|
Driftless SW Wisconsin | Steve,
I have been working in this field for a long time. Compaction is a problem in most soils. I feel strongly about compaction which is one of the reasons we are focused on strip till, not the other way around. I probably will not change your mind but that is the truth. I have a clay hillside farm in Wisconsin with a very visible spot on the edge of a field where you can still see where my neighbor got a tractor stuck in mud maybe 10-15 years ago and spun his rear tractor tires - nothing will grow there. I leave it as a reminder.
In your area of W Michigan, especially in the lighter sandier soils, compaction may not be as much of an issue as it is in other areas of the corn belt. However even on golf courses with 6 psi in golf cart tires with no where near the weight of a grain cart there is enough compaction caused to damage grass root growth. When mowing with a greens mower it is important to rotate your mowing patterns or tire compaction on a greens mower will damage grass roots.
The psi is different depending on your tire footprint and tire air pressure. Super wide tires like the Trellborg keep the psi on the ground lower. Also we have made strips running directly behind the tracks of a Quad Track tractor with surprisingly little effect (strips looked good). On the other hand we have made strips in the path of super wide combine tires and it was a bear. I'll attach some photos.
I personally believe that compaction is one of the next frontiers/limitations to yield improvement in many geographic areas of the corn belt. You can address compaction by working the heck out of soil or you can address compaction by staying off of the planting area as much as possible. As I have mentioned before, IF you can work into a 12 R 30 strip till system running large singles at 120" on just two of the old corn rows you can end up driving on only about 10-15% of each 30 ft wide swath every year. (12 R 30 strip till and planter, 12 corn head, 90 ft sprayer)
Here are a couple photos. The first is making spring strips for flowers behind a Quad Track in very wet central North Dakota field - it was relatively easy to make a strip in the track path. Note the strip just inside (to the left) of our RH strip till bar tire is running directly in the tractor belt track and does not seem to be too much of a problem. If that was a high pressure tire it would have been quite different.
The second photo is of making fall strips in SW Indiana bean stubble and heavy dry clay with one row pictured directly in the track of a super wide combine single. The combine must have been run when this clay was very wet because it was a bear to get a decent strip in the tire track shown. It took a lot of our hydraulic down pressure to get it as you see it but in the end it was a decent strip. Customer is blowing dry fertilizer on in the fall for corn in the spring. Note the 4th row from the right is running in a compacted tire track.
Jim at Dawn
Edited by Jim 8/23/2006 12:03
 (Dawn Model 7940-16 Strip till bar ND 6-10-05E_fromJDcart_DSC00667.jpg)
 (Dawn 7940 16R30 Strip Till in bean stubble dsc0723.JPG)
Attachments
----------------
 Dawn Model 7940-16 Strip till bar ND 6-10-05E_fromJDcart_DSC00667.jpg (81KB - 407 downloads)
Dawn 7940 16R30 Strip Till in bean stubble dsc0723.JPG (91KB - 386 downloads)
| |
|
- Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue - Stacy : 8/21/2006 10:21
- RE: Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue - Jim : 8/21/2006 11:03
- Re: Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue - boog : 8/21/2006 12:39
- RE: Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue - JDPlowboy : 8/21/2006 13:00
- RE: Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue - Cliff SEIA : 8/21/2006 13:34
- So was the Simpsons, M Thomas!! NT - agboy : 8/21/2006 19:34
- RE: Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue - 4020dt : 8/22/2006 23:08
- What? - agboy : 8/23/2006 23:16
- Re: Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue - Millhouse : 8/22/2006 23:18
|
Corn after corn,, getting rid of residue
