No till planters

[Brady D]

Has anyone on here used a no till planter before and if so how well did it work

 

[bmaverick]

Has anyone on here used a no till planter before and if so how well did it work

It really comes down to the soil conditions. If your soil is dried out, clay like, and behaves like cement, then don't go this route.

If your soil is rich, dark, soft (not compacted) and will not blow away in wind gusts, then it's for you.

I have one plot this year to experiment without tilling. Took 3 years of compost and disc'ing the nutrients in ever so easy last Fall. We also do nursery/garden fabric covering too. So it will be an eye opener one way or the other with this approach.

Not all no-till planters are the same. Some have a single row of round cutting harrow discs that lightly touch the soil prior to the seeding to the ground. It's the best of both worlds due to soil conditions change each year. Below is the size my machine is capable of using when I lived in TN.

 

[workinonit]

No till is all that's done around our area. Works pretty darn well.

 

[Brady D]

No till is all that's done around our area. Works pretty darn well.

We’ve used one before for a few small areas and it did the job well

 

[Brady D]

It really comes down to the soil conditions. If your soil is dried out, clay like, and behaves like cement, then don't go this route.

If your soil is rich, dark, soft (not compacted) and will not blow away in wind gusts, then it's for you.

I have one plot this year to experiment without tilling. Took 3 years of compost and disc'ing the nutrients in ever so easy last Fall. We also do nursery/garden fabric covering too. So it will be an eye opener one way or the other with this approach.

Not all no-till planters are the same. Some have a single row of round cutting harrow discs that lightly touch the soil prior to the seeding to the ground. It's the best of both worlds due to soil conditions change each year. Below is the size my machine is capable of using when I lived in TN.

View attachment 744978

Where I’m from the soil is a clay and dirt mix usually moist only problems is there’s alot of rocks

 

[LouNY]

On the farm there is a no-till corn planter and a no-till grain drill,
they both work good in most situations, they both can be used in tilled ground if needed.
No till will work in most growing conditions if the ground has not been compacted by heavy hoofed traffic or vehicles.
Spray or burn off (flame weeder) green growing vegitation and then plant

 

[Brady D]

On the farm there is a no-till corn planter and a no-till grain drill,
they both work good in most situations, they both can be used in tilled ground if needed.
No till will work in most growing conditions if the ground has not been compacted by heavy hoofed traffic or vehicles.
Spray or burn off (flame weeder) green growing vegitation and then plant

We usually spray and cut low before we plant

 

[workinonit]

The no till stuff used around here are mostly row crop planters with tripping subsoilers that lead everything, then coulters and then the planters. You can plant in any type of soild. Rocks would present some issues I suspect.

 

[LouNY]

The no till stuff used around here are mostly row crop planters with tripping subsoilers that lead everything, then coulters and then the planters. You can plant in any type of soild. Rocks would present some issues I suspect.

To me that sounds more like strip tillage.
Depending upon what type of ground cover plant is on a field and how much is a deciding factor in our no till programs.
Almost all of our corn fields get rye sowed as a cover crop in the fall, if it's fairly short often it get's roundup'ed
and planted a few days later. If it is later in the spring and the rye is up tall enough to be worth cutting and chopping
as a "haylage" type we will do so then spray the stubble in a week then plant.
Some of the roundup ready corn can be seeded in right after the rye is removed and sprayed later after the corn is up.
But we aren't real fond of the roundup ready seed and it does cost more.

 

[bmaverick]

Where I’m from the soil is a clay and dirt mix usually moist only problems is there’s alot of rocks

Ah you must live near Columbia, TN or near Machester, TN. I was up near Portland off the I-65. I use a notched disc harrow. One can hear the rocks against the discs. It wasn't too bad with no added weight. In my area, tobacco was the cash crop and smokey barns. Then came the soy, corn and okra. I sure miss that area.