I'm getting a tractor

[yoderjac]

I thought oxygen in the soil was a good thing. Isn't it necessary for legumes to bond nitrogen?

Yes, a natural level of O2 is needed in the soil. For example, if you highly compact clay you won't have enough O2. In a case like that, where the soil has been abused (like on a logging deck), you may need deep tillage with a sub-soiler to remove the compaction before building OM. An undisturbed soil usually has a good balance. You get the right level by building OM. This is best done by a good mix of C and N producing crops, which also happen to be good deer food. Both the roots and tops will decay and begin to add the OM for restoring a good microbiome.

Think about how stuff grows naturally with no commercial fertilizer. Most of a deer's diet come from native foods. Food plots are supplemental. On undisturbed soil there is a normal nutrient cycling providing sufficient fertilization for the native plant community located on that soil. Different fertility soils will support different plant densities.

Check out the video at the beginning of this thread: Weed Management Thread. It shows the level of nutrients required by deer and what native plants produce. It gives you some perspective.

By the way, I'm not anti-tillage. There are situations where it is beneficial. One is the case of compaction above. Another is that occasional soil disturbance like fire or light disking can be a good technique for encouraging high quality native foods. It is the deep and frequent tillage from traditional agriculture that can be problematic.

 

[victory]

Yoder I truly believe a roller crimper for him will be way more beneficial than any roto. The amount of damage a roto does the first time to new ground I ll bet reduces OM by at least 50 percent that will get worse with each subsequent roti job. I watch people all proud of disked soil and I just cringe and they don't understand the damage they caused. I would suggest he watch videos from grant woods at growing deer. Com just my thoughts

 

[yoderjac]

Yoder I truly believe a roller crimper for him will be way more beneficial than any roto. The amount of damage a roto does the first time to new ground I ll bet reduces OM by at least 50 percent that will get worse with each subsequent roti job. I watch people all proud of disked soil and I just cringe and they don't understand the damage they caused. I would suggest he watch videos from grant woods at growing deer. Com just my thoughts

I think it depends on what you are terminating. A crimper can be a great tool for terminating cereal grains when you get them at the right stage. There are lots of weeds it won't terminate. The key with the rototiller is to hold it up with the 3-pt hitch for min-till, so that the tines barely touch the top inch or less of soil. It is just enough to break up any crusting of clay. This is sometimes necessary when moving to no-till if traditional tillage has burned up all the OM in clay soils. They tend to form a crust that surface broadcast seeds have a hard time penetrating when germinating.

After a number of years of min-till, I had built enough OM that the clay stopped crusting and I was able to go to full no-till. I still use herbicides to terminate the field before planting.

 

[shaman]

Crimpers-- that reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask.

Can someone explain why crimping is better than mowing? With a bush hog? With a hay mower? The former, I already have. A hay mower I can borrow easily. What does crimping buy me?

 

[yoderjac]

Crimpers-- that reminds me of a question I've been meaning to ask.

Can someone explain why crimping is better than mowing? With a bush hog? With a hay mower? The former, I already have. A hay mower I can borrow easily. What does crimping buy me?

I personally think a crimper works best if you have a regular rotation using cereal. It i a good partner for winter rye becase WR has a chemical weed suppression effect in addition to taking space weeds would otherwise use. It lays down the cereal in one direction as it terminates it. A no-till drill is then used going in the same direction you were when you crimped the cereal. This minimizes the amount of trash the drill needs to cut through. When you mow, the cereal is laying in all directions. Sometimes trash builds up as you drill depending on your drill. This technique requires no herbicides.

For me, a crimper is not worth it. I plant a variety of crops and like having a good broadleaf weed mix in my plots as many of them are better deer food than the crops we plant. While a crimper does a good job of terminating cereal if you catch it in the right stage, there are many things it does not terminate. So, with a healthy mix of crops and weeds, I'm going to need to use herbicide anyway.

I have a small no-till drill, but rarely use it any more. I find that with the mixes I use, it is faster for me to surface broadcast first, and then mow and spray. It has the same effect as crimping in that the cereal in that it forms a mulch layer holding in moisture for germination.

So, I would say a crimper is not better than T&M, it is just a different technique that uses different tools. There are pros and cons to each. The pro for the crimper is that, with the right crops, no herbicide is required. The pro the T&M is that it can be done with less expensive equipment with the right choice of crops.

 

[catscratch]

Crimper lays down the thatch differently than mowing.

Only kills certain things while at certain stages, making it a very specialized tool. Not worth it in my book.