Research on planting techniques

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

Lot's of folks in this camp. I am one. I have a 40 hp cab tractor, and a 10K drill. Prior to the drill I did the disking or tilling and broadcasting seed and dragging and cultipacking, then fertilizing those seeds. Lots of trips across the dirt and lots of expense and time. I cannot walk the steps to do the seeding by hand anymore......so I adapted my Herd seeder to throw small lots, etc.

The drill has saved so much time and work.....that it has provided me the ability to keep doing this stuff. That is a big win for me.

My personal math on the tractor was - I’m busy and my camp is 3 hours away. When I want to get it done, I want to get it done. I don’t want to “fix it, to fix it, to fix it”. Spent the 1st part of my life and career working on/with junk to get the job done. The tractor moves stuff, brush hogs, plows the driveway etc.

The drill is almost a must have on my wet, clay ground. I have tried to work the soil and it is a fiasco. Plus the time savings of the drill is immense. I can literally plant 5 acres of plots in an afternoon with only a spraying 10-14 days prior (spring) or a mowing/spraying 14-21 days prior (fall plots).

 

[Spike_Horn_Shooter]

I do my food plotting in pretty sandy soil. If we do not get rain every 10 days things will dry up very fast. Almost without exception I will get a rough period every summer. If I gotta turn the dirt and drag or disk....it just dries it out even faster yet. My drill allows new crops to stay alive for at least three times that of tilled land. Also planting seeds into ground with a rye mulch over it.....keeps the soil much more moist and cooler too.

^ You almost need to experience these things first hand to see how beneficial a drilled seed is compared to the seeds that are planted with tillage. No comparison in many years.

This right here^^^.

I have drilled in rye and I have broadcast rye/wheat into beans. The difference in the growth rate of the drilled stuff is considerable. Same goes for an over-seeding of brassicas. The growth rate and look of both seems considerably better drilled.

I also did a modified mow then two weeks later throw, spray, then two days later mow. Worked pretty well, but got lucky with rain and good conditions this summer.

 

[Catscratch]

Foggy no doubt about it. Your 100 percent correct and I applaud you. I'd I lived on my land I would do that as well but a 2.5 hour truck ride get the stuff out and broadcast and crimp now works for me. It's not perfect and sometimes won't work. I have .9 OM sandy soil and I understand how fast it dries out. I'm amazed I have clover growing in it now. Just wanna see worm casings

If 6wks is a long dry period for you, and you can get thatch to grow in your sandy soils then you'll end up with plenty of worm casings, fungus, predatory insects (assuming you plant for diversity), and self fertile soil. It's very rewarding and enjoyable.

 

[Westwind]

Cat, since I’ve been doing diverse mixes in a plot next to my house I swear I have less mosquitos and buffalo gnats. Only been a couple years and we been dry mid summer so I might be completely wrong about that.

 

[Catscratch]

Cat, since I’ve been doing diverse mixes in a plot next to my house I swear I have less mosquitos and buffalo gnats. Only been a couple years and we been dry mid summer so I might be completely wrong about that.

You're likely seeing more predatory insects reducing your number of annoying insects (or, like you said... there hasn't been enough water for them to keep populations up). For every insect that preys on plants or blood there is an insect that eats them. Diverse plant populations create a larger variety of insects instead of just a few that over populate and cause problems. For instance; my problem with squash bugs went full steam ahead when I planted a plot of only pumpkins and squash. But when mixed my pumpkins in with beans, sunflowers, milo, and clovers the problem became much less so.

 

[davidhelmly]

Did some math... at 2' row spacing it would take 51 and a half minutes per acre. Of course that's if I did the math right. Pretty slow.

Oh ok, I didn’t realize you were planting corn or beans, I was thinking small seeded fall stuff with 7.5” spacing. I can see your point now.

 

[Catscratch]

Oh ok, I didn’t realize you were planting corn or beans, I was thinking small seeded fall stuff with 7.5” spacing. I can see your point now.

Oh hell no! That small stuff gets broadcast! I'm talking something like that if it was cheap would make proper spacing and populations worth the little bit of extra work. I like diversity/variety. I like complimentary species. A cheap no-till would be sweet!

 

[Catscratch]

All grown without tillage or a planter/drill of any type. A planter of some sort would make things a ton easier for my goals, but broadcasting and thatch have been been good to me.

 

[matinc]

Cat that's awesome. Congratulations. Please tell us your secrets. Ive got .9 OM sandy soil and just started crimping for the first time last year. The disc killed my soil.

 

[Catscratch]

Cat that's awesome. Congratulations. Please tell us your secrets. Ive got .9 OM sandy soil and just started crimping for the first time last year. The disc killed my soil.

I really can't tell you anything that SD hasn't already said. I was just posting pics justifying my desire for a cheap planter. With your low OM and sandy soil I'd say just get something to grow. Doesn't really matter what, just grow stuff that can fall down as thatch.

 

[Westwind]

You're likely seeing more predatory insects reducing your number of annoying insects (or, like you said... there hasn't been enough water for them to keep populations up). For every insect that preys on plants or blood there is an insect that eats them. Diverse plant populations create a larger variety of insects instead of just a few that over populate and cause problems. For instance; my problem with squash bugs went full steam ahead when I planted a plot of only pumpkins and squash. But when mixed my pumpkins in with beans, sunflowers, milo, and clovers the problem became much less so.

I thought that might be the case. I’m glad to know I MIGHT not be crazy thinking that!

Your plot pictures look spectacular. I might try for even more diversity this spring.

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Haha, I won't. I've never even heard of him outside this forum. I read the article. It's Missouri research. I do think there's a lot of no-till that goes on down there. Rollier ground, probably more lighter clay soils. These are only my opinions, but if the article would've been speaking of my area, I'd call bs on the no-till yielding with the conventional. Of the famous no-tillers in my immediate neighborhood, 3 of the best all quit no-till corn and went to strip till. They still no-till their beans. These winter annuals are becoming more of a problem with each passing year. I'm sure some of you guys are seeing that. They especially love the fields that haven't been tilled. I made one pass around a few of our bean stubble fields last fall. This spring you can tell to the inch where the disc-ripper ran. Plus the corn popped out of the ground faster and more uniform than the entire rest of the field, in that narrow pass. That's 1 of the reasons some of these guys have gone to strip till. Every area is different. We don't see a lot of erosion on our flat 0-2% sloped fields. I agree with the lady's mention of the equipment and labor getting expensive. That's probably part of the reset. Someday our country will be down to a thousand farmers, then a hundred, and then one. If we make it that far.

Mort -
I'm way late to this thread - just got reading it. Can you tell me what "strip tilling" is?? Our camp does both some no-tilling and some conventional tillage for our food plots. We tried drilling with a rented drill too. Never heard of strip tilling.

 

[Mortenson]

Making a tilled strip of soil on say 30" centers, while leaving untilled residue in between. It can be done different ways. It can be a plain, shallow strip with no fertilizer applied during that pass. Or it can be a deep strip that applies NH3 and dry fertilizer all in the same pass. IMO ideally the strips are made in fall and then they mellow out nicely over winter and you plant directly on top of them using gps. I've seen times where the strips need to be "freshened up" in spring with another pass of the bar. Pics taken from the internet...

 

[Bowsnbucks]

Thanks, Mort. I can see the advantage for row crops.