How much Moisture Savings with No-Till

[Freeborn]

I'm looking for information on how much moisture you save over a growing season by using no-till. I know it will vary widely but I'm wondering with my sandy soil how much I would gain.

I know there are other benefits but in a dry season I'd like to know how much of a difference It will make.

Does anybody have a source of practical information?

Thanks!

 

[MickT]

No hard data, but anecdotal. We had a D3/4 drought year before last. The creek behind the house went dry months and I’d never seen it quit flowing before. I grew my best garden that year. It never really checked up This was after 2 years no till and winter cover crops. You won’t get the full benefits without cover crops. I’m a believer.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[yoderjac]

Again not hard data, but it would depend on how deep you till and your soil type. It can easily be the different between success and failure.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[swat1018]

It also depends heavily on how long you have been no-till. You don't see your best results the first year.

 

[Smallplot]

Do a small test area and see what the difference is over just a day or two.
And like said by others having the extra layer of cover, ie dead vegetation, allows even less evaporation of moisture. With sandy soil that drains quicker than some, you would likely see a big difference.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Tap]

I watched some demonstration videos from a cover crop site that laid it out pretty well. I probably have the links somewhere on my computer. Let me look around for it.
But in a nutshell, the rain infiltration and moisture retention of no-till and cover crops was impressive.

 

[Bill]

Like others no hard data but when I started no tilling into rolled rye it made a difference. The dead rye acts like mulch all summer long. On the plus side it also adds lots of OM to the soil. I've been warned it can attract army worms but I've not seen that at my place and hope I never do.

 

[yoderjac]

Here is a good video on Ray the soil guy on water infiltration: https://vimeo.com/channels/raythesoilguy/52284015 but that is different from saving moisture. With sandy soil, I doubt lack of infiltration is an issue.

Again, no hard numbers but here is how I like to think of it. When you till, you not only remove any dead vegetation that was acting as mulch, you disturb the soil tilth and expose moisture below the surface directly to the sun, wind, and evaporation. No-till minimally opens the soil, drops in the seed, and closes it. As someone posted, it will take years to get the full benefits of no-till, but right out of the gate, you will save a lot of moisture. Again, the amounts will largely be related to your soil type. I have heavy clay, so it retains moisture well. Folks with sandy soil can have different issues. If you think of pure sand, water completely infiltrates through it and the sun and wind dry it from the top.
The longer-term benefit for folks with soil that is too much clay or too much sand is the fact that you can build OM from the top down. Tillage introduces o2 into the soil which speed microbial consumption of OM. With no-till you don't destroy the OM you build from dead decomposing vegetation. It can take decades to restore soil health through building OM, but the OM itself will help with moisture retention and proper infiltration.

Things only get better! Food plotters benefit even more. We don't harvest. That means many fewer nutrients are removed from the soil. The only thing that leaves the field is what deer eat, and they defecate to offset most of that. That means we can have successful plots with less and less inputs like fertilizer. If we are smart, we are using a good mix or rotation of complementary plants as well also contribution to the reduction in high cost inputs.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Tap]

This isn't the exact video I was looking for, but it still applies to your question. Anything from Ray Archuleta (Ray the soil guy) is well worth watching.

 

[Freeborn]

Thanks fellas, appreciate the input and videos.

Most years are not a problem but occatinally Mother Nature does not cooperate. I'm hoping to take some of the variability out of my yields and am thinking no till is the answer.

For those who no till, do you side dress with fertilizer ( corn particularly)? No till with side dressing of fertilizer I think would be ideal. I currently broadcast fertilizer which I think is inefficient and feeds to many weeds.

Thanks again.

 

[yoderjac]

Thanks fellas, appreciate the input and videos.

Most years are not a problem but occatinally Mother Nature does not cooperate. I'm hoping to take some of the variability out of my yields and am thinking no till is the answer.

For those who no till, do you side dress with fertilizer ( corn particularly)? No till with side dressing of fertilizer I think would be ideal. I currently broadcast fertilizer which I think is inefficient and feeds to many weeds.

Thanks again.

Thanks fellas, appreciate the input and videos.

Most years are not a problem but occatinally Mother Nature does not cooperate. I'm hoping to take some of the variability out of my yields and am thinking no till is the answer.

For those who no till, do you side dress with fertilizer ( corn particularly)? No till with side dressing of fertilizer I think would be ideal. I currently broadcast fertilizer which I think is inefficient and feeds to many weeds.

Thanks again.

I don't plant corn so others can help with that. I have heavy clay that can crust. I typically set a tiller high so I'm barely touching the top inch of soil. It is just enough to break the crust. I then no-till soybeans with a very light mix of corn (7:1 by weight). My purpose for the corn is simply to provide a little vertical cover to encourage daytime use of the beans. With this light amount of corn, I get good cobs without any added N except for the tiny amount that is in the MAP I use to achieve my P requirement for the beans. I broadcast my MAP and potash because my drill does not have fertilizer capability. In the fall, I surface broadcast a cover crop into the standing beans for fall. I like PTT/WR/CC for my area. My corn primarily grows on banked N.

