Define no-till plotting

David

David

Active Member
Throw and mow seems to be the only true no till planting method. Drills and row planters obviously create minimal soil disturbance.

But what about some of these food plotting implements? When the discs are set with minimal angles. Can we call that no-till?

What about "light discing" grains followed by cultipacking?



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To me, it's any time you move your soil enough that it goes from a crumbly cake-like substance to powder or smear. If you were looking for a purity scale, I'd put strip till higher on the holistic chart than a light disc. Even though you're going much deeper, you're leaving entire columns of soil undisturbed to repopulate your ripped strip. A pass with the disc is gonna create a new collapsed top layer.
 
What about severely compacted soil that was driven on, without a drill, what other method is there to make the seed bed acceptable for seed, lime and fertilizer?
 
IMHO, you are at ground zero, with those conditions. You know you have compacted soil and you know you have to add lime. You have to do some vertical tillage (sub-soiling, which has controversy of it's own) and you have to work the lime (conventional tillage) in to the top 4" - 6" of soil, where most of the roots are or will be. Lime doesn't melt and would take forever to get down in to the soil, by top dressing. It wouldn't hurt to get your P & K down in there as well.

Once you've got your compaction taken care of and your soil ph up, where it needs to be, you can do whatever no-till process you like. Just keep an eye on your ph and add lime on top of your soil, regularly, per soil test. Stay ahead of it. Under those conditions, any conventional tillage, the first year, won't set you back too far.

Choose your plants wisely, to help you. Choose a buffet that would include a cereal grain, daikon radishes, white clover, red clover, chicory and whatever else you like. Roots will help you break up the soil, as well as mine nutrients from below and add organic matter to the surface. White clover probably has the shallowest of those roots, maybe 6" deep, while red clover might be a couple of feet and chicory deeper yet. That kind of variety, will also help you, if you ever get a summertime drought.
 
Throw and mow is a little different from no till planting. Throw and mow the seeds remain on top of the soil and you use dead plant material to hopefully help hold moisture long enough for seeds to germinate and root growth to enter the soil.

No till planting is not working the soil. The openers, or Coulter, slice through the vegetation and the openers place seeds in a trench which collapses back into itself and is firmed back up by a closing wheel. Seeds are planted at an consistent depth.

The implements you are referring to with a disk even when straight, will throw dirt due to their concave design. Working the soil lightly say with a single shallow pass with a disk would be considered minimal tillage by today’s standards.

Hope this helps.


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FarmerD said:
IMHO, you are at ground zero, with those conditions. You know you have compacted soil and you know you have to add lime. You have to do some vertical tillage (sub-soiling, which has controversy of it's own) and you have to work the lime (conventional tillage) in to the top 4" - 6" of soil, where most of the roots are or will be. Lime doesn't melt and would take forever to get down in to the soil, by top dressing. It wouldn't hurt to get your P & K down in there as well.

Once you've got your compaction taken care of and your soil ph up, where it needs to be, you can do whatever no-till process you like. Just keep an eye on your ph and add lime on top of your soil, regularly, per soil test. Stay ahead of it. Under those conditions, any conventional tillage, the first year, won't set you back too far.

Choose your plants wisely, to help you. Choose a buffet that would include a cereal grain, daikon radishes, white clover, red clover, chicory and whatever else you like. Roots will help you break up the soil, as well as mine nutrients from below and add organic matter to the surface. White clover probably has the shallowest of those roots, maybe 6" deep, while red clover might be a couple of feet and chicory deeper yet. That kind of variety, will also help you, if you ever get a summertime drought.
Click to expand...
Great advice! I appreciate it
 
In my opinion my definition of "no-till" means no soil preparation (disturbance) was done in advance of planting, when planting consists of opening the ground, placement of the seed, and then closing the ground again (it may or may not involve fertilizer application).

Lots of advantages to it for production farmers......my opinion the biggest advantage to a "plotter" is the potential time savings in a one pass tool. The down side.....the expense of the equipment. The advantages of a true no-till drill become more and more visible with the more use you have for it. I can't justify one to plot 3 acres....my time simply isn't valuable enough and the pockets are not deep enough.

Also keep in mind not all "drills" are no-till. Many drills still require working of the soil to facilitate planting. A no-till drill will be heavy as it uses the weight of the equipment to make it function properly. The weight is what allows it ti slice thru the soil to open it and close it. You might, yes might, be able to get a traditional drill to work as a no-till if you have the soil conditions to allow it.

No-till is great, but we are not going to kick you out of the club if you have to turn some dirt and stir a little dust in your plotting efforts!
 
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