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Gettysburg, PA | Jon, by no means do I have the answers for you, but, wet springs are a problem here as well. One really effective avenue to explore is "growing" the moisture out. Cover crops can soak up tremendous amounts of excess water. If this bottom ground were left go would it grow trees, grasses, shrubs? The soybeans and corn create an un-natural condition whereby you aren't providing vegetation for moisture to be "used" throughout the year. Your corn and soybeans stop taking up water in, I'm guessing, late August/Early September and your next crop, the following spring, isn't taking up moisture until, probably, early-mid May. That is a LONG time for that soil to be void of plants taking up moisture. In a natural state the grass/shrubs/trees would be pumping out moisture well into September and will start again in late February early April (again, I'm guessing, but I hope you get the idea). Can you cover crop everything? Can you get the beans and corn off early enough to do that every year? Probably not, but you can plan shorter season varieties on those problem fields. You can make sure you have the drill loaded and ready to plant right behind the combine. Just trying to give you something to think about and consider. Steel maybe the answer, but, it doesn't hurt to consider other possibilities. Good Luck. | |
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Recreational Tillage
