WC Iowa- mostly river bottom | We are in a drought area and this year I observed that zone till with spring strip till- without fertilizer put into the strip actually hurt much worse than no till. The soil was much looser in the strip and seemed to be more dried out, almost too loose. Dug roots and they seemed to be about the same as no till. Where fertilizer was applied close to the row in no till, the crop is much better and stood the drought much better. This leads me to believe that it's fertilizer placement and not the zone till or strip till that is making the difference. |
Maybe there's something to deep ripping periodically??
