# No-Till More Than Half of Big Three Crops



## Vol

More than half of corn, soybean, and wheat crop acres are in no-till.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com/article/more-than-half-of-big-three-crop-acres-are-in-no-till-production-news-release/


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## endrow

I think it is only a matter of time until tillage is a thing of the past


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## swmnhay

endrow said:


> I think it is only a matter of time until tillage is a thing of the past


depends where you live. Here no till does not work many have tried including myself.


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## mlappin

Around here the local BTO will be the last to try it I'm sure, they've gone back to plowing as they think it will help cut down on weed pressure, the rest of us are pretty sure if he'd quit letting his weeds goto seed that would cut down on weed pressure. One of his fields they plowed after wheat had a nice cover crop of weeds that most had gone to seed before the killing frost.


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## Gearclash

Beans work well no-till here. Corn can work, but I see more poor fields of no-till corn, especially corn on corn.


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## endrow

There is much advancement being made in cover crops . that is what will make the difference


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## swmnhay

endrow said:


> There is much advancement being made in cover crops . that is what will make the difference


NRCS is pushing cover crops.Basicaly free..Lucky to get a inch tall here,winter comes to early.Tax dollars at work.What works 100 miles south of here will not work here period.But they are edjumicated I guess.

By the way I'd say 90% of the soybean stuble is worked here this fall.Either chiseled,disced or dug to blacken it up so it dries out and warms up next spring.Go 50 miles away and things are different.


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## mlappin

swmnhay said:


> By the way I'd say 90% of the soybean stuble is worked here this fall.Either chiseled,disced or dug to blacken it up so it dries out and warms up next spring.Go 50 miles away and things are different.


If it was fit we'd get out on the muck yet this year and disc it for a quicker warm up and hopefully dry out in the spring. All our much is in low spots that is surrounded by hills, tree lines etc. North of us and east of us theirs is out in the open, any fall tillage their and you'll have muck drifts across the road in the winter.

On occasion and not as often as I'd like, we have no-tilled the muck as well.


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## haybaler101

Muck was the first no tilling done here. Yeah, we like to disk or turbo till in fall to make it black, but never ever till in spring. It will dry out to be a nice gravel road. Wait for 1/2" to 3/4" of dry dirt on top, no till seed into mud just below, and pray for 0.4" of rain in the next 72 hours.


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## aawhite

Still see some old school Kansas wheat farmers disc until its chalk powder, plant in the dust and pray for rain. If ever there was an area made for no-till, it's here in central/western Kansas. Two big issues: you have to carefully plan out and diversify your rotations and that can be an issue for producers here. Second, most of the ground is farmed on shares, and there are way too many elderly landowners that think that good tenants have to work the ground hard and won't rent to a guy that no-tills, or they refuse to pay for the chemicals needed to control weeds in no-till.


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## endrow

swmnhay said:


> depends where you live. Here no till does not work many have tried including myself.


I can understand that location is everything no-till has been a godsend for our area.


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## endrow

swmnhay said:


> NRCS is pushing cover crops.Basicaly free..Lucky to get a inch tall here,winter comes to early.Tax dollars at work.What works 100 miles south of here will not work here period.But they are edjumicated I guess.By the way I'd say 90% of the soybean stuble is worked here this fall.Either chiseled,disced or dug to blacken it up so it dries out and warms up next spring.Go 50 miles away and things are different.


does any corn get chopped for silage. That would be a good place to start experimenting with cover crops to learn their benefits


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## swmnhay

endrow said:


> does any corn get chopped for silage. That would be a good place to start experimenting with cover crops to learn their benefits


Yes some is chopped for silage,some is seeded to winter Rye,or Triticale and then chopped the next spring in early part of June and planted to soybeans which doesn't work to bad if every thing clicks.But to seed into standing stalks/soybeans with a plane with some cocktail mixes for cover and tillage radish hasn't worked to well.Not enough time to get much growth up here.


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## IHCman

No till is getting more popular here on the sandy ground. We've been trying it the last few years with mixed results. Our biggest problem right now has been the excessive moisture in 2011, 2013, and 2014. Almost need to work the fields to dry them out some as seeding into mud doesn't work to well. Bigger problem is ruts from spraying, combining, and chopping corn need to be worked under. Waiting for it dry out isn't an option as it never did dry out. Strip till corn is catching on a little here and I think it might be the way to go. Leaves most of the residue on top but makes a nice black clean strip to seed into that warms up quick in the spring. Coulters and vertical tillage tools are all the rage here for field work. They cut and size the residue nicely but don't disturb the soil so much.


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## mlappin

Running a Turbo Till or similar equipment in the fall used to be all the rage, after a few heavy rains in the spring and the resulting mounds of cornstalks, people quit doing it in the fall.


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## sethd11

Interesting. In my area there's not much no till unless you see some hills. Then no till with ravines. I've been fighting a no till ravine for a while. I'd like it if it worked for me. Save me a lot of money establishing hay fields. I just wrapped up mold boarding 100+ acres of prairie looking ground I wasn't allowed to burn off and chisel. Most guys around don't use tillage but have tried no till and given it up because of the extra cost of chemicals and heavy residue fights. I personally have tried no till beans into hay and been disappointed.


