Soil Compaction

[Mark Page]

Why is soil compaction such a concern to farmers?
Does compacted soil make it more difficlt to plant seed?
Does compacted soil make it more difficult for seed to germinate?
There must be a reason for the 8 wheeled beasts.

 

[allenr]

My idea of soil compaction is what happens just below the few inches which are tilled.

This compaction layer can occur due to the action of the tiller above or due to the weight of heavy vehicles - particularly when wet.

The compacted layer can prevent roots and moisture from penetrating into this subsoil.

 

[catdozer]

Well main reason is to break the ground for drainage. it's better for growth as the roots travel deeper than off the the side, thus this holds the corn up better. while roots go deeper you can have more moisture means better yield. You want to break the ground from below instead of the top for erosion purposes. Now with the 4wds with duals gives better traction and less compaction. Using tracks is even better, hardly any compaction and allows worms to break down the fotter.

 

[bigbull338]

if soil is compacted real bad that means that it cant absorb the water deep in the ground.thus causing the water to run off.if you can renovate the soil pretty good it allows the rain an run off to get deeper into the ground.thus storing moisture in the grasses root system.an it also allow the grass roots to spread out an grow better.

 

[swines]

Compaction can go down as far as 6 feet in some cases. It totally alters the soil including naturally occuring things like beneficial soil microbes, nematodes, etc. It makes germination difficult, stunts root growth, limits moisture penetration, stops oxygen transfer to the roots, and creates a host of other problems.

There has been a series of articles over the past 3-4 years in the John Deere "The Furrow" magazine detailing measures taken by farmers to limit and deal with compaction. Many farmers are planting second crop of "tillage radishes" that have a single long tap root that breaks up the soil as it grows to naturally aerate the soil and break up the compaction.

This is one of the reasons for the multi-wheel and tracked tractors to lower ground pressure and why tractor pulled grain carts are used instead of allowing the grain transport trucks into the fields during grain harvests.

 

[rswyan]

Hardpan

 

[TripleR]

Our renters routinely run subsoilers on our ground to break up compaction and the people on the next farm have gone to all John Deere tracked machines.

 

[JDgreen227]

I know the man who farms the 120 acres around my property, and I inquired about the issue...he told me that in this area where the soil is mainly heavy clay, compaction is a serious issue to growing just about any crop be it corn, soybeans, or sugar beets. During dry spells the clay becomes so hard roots cannot penetrate well and water does not soak into the surface. When I till my garden plot, I routinely dig down as far as the tines will go (about 11") even though the roots of vegetables I grow rarely go below 6"-8". It seems to me that even with poor soil, I have good success with my crop yields if the roots can penetrate. One end of my garden, a 7'X28' area, is only a few years old, and I am still attempting to get the soil broken up in that area to the 11" depth. My harvest in that area is much poorer than the other areas of the garden.

 

[bp fick]

Grew up on clay, now on sand based soil. Sands compact as well!!! It is amazing. As said very well by everyone above, compaction is a horrid thing that suffocates root growth, starves moisture, prevents oxygen/gas exchange, etc, etc. Soil structure is a complex subject, one that I enjoy studying and have found to be a challenging, life long interesting fascination.

 

[sweettractors]

Soil compaction prevents the crops root system from its maximum plant support and thus reduces yields. Soil compaction also lends itself to excessive water runoff. Ken Sweet

 

[swines]

I have an area of clay at my place and rototilled the area, added sand plus soil amendments just to plant grass. Over the course of about 8 years I noticed the grass got less and less and the weeds slowly taking over because weeds have a shallow root system. I tested the soil and it was naturally compacted from the clay working its way to the surface and then hardening from irrigation. I tried a number of core aerators and none of them would penetrate past about 2-3 inches.

I ended up rototilling the entire area, watering it to get the weeds to grow, and then hitting it with two courses of RoundUp. The next spring I rototilled the area again, raked out the roots, regraded and planted new grass seed.

Now comes the nuts part...I decided I never wanted to spend that much time on getting grass to grow again as it took nearly 6 months of work (in total) on weekends. So...I purchased an 84-inch wide Aerway aerator..and I aerate the grass once in the spring and once in the fall. $5600 to spend about 1 hour a year aerating grass. But, it's worth every penny when compared to the time I had to dedicate to redoing the area.

I also use "Soil Doctor" from Outside Pride that includes a liquid aerator. Between the physical aeration and the liquid treatment I have thick, grass with no weeds and the soil is slowly becoming more porous as the Soil Doctor contains microbes that breakdown the thatch and naturally compost it.

I do this to a 1/2 acre area.....I can't imagine treating the same types of problems caused by compaction on hundreds or thousands of acres.

 

[roush9799]

We planted some tillage radishes this year where we did some dirt work. Mostly where we scraped the dirt from to see it they will help break the ground up. No till is the best option to fight compaction. Less trips over the field.