# A Tale of Two Soils



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Good read for those who don't no-till....and for those that have started no-tilling in the last few years...keep it up, it will pay dividends.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agweb.com/article/a_tale_of_two_soils/


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Off the top of my head I can't recall how many years we've been no-tilling the home farm. The lighter soils in town we've no-tilled for 20+ years.

I'll say 7 years at home, in those seven years we've seen yields improve steadily, but more importantly not only have yields increased but have become more consistent regardless of the growing season.

Biggest thing to successful no-tilling? Patience, patience, patience. Just because you can get across the ground doesn't mean you should be. Getting in a hurry to start when the neighbors do can undo years of work.

For the most part, once you get a successful program in place and your soil health starts to improve, often more than not you may be able to get back in your fields after a major rain event quicker than your neighbors that still do tillage, again it takes patience though.

You can't try no-till for a few years then decide it doesn't work, everyone's soil will respond differently and it does take time to rebuild soil health and structure, so again we are back to patience.


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## ontario hay man (Jul 18, 2013)

No til doesnt work worth a crap here. Guys do it and grow average crops. The neighbor preached to me about no til then grew half the crop that my plowed land did. One of the best farmers I know has plowed every year his whole life and says here thats the only way to go. I know a few hours away no til works good it must be our soil type.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Could very well be soil type, could be a local micro climate as well. I know Cy says no till doesn't work in his area either due to the heavy soils staying cold way too long.


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

We have notilled some of the land we own since 1976 some since 1995 haven't touched a tillage tool for 20 years . Every positive thing that tillage does to the soil . Notill with cover crops will do the same thing and better . There can be a yield lag during the transition from tillage to notill approximately 1 to 3 years . I believe if you get threw that transition period you will never go back .


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## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

I'd have to say the thing I like best about no till is that over time your input costs can actually go down significantly. I may plant 7-15 days behind the till guys but usually harvest the same as we have a lond dry down period. My reduced inputs allow me comeout ahead even if I'm 20bpa behind my neighbor.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

hillside hay said:


> I'd have to say the thing I like best about no till is that over time your input costs can actually go down significantly. I may plant 7-15 days behind the till guys but usually harvest the same as we have a lond dry down period. My reduced inputs allow me comeout ahead even if I'm 20bpa behind my neighbor.


Fuel savings alone can make up for some yield lag, but too be perfectly honest we haven't noticed any lag whatsoever. BUT, it seems almost every year that we've no tilled the real heavy soils we have had a bad dry spell that the crops on tilled ground suffer quite a bit. It's especially apparent on the two fields we use for winter pasture that get chiseled in the spring, they'll be hurting bad in a dry spell and the notilled ground right across the lane will still be a lush green.


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

I like that that article emphasizes soil health.

My personal opinion is that worms, voles, etc., help aerate the ground better than anything we can do. I am extremely reluctant to use any kind of pesticide other than contact sprays that kills insects. I figure that if something kills one type of harmful insect, it probably kills the beneficial ones as well.

I want as many earthworms as I can get. They plow naturally and are fuel and time efficient.

Just my thoughts.

Ralph


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