Combines Planting Progress

Tom_Russell

Guest
This is the first year that we cut the lawn before starting fieldwork. Wet soil is great for grass but not very cooperative when it comes to planting a crop. We started working up ground on Thursday and planted that ground on Friday. We had lots of chains but nobody got stuck. Years ago when we had 2 wheel drive equipment we would still be waiting for ground to dry. location: southern Minnesota.
 

Tom_Russell

Guest
It appears that I am off a day this week. Maybe it is due to long hours riding a tractor after sitting around doing busy work the past month or so.
 

oldstruck

Guest
We are 100% No-Till. Have been for 20 years. Southeast Nebraska. We have everything in the ground. Corn is spiking up through the ground. Except for 25 acres of milo(sorghum) and I am waiting to see if I will have any sandbur issues to kill out before I plant in those fields. My only concern this year is; the chance of a late frost, like after Memorial Day. I sent my extra seed back to my dealers this morning. Around us. Guys are finally pulling into the fields. Those that I can see that no-till are planting and getting stuff in. Those that are tilling are having to wait to plant. Corn is about 50-60% in, but soybeans are way behind and about 15-20%. With nice 5 to 6 days we have till next Wed night. I am sure there will be some 24 hour days for some. I wish you all safe and good planting.
 

riceman

Guest
Just across the mighty Mississippi from Tbran is wet too. We're probably a good month behind here in NE Arkansas.
 

Illinois_Gleaner

Guest
How can you notill when it is to wet to work groundIJIJIJ That makes no sense at all. Is your ground so hard water doesnt go into itIJ I no till some ground,some I have for over 10 years,but you still have to wait to plant it last to do it right. IG
 

gleanermanitoba

Guest
Totally different part of the world up here, but with our no till we can travel sooner than tilled, seems due to the fact that soil has no plowpan and with decomposing root channels water infiltrates faster.
 

NowGleaner7

Guest
Illinois, Notill after a few years drains better then conventional till (we are tiled). We still do some min.till (corn after corn). Are neighbours used to start as soon or sooner then us but now we are usually planting one or two days earlier on our lighter soil and 3 days earlier on our clays . We do NOT go on the fields until they are ready! We believe it is partly due to better drainage and the rest better soil texture.
 

oldstruck

Guest
That is the main hump or the mind set that one has to learn to get over. I had to as well. If one can till the ground one can plant it. Actually if there is good residue cover you can plant before you can even till. We dont use any attachments either, only the openers cut through the residue, even corn and milo stocks, we plant 2 1_2 " deep for corn and 2"+ for beans and milo. I went ahead and planted beans in standing wheat stubble, it was a bit damp underniethe, but it worked great. (easy as carpet farming when I was a child) In the residue the slot does not open back up in when it dries down. We use a IH cyclo 800 and a 900 planter. There are a set of Rebounders on them to keep the seed from bouncing when gets in the slot. Any planter can do this, Deere, Kinze, White. The ground we have is a silt_clay_loam. Used to be called Sharpsburg. The NRCS (SCS) infiltration rate for this soil after it is wetted is .28" an hour from the 1960's soil guides which most still use this data yet today. There have be tests done on our property, that show we can take in over 4" an hour after it is wetted with out runoff. We have no tillage pan after this long of no-tilling and our yeilds rival the irrigated acres in our area. FSA reported averages. The organic matter content of our soil has increased from 2.4% to 4.6% (last checked 3 years ago) in this time frame. Which means our carbon content has risen and the effect of that is the nitrogen cycle will have more availability for the crop over the season. Yes there are some around me that are just starting to get tillage done Thursday, but they falling behing quick. I have a bad feeling we are going right into summer from this cold wet spell. The tilled ground is going to dry up as deep as it was tilled. I have always put it this way. When a road is being built, the construction companies, do whatIJ Disk the ground and pack the ground to get the soil structure and the organic matter content out of the soil. So it is a solid base. Can roots penetrate through that very wellIJ Tillage does the same thing it is actually packing the ground, one does not think this is happening due to what it looks like on the surface. The fines in the soil are being sifted down to the tillage pan blocking the small passages in the soil structure(that is what essentially makes up the tillage pan) and keeps anything from passing through it, including water, which makes the fields to wet to get into. So tillage has to be done to dry them down. Ooo what vicious circle we get into. We recommend to buy a ripper on a farm auction(the type that heaves the soil, not one that makes huge clods) Rip everything once. Then sell the ripper and dont till again. Yes there will be some spots that may need ripped again in a couple years. like naturally low areas or field entry points. Those will go away in time. Also we recommend to always drive on the same rows. Always. Tractors, combines, grain carts stay on the same rows. We also dont recommend duals. (oh boy that one is going to get some comments) we have found that a Front wheeled assisted tractor, singled, with the correct ballasting will out pull a dualed tractor. But one has to adjust the ballasting when changing from pulled equipment to mounted equipment. Duals turn out to be a steam roller. Yes tractors look cooler with duals, but they are hurting the soil. The other thing related to this, is your HP needs fall off also, if you are not tilling. Our 6 row narrow IH 800 cyclo takes 9 hp per row to pull in tilled soil. It takes only 3.6 hp per row in no-till to pull this planter. So your fuel needs will go down. Final note. NoTill will not happen over night. One year of notill will not heal your soils up. One has to be committed to do this from now on. The benefits start showing up in year 5-7. Ok, will take my lambasting now! :) I hope everyone gets done in good time, no matter their practice. later!
 

R_O_M

Guest
This post is a bit different subject to No Till but it might be of interest to the North American guys on their seasonal prospects. Try googling for the FRCGC or IOD site or the " Indian Ocean Dipole" or ; http:__www.jamstec.go.jp_frsgc_research_d1_iod_ The IOD is the El Nino _ la Nina of the Indian Ocean and affects Austrlai but will be of little interest to you guys up north. What is interesting is the "Seasonal Predictions" on this site. The North American seasonal Rainfall or Precipitation predictions are for below normal rainfall across the corn and grain belt right through from June 2008 through to Feb 2009. What is not shown on this site but I have in a separate mail is the forecast for hot conditions well above normal for right through the grain and corn belt during the Jun_ Jul_ Aug period with the worst of the well above temps centred on about delta going NNW up through Kansas and Nebraska. Sept_Oct_Nov are still forecast to have above normal temps in central USA but the east coast will cool to well below normal as will all of South America, all of the Eurasian continent except for a small part of central Europe and the south and south west of Australia. In short, the FRCGC is forecasting well below normal temps for most of the world during the SON period. In Australia we are again looking at a dry winter in the SE grain areas with a better rains forecast for the spring [ Sept. Oct. Nov. ] for our ripening crops but there won't be any records broken at all. If these forecasts come off and the FRCGC is a very reputable set up run by Japanese and Indian researchers who are studying the Indian Ocean, then the world is in for a very interesting time come the end of this harvest ahead. There just may not be enough grain in the world and reserves may possibly fall again if the FRCGC is right about the rainfall and temperatures.
 
 
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