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## FarmerCline

Around here pretty much all of the soybeans and corn are no tilled and most of the cotton is no tilled as well. You don't hardly ever see anyone doing tillage in spring unless they are planting specialty crops like vegetables. In fall of the year though there is still a good amount of ground that gets worked up for planting small grains.....it seems that they do a little better to work the residue under and it helps to keep the fields smooth. Since small grains establish so quickly erosion isn't normally a problem when working the ground in fall. For planting new stands of hay I prefer in most cases unless it is really steep hills to work the ground nice and smooth before planting. I have no tilled orchard and timothy hay with success but it seems like I get a bit better stand with working the ground and it gives me a chance to get the field smoothed out so it is easier to make hay on.


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## Vol

sethd11 said:


> I personally have tried no till beans into hay and been disappointed.


Yep, several of the fellas on here have said that they had unkind results no-tilling beans into sod.

Regards, Mike


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## mlappin

Vol said:


> Yep, several of the fellas on here have said that they had unkind results no-tilling beans into sod.
> 
> Regards, Mike


Same here, if its a dry spring by time you get the hay made the forage has already ate up al lithe moisture in the top of the soil so hard to get a good stand. Our Hiniker also doesn't really like planting into sod anyways.

I also like to have all our beans in the ground weeks before I even think about mowing hay.

Have much better luck burning a hayfield down in the fall after it gets some regrowth then no-tilling corn the next spring. Have also burned them down in the spring then planted corn.


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## FarmerCline

No tilling beans into grass sod works well here. I no tilled beans into timothy sod right after baling the hay this year and it worked just as good if not better than no tilling beans into wheat stubble after combining since the hay is made a few weeks before wheat is harvested the beans get in the ground sooner.


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## mlappin

Suppose it all depends on your area, less people are double cropping beans around here. Ge the wheat off and plant tillage radish or another cover crop, or get the wheat off and fix and install more tile. Usually wheat doesn't come off until the first week of July around here, with the cost of bean seed anymore it's not worth double cropping when you're lucky to break 30 b/a. A lot of folks if in the hay business get the field ready for a fall planting of hay after the wheat.


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## endrow

swmnhay said:


> Yes some is chopped for silage,some is seeded to winter Rye,or Triticale and then chopped the next spring in early part of June and planted to soybeans which doesn't work to bad if every thing clicks.But to seed into standing stalks/soybeans with a plane with some cocktail mixes for cover and tillage radish hasn't worked to well.Not enough time to get much growth up here.


no seeding by planes here. I'd love to try it but I guess the fields are too small here nobody does it. you mentioned Ariel seeding into stalks or soy beans. my question is do farmers seed into beans before harvest. I would think if the cover crops grow much at all you would play a hill to get them through the combine when you cut the beans. We run our flex head down 1 inch or less and our combine hates green stuff.


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## swmnhay

They seed into them when they just start turning to get a few more weeks of growth out of them.Thats the problem with cover crops here not much time after harvest before it freezes up to get any good out of cover crops.Winter Rye or Triticale are drilled usually after corn silage harvest if for feed the next spring.


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## Rodney R

I don't work any ground unless I have to, for any crop that is planted. I have taken hay off and planted beans, but normally I don't get the penetration that I should, and I see too much open slot or too many beans on top of the ground.

Rodney


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## endrow

I have cover crops..planted with my JD 1590 drill.
... in all stages of growth..if the snow soon melts I'll get some pictures


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## endrow

mlappin said:


> Running a Turbo Till or similar equipment in the fall used to be all the rage, after a few heavy rains in the spring and the resulting mounds of cornstalks, people quit doing it in the fall.


you'll have to explain for me a little bit more detail. Why did heavy spring rains result in mounds of corn stalks.


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## mlappin

endrow said:


> you'll have to explain for me a little bit more detail. Why did heavy spring rains result in mounds of corn stalks.


Run off carried the itty bitty piece of stalks into the low spots and mounded them up, if the stalk was mostly attached to the stalk yet it couldn't wash away. A Turbo Till cuts stuff into what, 5 inch pieces but mainly leaves it all on top.


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## mlappin

endrow said:


> no seeding by planes here. I'd love to try it but I guess the fields are too small here nobody does it. you mentioned Ariel seeding into stalks or soy beans. my question is do farmers seed into beans before harvest. I would think if the cover crops grow much at all you would play a hill to get them through the combine when you cut the beans. We run our flex head down 1 inch or less and our combine hates green stuff.


I didn't get any pictures before the early frost/freeze took the tillage radish out but we flew on groundhog radish, cereal rye and crimson clover into the beans, where they took good the combine might have clipped off 2 or 3 inches of rye while cutting beans. Not enough green stuff from the cover crop to even slow it down considering the first three hundred acres of beans this year still had green stems.


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## endrow

some of my cover crops that got planted a little late


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## Vol

endrow said:


> some of my cover crops that got planted a little late


Looks like they are doing well.

Regards, Mike


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## Bonfire

endrow said:


> some of my cover crops that got planted a little late


At what rate did you drill that?


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## endrow

That is wheat

seeding rate @ 3 BPA


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## Bonfire

Yea, I know it's wheat but I would have never guessed 180 lbs.


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