Indiana/Michigan border. We have not had rain in quite a while and the 2 acres I'd like to plant has dirt similar to concrete right now. A couple days of potential rain over the next week. I feel like the cultipacker would not be as effective rolling over this concrete dirt as it would after a rain or two but I also don't want to play games with the rain gods and miss my chance. I'm broadcasting brassics into a field I sprayed with Gly a week or so ago. I'm inclined to just broadcast and roll it today and hope for the best but am open to hearing ideas.
Cultipacking concrete?
- Thread starter bjseiler
- Start date
jsasker007
5 year old buck +
Should be fine if you have some thatch on top to cover/hide the seed until moisture arrives. I wouldn't bother cultipacking hard ground
Bassattackr
5 year old buck +
Could lightly disc or till to break up the hardpan surface if you have access to one. Then pack, broadcast and pack again a second time.
Yeah, sorry if that was confusing. I was kind of trying to decide if I should wait for rain so the ground is softer and then broadcast and cultipack. There is quite a bit of thatch. If I was just doing rye I'd say screw it and broadcast it. Just a bit nervous with brassicas and not getting them pushed in a bit..... Time and rain are obviously the enemies here.
Bill
Administrator
just broadcast a pinch heavy. If you have thatch and a good rain you should be good to go.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I have heavy clay soil. After screwing up my soil with a 2-bottom plow and then using a tiller to get a great looking fluffy seed bed. Eventually a soil science guy gave me the recipe for building a good dirt road. It was exactly what I was doing! I got short term success but really hurt my soils. With clay and a very low OM content, I wold get glazing with rain and then cement when it got dry.
I had to start with Min-till before going to no-till T&M. I used a tiller behind my tractor but used the 3-point hitch to lift it so high that the tines were barely touching the top of the soil. It was enough to break the crust and chop up the vegetation but not deep enough to really hurt the soil. I would then broadcast and cultipack. Of course, if you don't get rain, it won't matter what you do. But over time, this method worked for me. I began to improve the OM from the top down (as well as the roots decomposing). You can get the same effect making one pass with a light disc set pretty straight when the soil is dry.
Hope you get some rain!
Thanks,
Jack
I had to start with Min-till before going to no-till T&M. I used a tiller behind my tractor but used the 3-point hitch to lift it so high that the tines were barely touching the top of the soil. It was enough to break the crust and chop up the vegetation but not deep enough to really hurt the soil. I would then broadcast and cultipack. Of course, if you don't get rain, it won't matter what you do. But over time, this method worked for me. I began to improve the OM from the top down (as well as the roots decomposing). You can get the same effect making one pass with a light disc set pretty straight when the soil is dry.
Hope you get some rain!
Thanks,
Jack
