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Vertical Tillage 12/29/09 3:06:33 PM
Vertical tillage offers advantage for spring 2010
Among topics at Jan. 26 state tillage conference in Peoria
Kay Shipman
Published: Dec 28, 2009
After wet spring and fall, corn and soybean farmers must decide what field tillage operations are essential before the 2010 crop season. "With wet fall seasons, there may be less tillage done prior to the next spring’s planting. In this situation, farmers have fewer alternatives to consider,” said Tony Vyn, a Purdue University agronomist.
"One option for spring field preparation is vertical tillage -— an operation in which producers use tools with straight coulters, harrows, and rolling baskets in order to fluff up remaining surface crop residue with shallow soil penetration, without actually inverting the soil,” Vyn said.
"Vertical tillage tools have the advantage of leaving more residue cover than a field cultivator or a disk, but less residue cover than an undisturbed no-till operation," he added. "This operation is best suited for fields that are poorly drained or have high clay content and therefore dry more slowly in the spring."
Vyn will one of the featured speakers at the 2010 Illinois Tillage Seminar on Jan. 26 in Peoria.
Vyn advised farmers that whatever tillage operation they choose, they must wait for dry enough soil conditions and to keep all operations shallow.
"If we continue to deal with wet spring conditions, soil moisture will increase very quickly with depth, which means that deep tillage operations in spring could cause smearing and compaction," he said.
"The combination of smearing and compaction is always going to be more of an issue when the soil conditions are reasonably wet at the time of tillage, and when dry, warm conditions persist after doing the operation,” Vyn said.
"The worst possible combination would be doing the tillage when the soil is wet and having that followed by a hot, dry spring. So a big part of tillage is trying to make sure you limit soil damage and creation of any root-restricting layers during that operation. That way, you give the maximum potential for unimpeded root development after tillage and planting."
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