimate machine possibly... however defra could not endorse such farming system as them boxes ain't ticked?

 

[T Hectares]

Right, that's good, so why are all arable grants based on dd only?

Because DEFRA don’t care about establishment and your crop yield

They are only interested in emission reductions, clean air and water so it’s DD good, everything else bad in DEFRA land