One year in and what have we learnt so far

[ChrisB]

We started No-Till drilling last autumn with the Simba Great Plains, we drilled 25% of our area through all soil types and all crops. Overall the crops have looked well throughout the growing season although a little scruffy on headlands and in the wheeling’s to start with. I was a little concerned with the rooting on the rape but the wet spring helped these crops survive and the yield has been no dissimilar to that of the conventionally sown crops. Once harvest is complete I will then study yield data more closely.

So what have we learnt to date?

Grass weed control has been better in the No-Till crops especially in Osr from early applied propyzamide which worked extremely well. Black grass control in Wheat has been no worse than that in a conventional system, our poorest control of BG has actually been in a conventional min-till system, but then we are all aware of the issues with a prolonged disc tine approach.

Going forwards we are now looking at straw/stubble rakes to allow at least one a stale seedbed to be accomplished before drilling and cover cropping to go on overwintered stubbles prior to spring crops.

However my biggest concern or drawback of the Great Plains is establishment of Osr, I still believe we need to use a low disturbance leg to establish Osr.

I would be interested to hear how other No-Till farmers are establishing No-Till Osr?

[Willscale]

Was it the new Spartan drill or an old style GP drill?

Yes I think most grassweed control is better in DD - apart from the anomalous Sterile Brome which seems to need a different management approach to the rest. Min till with all those weeds emerging at different depths etc. is bound to put pressure on chems.

Anyway I've direct drilled rape behind after a subsoiler and straight in and my conclusion is judge subsoiling on the need to subsoil for its own sake and not for the sake of the OSR plant - good seed to soil, plant establishment etc. is more important than the taproot thing in my view. ie if your soil is good enough (screwdriver test, spade test, peneterometer test etc.) then I think No Till rape is as good as any other method with a subsoiler.

[yelrabtaehw]

We have sown rape for several years with an Amazone primera,usually direct but sometimes in cultivated soil if we have moled prior to rape.We have seen absolutely no dissadvantage on the direct drilled fields.In fact the tilled soil has the problem of being softer so tramlines deeper than on direct drilled where they are very shallow even this year.

[martian]

We've just had our best osr harvest having drilled entire acreage with JD750a. Admittedly the bulk of it was on land that hadn't grown rape for 8 years, that did just under 5 tonnes/hectare, whilst the rest was 3.75t/ha. Can't see the sense in subsoiling...

[Willscale]

Yes it is the Spartan, we ran the 9m here last year and now bought a 6m with fertilser placement. I intend to put TSP/DAP down the spout for all the cereals.
Interesting point with regard the subsoiling, we just seem to be so tight in our wheelings following harvest, hopefully in the future the land will become firmer in the No-Till system and travelling should be easier.
I have, as a trial, subsoiled one field prior to drilling with the Spartan to compare throughout the season against the straight No-Till.
I would consider CTF but two thirds of the farm is on the Wolds and I dont think we would be able to get the accuracy required for CTF.

CTF is not particularly proven in this country. I can obviously see the logic of reducing wheelings and if you have RTK then why not etc? But the premise that wheelings cause compaction most of the time is not that strong - firm seedbed and all that?

Also in my (humble ) opinion the goalposts on CTF change hugely between no till and min till. Give me a plant and root holes to keep the soil open over steel anyday

[Kentish_Andy]

Yes it is the Spartan, we ran the 9m here last year and now bought a 6m with fertilser placement. I intend to put TSP/DAP down the spout for all the cereals.
Interesting point with regard the subsoiling, we just seem to be so tight in our wheelings following harvest, hopefully in the future the land will become firmer in the No-Till system and travelling should be easier.
I have, as a trial, subsoiled one field prior to drilling with the Spartan to compare throughout the season against the straight No-Till.
I would consider CTF but two thirds of the farm is on the Wolds and I dont think we would be able to get the accuracy required for CTF.

I would be interested to know why you are going to put on TSP and DAP. From my knowledge of phosphate fertilisers you have picked the worse two. If you want to apply phosphate then MAP I am told is preferential. I am not convinced that applying phosphate with the seed has any benefits. You may see it looking greener to start with but I doubt you will see much yield benefit unless you keep piling on the phosphate and that gets expensive. Applying lots of phosphate with the seed makes your plants an artificial P addict and if you do not keep applying it it will struggle as it has become lazy as it has not needed to go anywhere for food. Also another problem of applying P is that is shuts off the mychorrizal network, mother nature's free P suppliers. I would prefer to apply trace elements with a little N, maybe phophite and materials that encourage the soils natural biology.
Andy

[Ritchie]

Not sure on this but there was an article Many years ago about sowing TSP DAP Or MAP with OSR that said something like it saved thousands over the years in no need for slug pellets and gave the crop a Really good start.
Been searching for it on tinternet for quite some time but cant find it. Supose it would help if i knew in which of the Farming weeklys i saw it in, hey ho.
Some of you try searching for it !!
It's if i remember correctly the phosphate turned into gas when sown, and gassed the slugs.


Ritchie