Ground Prep

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Ground Prep

• Tillage working the soil to provide a good
  environment for seed placement, germination, and
  crop growth

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4 goals for Tillage

• 1. Weed Control
• Before Planting
• Kill weeds
• weakens perennials
• After Planting
• destroys weeds
• covers seedlings

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2. Alteration of Physical Soil Conditions

• Structure, Moisture, and Temperature
• Stirs and loosens soil
• improves aeration
• creates suitable medium for growth
• may breakup soil compaction

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2. Alteration of Physical Soil Conditions

• Causes long term decline in Structure
• loss of organic matter
• crushes soil aggregates
• Moisture and Temperature
• tilled warms earlier, causes earlier seeding and
  better germination

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3. Crop Residue Management

• amount depends on crop
• 8500 lbs./acre off of 150 Bu corn
• 5600lbs/acre off of 100 Bu corn

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3. Crop Residue Management

• amount depends on type of tillage
• Plowing 5
• Field Cultivator 80
• Chisel 80
• Disc 6 25, 3 50
• Harrow 65

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4. Seedbed Preparation

• Culmination of previous 3 aspects
• Meets requirements for seed to grow
• moisture, temperature
• aerated, yet compacted
• free of clods
• Type of seed determines how smooth you need
  seedbed

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Were you listening?

• Describe the following
• Weed Control
• Soil Conditions
• Crop residues
• Seed bed preparation

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Conventional Tillage

• Primary Tillage
• Breaks up soil and buries crop residue
• inverting equipment
• Plowing, time consuming, no residue
• Discing

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Conventional Tillage

• Secondary Tillage
• Produces fine seedbed that breaks up into smaller
  chunks
• mixing implements

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Conservation Tillage

• Leaves 30 of residue
• reduces erosion by 40-50
• reduced tillage
• fewer trips, compaction less

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Conservation Tillage

• Mulch Till
• Chisel, Secondary, 30-50 residue
• Strip Till
• No Primary tillage
• planter tills band of soil and plants
• bares 1/3 of soil
• 50 residue

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Conservation Tillage

• Ridge Till
• plants cleaned strip
• seed planted on ridge
• 2/3 residue

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Conservation Tillage

• No Till
• specialized planters
• 90 untouched ground
• Herbicides used to control weeds rather than
  tillage

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Differences between Conservation and
Conventional

• Yields
• slightly lower in Conservation
• Equipment
• conservation needs specialized, but fewer
• Fertility
• Conservation remains moist longer,
• N needs to be deeper incorporated in Conservation
• pH may be higher

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Drawbacks to Conservation

• Management
• Adapted for select soils
• Perennials can be a problem
• Compaction in No Till can be a problem
• pH lowers
• Use of herbicides

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Checking for understanding

• In conservation tillage why do you need as much
  as or more equipment than conventional?
• From the soil perspective, why is conservation
  tillage a valuable tool to consider?

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Cropping Systems

• 3 Different ways to decide what to plant

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1. Plant the Market

• Plant what the market wants you to, highest price

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2. Suit to Operation

• Plant what you will use in ag operation

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3. Crop Rotation

• 1.Continuous Cropping
• grows same crop every year
• yields decline after several years

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3. Crop Rotation

• Disadvantages
• planting less profitable crops
• do not use crops that you need to plant

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3. Crop Rotation

• Advantages
• Control disease and insects
• Control weeds
• allelopathy chemical emitted by a crop that
  kills weeds in next crop
• supplies N
• Improves O.M.
• Reduces erosion

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Dryland Farming

• No irrigation
• Summer Fallow
• left fallow for 1 crop season
• control weeds and crop on field
• 25 of rain will be stored in ground

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Dryland Farming

• 3 Problems
• 1. Wind erosion
• 2. Decline in O.M.
• 3. Saline Seeps

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Dryland Farming

• Saline Seeps
• Deep rock layer stops water and pushes it
  downhill
• water carries salt with it
• comes out at low spots of hill
• water evaporates leaving salt behind

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Dryland Farming

• Avoid saline seeps by moving the water before it
  can evaporate

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Rangeland

• Things to do to make rangeland more productive
• 1. Control grazing
• 2. Fertilize
• 3. Seed out new plants

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Organic Farming

• No inorganic fertilizers or synthetic pesticides
  are used
• Usually use rotation w/legumes to supply N
• Rely on tillage and cultivation
• rotary hoe

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Organic Farming

• Results of O.F.
• better bean and oats yield
• erosion is reduced
• use 1/3 of energy
• sell to regular markets
• some utilize only part organic

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Quiz Time

• List the four goals of tillage.
• Briefly describe conventional and conservation
  tillage. Compare each.
• What are three factors that affect what you will
  plant.
• What do dryland farmers do to increase
  productivity
• How do organic farmers maintain their nitrogen?