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Central IA | I think the drying in the spring is about the same as conventional tillage and wouldn't expect any extra waiting. You are tilling about 10" deep in the fall, similar to conventional tillage. If things are wet in the spring, I'd much rather be tilling the row with one or two coulters than smearing a sweep or knife through the ground. The Soil Warrior uses the 30" cog wheel in the fall, then is coverted over to two wavy coulters for the spring fluff and condition pass. The Mini Warrior has just one of the wavy coulters and the containment coulters are tilted in a little, so it is similar to the spring setup but tills a narrower strip. It can apply dry fertilizer in the fall, but would be shallow tillage only. The Soil Warrior originates in Faribault, MN and is used very successfully there. We're in central IA 10 miles north of the farmer Jacob mentioned. We have a lot of Ottosen, Kossuth, and Okiboji soil types that can be quite challenging in wet years. We need to do more experimenting with soybeans. They don't seem to really need the deep fall tillage but it's worth looking into more. It's just my opinion that having fertilizer blended into the zone will prove to be more effective than a deeper ribbon. Think about the root ball and having more roots accessing the fertilizer, yet still relatively concentrated. I'm not aware of any research or proof either way and it may not be a big deal. | |
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Strip Till - Freshening Strips in Spring
