Vertical Tillage

[ado089]

It seems to me the major distinction between a double disc and these sexy new VT machines is the ability to travel a little faster and the basket roller most have on back to improve finish. Question...Has anyone tried a basket roller behind a traditional field cultivator or chisel plow to improve the seed-bed and reduce erosion? How would it compare to the job these VT machines are doing?

[sumdumguy]

Michigan State University has an interesting video you can google. Maybe some tech savy can post on AV? Residue management ie mentioned as necessary driver. Nothing much said about soil compaction due to no-till.

[lakenheath]

Wouldn't your light rolling land be a concern for any type if tillage Ado?

[bgmb]

To me vertical till is a salford or a summers super coulter type machine. Landoll, gates case turbo till are glorified tandem discs like you say and the lemken, joker, protill are high speed shallow disc.

They basically level and blacken your field varying degrees and leave a nice smooth seedbed.

[boarderbloke]

bgmd, which tillage piece would work down 3' of weed growth that comes with low spots not planted? We're now using a tandem disk, but dislike the unevenness left.

[bgmb]

i would think the high speed discs are the best for residue mgmt but are you really going to spend over 100k to work low spots?

[farmaholic]

Border, is it a "once over" approach? Does it help to go over it several times at shallower depths rather than sinking it down to the spools once? Guys around here try to go in straight lines, the inside corners of sharp turns ridge soil. And sod is sod.... Are the newer tandem discs(overlapping center of tandem offset discs and tapered outer blades) better than the old ones or the offsets?

We don't have one :-(

[boarderbloke]

Depending on the number of spots to work, and also the degree to which I think we might be able to plant the spot next year, I may hit a spot twice over, at about 3" deep. Would only go to the spools if there was grass/sod, and with all the roundup used we don't have grass anymore.

Hardest thing to get rid of here is a weed nick named "christmas trees". Grows about 2-2.5', still mostly green, but will turn a rusty brown. Straight stalk, with larger side branches at the bottom getting smaller as you get to the top. Fairly strong smelling. Found in low spots, disk doesn't chop it up very well, and does a fine job plugging the air drill in the spring. Not fire weed or curl dock.

[boarderbloke]

Does sk ag have an online weed i.d. site with pics?

[Oliver88]

Just an observation but does anyone else figure tillage is going "full circle"?
Zero till to maximum till in a decade?

(We have always been minimum till and don't plan to change.)

[fjlip]

Border that's field horsetail. Real problem up here too, due to less tillage. Some chems suppress, nothing kills it, glyphos does zip.

[furrowtickler]

Well ado , what's a little faster ? Going from 5 mph to 12 ? Just saying it is realy not about vertical till it's residue management period . Wether it's drown out spots, sloughs, pea stb, or the type of seeding outfit, the spacing of the seeding outfit , how much crop residue and IMO the most important thing time management next spring.
For is it's it's about 5-6 of the above , and being able to cover 25-30% of our acres every fall fast and efficient with a perfect seed bed .
Just about every machine works in a different way, with different results - are they too much money - yup , but what is not anymore.
It is also not about maximum tillage across the entire farm and going all wacko - it's about managing some acres at a time and keeping a one pass efficient seeding at spring.
Oliver - I don't think it's going full circle , it just after wet years - ruts, sloughs , and heavy amounts of straw certain areas need attention - they do not fix them selves .
Bgmb is 100% correct about the tillage machines
Boarder - the glorified tandem disks do the best once over job for low spots and light slough grass areas , I would imagine the Kelly harrow does as well - s/f?

[furrowtickler]

We have used the Salford , case turbo , Lemkin , and the mandko twister . For what we are doing the case and Lemkin worked by far the best .
I will be leaning to a Lemkin next time .
I had to chuckle when a neighbour said he could do the same thing with his ole disk at faster speads . Well if you like do deal with severe ridging and lumps I said giver shit . Been there done that . Being able to work up to 4 in deep , cut trash and leave a smooth level packed seed bed at 12 mph is kinda the point with these machines.

[ado089]

With the high speed disk I like that it chops straw up pretty good. You won't get that with a cultivator. Has anyone used one of these units on flax residue? I'd really like to avoid baling or burning.

[sawfly]

are we not due for good old dried out sask?
after 4 wet years
i still worry about lack of moisture
more than too wet