diff between min/no till drills

[jimg]

After looking at a number of drills it appears the only difference between min and no till is coulter type. Min till drills will have a very wavy coulter and no till is nearly flat. Am I understanding this correctly?

ETA: more questions...First, are there means other than wavy coulters that would perform tilling in the min till system? Perhaps that would take the form of some sort of hoe or??? In regard to min tilling into living sod how well do you think that would work? It seems that a wavy coulter might not do the job. In fact was the system even designed to work in sod?

 

[AKfish]

In regard to min tilling into living sod how well do you think that would work? It seems that a wavy coulter might not do the job. In fact was the system even designed to work in sod?

No-till drills were initially utilized to renovate pastures without having to completely turn 'em black. Or introduce another grass variety or legume into an already established pasture.

The wavy coulter is designed to 1.) better displace crop residue and remove it from planting furrow 2.) create a seed furrow that is less likely to collapse and close off in a loose soil-crop residue field.

They're heavy... heavy. Way stout -big iron!

AKfish

 

[slowzuki]

Hi I'm pretty sure the min till's won't do a good job right into sod, extra so if it hasn't been worked recently.

Min till can mean lots of things but roughly it means strips of the ground are worked directly in front of the planting rows or the ground was just worked with fewer passes than conventional tillage. Can mean of lot of things.

After looking at a number of drills it appears the only difference between min and no till is coulter type. Min till drills will have a very wavy coulter and no till is nearly flat. Am I understanding this correctly?

ETA: more questions...First, are there means other than wavy coulters that would perform tilling in the min till system? Perhaps that would take the form of some sort of hoe or??? In regard to min tilling into living sod how well do you think that would work? It seems that a wavy coulter might not do the job. In fact was the system even designed to work in sod?

 

[AKfish]

Check these out - Conventional Planters, Twin-Row Planters, Sprayers, HD Drills, No-Till Grain Drills, Min-Till Grain Drills, Vertical Tillage and Conventional Tillage Implements The 3pt. 8' model weighs over 4,300lbs and has lift assist wheels.

Got a nice 10' pull-type too. Over 6,000lbs.

AKfish

 

[RickB]

Drilling anything into a living sod is a crapshoot with no-tillage equipment and even more so with mintil stuff. Even if you manage to get the seed in the ground at the proper depth, covered and packed sufficiently to provide good seed to soil contact, competition from an actively growing existing sod can totally prevent new crop growth.

 

[AKfish]

Drilling anything into a living sod is a crapshoot with no-tillage equipment and even more so with mintil stuff. Even if you manage to get the seed in the ground at the proper depth, covered and packed sufficiently to provide good seed to soil contact, competition from an actively growing existing sod can totally prevent new crop growth.

Yep... there's a "germ of truth" there. But look at the alternative's! That's kinda like the the very old man; when asked how he's feelin' - he replies - I'm alive and that's better than the alternative!

AKfish

 

[Farmwithjunk]

There's a distinct difference between the two concepts. (Minimum tillage vs no-till) but the difference in terminology amongst equipment manufacturers gets a little fuzzy. Some brands sorta meet in the middle, or attempt to be able to meet criteria for BOTH applications. In the end, neither is the answer to EVERY condition. And then you get different approaches to each concept. What works well one year may not work at all next. What works with one crop species may not work at all with another crop.

Personally, my BEST advice has come from our County AG Extention Service Agent. He spends time observing quite a few attempts at using a variety of equipment. Armed with MORE information on the possibilities, he can offer good advice based on conditions at hand to go along with equipment available at the moment.

As with ANY attempt to out wit mother nature, it's a roll of the dice as to what works and how well.

 

[chh]

We used to use and early style of no-till drill to plant winter wheat into bermuda grass sod in the fall. Generally speaking that worked pretty well as a grazing supplement for out cattle in the winter, but for us, was eventually deemed to not really be cost effective. The deer sure loved it though.

 

[AKfish]

There's a distinct difference between the two concepts. (Minimum tillage vs no-till) but the difference in terminology amongst equipment manufacturers gets a little fuzzy. Some brands sorta meet in the middle, or attempt to be able to meet criteria for BOTH applications. In the end, neither is the answer to EVERY condition. And then you get different approaches to each concept. What works well one year may not work at all next. What works with one crop species may not work at all with another crop.

Personally, my BEST advice has come from our County AG Extention Service Agent. He spends time observing quite a few attempts at using a variety of equipment. Armed with MORE information on the possibilities, he can offer good advice based on conditions at hand to go along with equipment available at the moment.

As with ANY attempt to out wit mother nature, it's a roll of the dice as to what works and how well.

Well said... Caveat emptor! Everything depends upon your own particular environment and your individual objectives.

Someone in western Kansas with 2,000 acres of intermediate wheatgrass would likely not prefer to have to chisel plow and disc to black soil in order to renovate a tired pasture. A good no-till drill and a recommended herbicide treatment could save him thousands of dollars as well as 2-3 years of reduced use of the pasture before the new stand of grass became well enough established.

But someone in Pennsylvania with 80 acres... well, the decision might be quite a bit different.

(The local NRCS here in Alaska has a real nice 10' Buffalo no-till drill for a nominal fee.)

AKfish

 

[jimg]

Sorry for the lag but Ive been really busy lately. First, thanx a million for the replies!!!

Guess it would help to understand what Im thinking about:

Now that I have my Timothy fields planted and going Id like to never have to burn down again. At least not any time soon. My plan is to dress up whats there as needed and occasionally rip using my pasture renovator. In regard to dressing up that means Im going to be drilling into some amt of sod. What I think Id like to do is 'plow' narrow strips (thats where the coulters come in) followed by dropping seed and fertilizer. The fertilizer would be dropped (not on the surface) in this 'plowed' strip beside the seed. Given my experience so far drilling into sod is really tricky...VERY difficult to get good germination. I really dont want to plow the entire field but think I need to plant into something other than sod. This is why Im trying to figure out strip-till. Also I have an idea that I might be missing some trash management devices. Im sure that would help too. I planted Timothy/OG into some really heavy trash (from the burn down) and it needed to be dressed up this spring.