# Downfalls Of No-Till Farming.



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

John Phipps....AgWeb.

Regards, Mike

https://www.agweb.com/article/phipps-downfalls-of-no-till-farming-naa-john-phipps/


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## haybaler101 (Nov 30, 2008)

Works here for me. Complete no til on everything now for at least five years. Most important key not mentioned for prevention of gullies and weed issues is COVER CROPS.


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## somedevildawg (Jun 20, 2011)

Very little no-till here....


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Didn't work for me,gave up 10-15 bu on beans into standing cornstalks.

To cold and to wet this far north.Some with lighter soils may get it to work better then my heavy soil.


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

I have varied tillage techniques somewhat. I only moldboard maybe every five years. Every other year is maybe rip or disk or cultivate depending on the crop, residue, and terrain. Way to much clay here to full notill. I tried tillage radish once. Damn bulb grew on top on the ground with a little tiny tap root about 4 inches.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Yep, that is what makes Ag so interesting is the different methods one has to use across this great land of ours. I really enjoy learning about the different requirements in different areas.

Regards, Mike


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

hillside hay said:


> I tried tillage radish once. Damn bulb grew on top on the ground with a little tiny tap root about 4 inches.


Hard to beat alfalfa for opening the ground up!

A neighbor that worked construction measured a alfalfa root in a gravel pit t was 28' long.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

He mentioned with residence issues no-till maybe in trouble. have just as many tilled fields around here with resistant water hemp and mares tail as no-till fields have. Seen somebody tried cultivating their 30" beans, between the rows are clean, the water hemp and mares tail is just growing in the row instead.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

We don't have a lot of problems with "in row" weeds here in beans....even Palmer Amaranth does not like to be shaded.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I'm sold on no-till here. In last years drought the no-tilled soybeans yielded 1/3 more than conventional tilled beans. With this years excessive moisture and monsoon rains every few days you could get on the no-till ground when the conventional tilled ground you would have been cutting ruts and making a mess. Besides that the fact that it greatly reduces erosion makes it worth it alone on my steep hills. Even if no-till yielded slightly less it would still be better in my opinion just for the reduction in soil erosion......can't replace topsoil once its gone. Also your not spending the time or fuel on tillage so even if it would yield less I think your bottom line would be better.

The only reason I have continued doing some tillage is because most of the fields I have rented were very rough so tillage has been needed to smooth things out to make it farmable without beating yourself and the equipment to death.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

There are many pros and cons for each without doubt. I suppose it is all in what you want. I can get a much more weed free stand of grass by doing tillage and using a Brillion seeder than I can get with no-till. The Brillion can produce a much thicker overall stand of grass. I just came in from checking my field that I used a Brillion on about 12 days ago....the 506 uncoated Orchard grass started coming about 7 days after we received rain...now another rain and a additional 3 days later(10 total) the grass is exploding and it appears to be carpet like.

Today I used the Truax Flex II no-till drill the county purchased this fall. It had only drilled 103 acres when I picked it up. It works ok. Better on grass sod than in crop like conditions. I drilled some Orchard grass into my alfalfa and was not really pleased with it's operation as it seemed to furrow in the moist soil.....even though I had it set for only 1/2" planting depth. I had some seed left over so I drilled some hillsides in sod grass that were a little thin with it and it seemed to work very well for that. It certainly isn't a JD1590 but it didn't cost as much either. It has really been a glorious fall here the last few weeks. I am hoping we can get a couple of more weeks like this....I need to sow some Timothy on some areas that want to stay a little wet.

Regards, Mike


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I have never seen a one-solution-fits-all that works all the time.

Ralph


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Vol said:


> There are many pros and cons for each without doubt. I suppose it is all in what you want. I can get a much more weed free stand of grass by doing tillage and using a Brillion seeder than I can get with no-till. The Brillion can produce a much thicker overall stand of grass. I just came in from checking my field that I used a Brillion on about 12 days ago....the 506 uncoated Orchard grass started coming about 7 days after we received rain...now another rain and a additional 3 days later(10 total) the grass is exploding and it appears to be carpet like.
> 
> Today I used the Truax Flex II no-till drill the county purchased this fall. It had only drilled 103 acres when I picked it up. It works ok. Better on grass sod than in crop like conditions. I drilled some Orchard grass into my alfalfa and was not really pleased with it's operation as it seemed to furrow in the moist soil.....even though I had it set for only 1/2" planting depth. I had some seed left over so I drilled some hillsides in sod grass that were a little thin with it and it seemed to work very well for that. It certainly isn't a JD1590 but it didn't cost as much either. It has really been a glorious fall here the last few weeks. I am hoping we can get a couple of more weeks like this....I need to sow some Timothy on some areas that want to stay a little wet.
> 
> Regards, Mike


 I will agree that a Brillion seeder can make a thicker stand of grass since there is no rows. I prefer the solid stand of a Brillion vs the rows with a drill......but it isn't worth risking losing soil to erosion from the worked up ground just to have a solid stand. If I was on level ground that was low risk to washing out I would use conventional tillage and a Brillion seeder as the method of choice to establish stands of hay.

For crops on the other hand I see no advantage and many drawbacks to using conventional tillage......here.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

I've only no tilled alfalfa a few times, was on very rolling ground, did the half rate and planted at a 30 degree angle, about drove me nuts intentionally making short rows. It worked okay, however most of the time when a field starts getting weak its also getting rough, much prefer burning it down, no tilling corn, follow up with no till beans the next year, then work it smooth and plant to hay.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Vol said:


> John Phipps....AgWeb.
> 
> Regards, Mike
> 
> https://www.agweb.com/article/phipps-downfalls-of-no-till-farming-naa-john-phipps/


Not being the sharpest knife in the drawer I am wondering what he is trying to say in the  last and 2nd last paragraph.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Went by the organic field of beans the other day, 30 inch rows, they cultivated, cultivated some more then cultivated again, think it was flamed once as well, very little mares tail that I could see, however the mares tail could be hidden by the lush growth of foxtail. Could be the mares tail was hid by the fox tail, wouldn't be hard to believe as a few spots the beans were also completely hid by foxtail. Stuff was still pretty green, yet they were just getting the head on the combine when I went by, made me shudder to think about the joys of trying to run green grass thru a machine.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Choose whichever system works the best. No-till works best for us ,and there are others in this area that use conventional successfully even though most is no till. One thing Imo it is not alright to till the soil in a manner that causes massive erosion on a farm year after year. There are a couple guys that still Farm in that manner in our area thankfully not many.


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