Reduced till

[alisonb]

I really need some help. I have been interested in the 'no till' concept for a while now. In my case it will be a matter of reduced till, not no-till as I don't have the correct implements as yet.
In the past (when planting Sudan/soughum) I have ploughed, disced, fertilized, broadcast seed in fertilizer spreader and then disced over it. It has always been successful. Now what I am planning, is the same process but without ploughing - just on a small piece about 4 acres, the rest I will plant a I normally do.
The disc is not an offset but a tandem. I have found using this method to be fast especially when weather is threatening, I don't have problems with a planter that plays up or needs setting and the land is getting a second cleaning at the same time.
My concern is soil compaction and rain runoff, the disc is only going to displace or penetrate about 8 inches of soil. There will still be a lot of last seasons plant residue on land even with the second discing which may lessen compaction slightly.
Will this be feasible? Perhaps someone has some advice for me, I want to start next week.
Thanks

 

[bannedagain]

Most of the old boys who still use a moldboard plow around here, don't run the plow 8 inches deep. Your soil could be different and require different methods, but if you are running a disk 8 inches deep it should be okay. Here a plow is used for getting rid of residue not ridding the soil of compaction.

 

[1982vett]

Soils vary so much and so does what you can get away with. To get a tandem disc in the ground 8 inchs around here you would have to make at least two passes with a chiesel plow first. :nod: (Not to mention more than 85 HP to pull my 12 foot disc cutting that deep.) :)

If you can get a decent seedbed without the plowing I don't see why it won't work. Especially if you can get enough and some timely rains.

 

[Jogeephus]

If it doesn't work you can always go back to doing it the way it did. That is what I did.

 

[alisonb]

It's back to the plough i'm afraid - took the tractor and disc out this morning and I'm only managing to disc a depth of about 5 inches which is not adequate - I'm 3 inches out :shock: . This is even after irrigating last week.
I have an International 724 which I pull the disc with, the disc is only a 2.8m (8ft) cut which the tractor handles well.

Thanks for your comments :D .

 

[Cabo]

Alison, how deep do you normally plow? I would think that sudan would do well in the 5" deep disking.

 

[alisonb]

Cabo - I usually plow at least 10" deep. Purely because the plow pan is deeper then as well allowing for root growth, improved water holding capacity, aeration and drainage. The shallower I plow the shallower the plow pan is and therefore less space for root growth.
I noticed this morning when I was testing the ground that there is a livestock pan aswell, probably about 5" deep and that is why the disc is not getting any deeper so I have to break that up.
The topsoil here goes down quite far so I am not bringing any subsoil to the top. We only get an average of about 400mm rain here so I must take that in to consideration. I can irrigate but only do so when really necessary.
It definitely seems there is no other way but to plow until I get hold of the right implements. I hope I am making sense if not your advice will be appreciated.

 

[Douglas]

Rember that their are winter annuals like ryegrass, you can plant later that over a few years will reduce you compaction issues.

 

[alisonb]

Thanks for the suggestion Douglas, I will do some research :D .