Jim,

You hit it exactly. Soft. Too soft. I've been in some fields where you have to be careful not to step on one of the slots or you may sink in up to your ankle or further. As Dr Hatfield from the USDA put it, soil structure is the ability of the soil to support a load. This is different from compaction. Soil structure is a good thing. If we look at some virgin prairie ground, that has structure. I don't want to come across as endorsing ripping at all. I am not one to tell folks how to farm their soils. If someone does feel that they want to rip a field to eliminate an existing compaction area above is how I have seen it done successfully. Folks also often find on their own that they do not need to do this EVERY year.

As you also point out, soil that has been over-ripped and TOO soft also compacts severely thus rationalizing a need for MORE tillage to break up the compaction resulting from driving today's combine and grain cart loads after the previous tillage operation left the soil in a compaction - prone condition....

Basically letting the soil regain "structure", driving on cornstalks for operations that need to be in the field and controlling the traffic of grain carts all help.

It is amazing how a couple hours to a day or so of spring sun and wind on those strips made in wet ground really turn into a gorgeous place to plant when the Trashwheels on the planter hit them. Curvetine closing wheels, at least one per row also have proven very worthwhile to getting a good stand planting into strips.

Jim at Dawn