I'm far enough south that summer is my primary stress period so corn is not a good fit for me. I uses way too many resources for what it provides me. Corn is a better fit for the guys up north like you.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Wild Thing]

I have planted corn with my no-till drill but my drill doesn't have fertilizer capability either so I have to broadcast fertilizer with my 3 Pt Cyclone spreader. No, it isn't as efficient as side-dressing fertilizer like I did with my JD-7000 planter....but you can still get a pretty decent corn crop for deer. This will be my 3rd year since going no-till and I have decided to not plant corn anymore either. It costs a lot more to plant than beans or many other food plot crops and I don't like having to deal with the stalks since I'm not combining it. It is also more difficult to broadcast a cover crop into standing corn. I can plant sugar beets and get similar or more tonnage of late season forage without having the negatives associated with corn....and it is a lot easier to find the shed antlers in the SB plots .

As mentioned, being only in year 3 for no-till I haven't yet built up a lot of OM but there is no question in my mind that the soil moisture retention is much greater than when I was turning dirt.

Here are a couple of photos of corn which I drilled and broadcasted fertilizer:

 

[Wild Thing]

Almost forgot to mention...since going to no-till, I don't have to pick rocks anymore. Can't tell you how happy that makes me. Also, I would be remiss to mention that I spend a lot less time in the tractor seat now. I used to average over 200 hours per year on my JD-5400. Now, I am logging slightly under 100 hours/year. There is much less compaction, certainly a savings in fuel...and I don't need to worry about erosion when planting on some of our hilly plots. There are other benefits to no-tll besides moisture retention.

 

[Freeborn]

Almost forgot to mention...since going to no-till, I don't have to pick rocks anymore. Can't tell you how happy that makes me. Also, I would be remiss to mention that I spend a lot less time in the tractor seat now. I used to average over 200 hours per year on my JD-5400. Now, I am logging slightly under 100 hours/year. There is much less compaction, certainly a savings in fuel...and I don't need to worry about erosion when planting on some of our hilly plots. There are other benefits to no-tll besides moisture retention.

Thanks for the advise and great photos. I believe the type of food plot one needs is dependent allot on their region and in my case cover requirement. Corn is the norm in my area so I'm at a disadvantage if I don't plant it and because my primary plot is in the open the corn helps the deer feel comfortable.

How to you like the the Landpride? A guy needs a couple different units for all the different goals we're trying to accomplish.

 

[Wild Thing]

No question that corn provides cover as well as food. When in Rome....do as the Romans.

Love my Land Pride (Great Plains) drill. I got a great deal on it during the Deer & Turkey Expo in Madison. I tried to get the dealer to have it painted green when I ordered it but he just couldn't go there.

 

[mglenn005]

Here is a scientific answer. Hope my experiment plan is correct.

Background: 1 acre is 43560 ft2.
Assume tillage depth of 6”

Volume of soil area affected by tillage is 21760 ft3.

Experiment:
1. Weigh a known volume of densely packed soil, such as 1 ft3 (ft3 is important for calculations below). It needs to be packed to replicate its initial, in disturbed condition. This mass / volume is the density of the wet soil (den_wet)
2. Dry the soil. Exposed in sun. Weigh again. This is (den_dry)
3. Soil moisture, SM (%) is = 100*(1 - (den_dry/den_wet))
4. Mass of water in pounds in 1 acre is = (21760 ft3)*(den_wet lb/ft3)*(SM%)
5. Convert to gallons per acre. = mass lbs/8.4 lbs.

Follow a similar process for tilled ground.

Compare results.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Freeborn]

Here is a scientific answer. Hope my experiment plan is correct.

Background: 1 acre is 43560 ft2.
Assume tillage depth of 6”

Volume of soil area affected by tillage is 21760 ft3.

Experiment:
1. Weigh a known volume of densely packed soil, such as 1 ft3 (ft3 is important for calculations below). It needs to be packed to replicate its initial, in disturbed condition. This mass / volume is the density of the wet soil (den_wet)
2. Dry the soil. Exposed in sun. Weigh again. This is (den_dry)
3. Soil moisture, SM (%) is = 100*(1 - (den_dry/den_wet))
4. Mass of water in pounds in 1 acre is = (21760 ft3)*(den_wet lb/ft3)*(SM%)
5. Convert to gallons per acre. = mass lbs/8.4 lbs.

Follow a similar process for tilled ground.

Compare results.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where did you find the math and do you have a link? I like the approach and there is nothing like results from your own land.

 

[mglenn005]

Here is a scientific answer. Hope my experiment plan is correct.

Background: 1 acre is 43560 ft2.
Assume tillage depth of 6”

Volume of soil area affected by tillage is 21760 ft3.

Experiment:
1. Weigh a known volume of densely packed soil, such as 1 ft3 (ft3 is important for calculations below). It needs to be packed to replicate its initial, in disturbed condition. This mass / volume is the density of the wet soil (den_wet)
2. Dry the soil. Exposed in sun. Weigh again. This is (den_dry)
3. Soil moisture, SM (%) is = 100*(1 - (den_dry/den_wet))
4. Mass of water in pounds in 1 acre is = (21760 ft3)*(den_wet lb/ft3)*(SM%)
5. Convert to gallons per acre. = mass lbs/8.4 lbs.

Follow a similar process for tilled ground.

Compare results.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Where did you find the math and do you have a link? I like the approach and there is nothing like results from your own land.

I came up with the math on my own. Ncrs.gov provided the formula for soil moisture.

My background - engineering.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bowman]

Joke: I do not know if I qualify as a redneck. Walk through bare ground. Walk through anything that is growing. Where are your feet wet? If drought is a concern, .......