Brian Dougherty, a field consultant for Understanding Ag, urges strip-tillers to establish cover crops in the fall to allow them to do bio-tillage, then build strips in the spring.
“Of course you need a strip-till unit capable of making strips in the cover residue, but that technology is out there,” he explains. “You use precision planting and use bio-strips in the middle, or if you live in an area where you can’t get something in early enough in the fall, you can just plant and leave a gap every 30 inches and plant into that in the spring, which avoids cover crop competition issues.”
Other tips he recommends include:
- Ensure proper planting depth if planting green for the first time. Cover crops need to be penetrated and seed depth assured for optimum yields.
- For corn growers trying strip-till in cereal rye covers, adequate nitrogen likely will be needed to overcome early-season carbon-to-nitrogen ratio problems.
- If possible, test for biomass on terminated cover crops before planting.
“Cover crops have taken up nutrients they pulled from the subsoil and dropped them right on the surface for you,” he explains. “That’s your fertilizer truck, so know what’s in it.”
Read more of Dougherty's advice for growers combatting compaction in their fields in the No-Till Farmer article "Conquering Compaction: Why 4 Weeks Without Living Roots is Too Long."
