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SWMO |
Every thing I am going to say speaks to our climate and soils. However, IF you have a tendency to receive 2 plus inches in one hour and on moderate slopes, FALL STRIPS CAN PRODUCE DISASTEROUS EROSION. I could post pics of strip erosion but it would only be a snap shot of a peticular place, time, and management problem. Any moderate amount of rain will flatten mound back to ground level here. Does this mean that no one should not fall strip? No. It means know your limitations, use judgement, and adapt practices that minimizes problems. Fall stripping in my situation does not make sense because of milder winter climate and excess moisture would cause N and K leaching.
I went from a no-till situation to strip till. The decision was not easy to step back from no-till but at these commodity prices, any loss of yield is substantial dollars even on a few hundred acres. Most years I could beat my nieghbors on yield but last year things went drastically wrong. Going back to conventional tillage would have cost 300K in added equipment verses 60K for strip till. It is my opinion that strip tilling combines benefits of both worlds " here" with the added advantage of N management/efficiency.
As to renting: If there is a machine in your area, I am sure they would like to spread the cost of ownership out by custom hire. As Jim mentioned, acres covered per hour can be 2-3 times that of a planter of the same size. Seed filling and constant checking of seed placement and conditions is a time killer on the planter. This could also be a good choice for joint ownership between nieghbors.
Jerry
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Strip tilling into VERY green rye cover crop (pics)
