- Location
- People's Republic of South Yorkshire
We had 3 different brands of DD in the past demo here. None established better than the tillage method.I said that there wasn’t a soil type that couldn’t successfully be direct drilled and that any failures ( including all the ones I’ve had ) are always down to management and not soil type. I didn’t say that I condoned ploughing. You might have very valid reasons for doing it such as not having 100k for a drill, you just enjoy it ( like I do ) or you want to incorporate muck or weeds.
What I read about DD, even from leaders in the field, is that you got to expect a yield drop at first.
On marginal land can not really afford the yield loss for a few years.
But still think if you plough plenty of stuff back in, soil biology still improves. When I went organic, chopped and ploughed everything and soil did improve and worm numbers increased. (Old man used to bale and sell all straw off to the cattle men)
But sadly at Moment I am now doing the same, as bps going and can not get in sfi as got stuff in Cs. So bale all straw and goes to power stations to help make up the difference. Gov dont want us to grow food now, so what does soil quality really matter..?