[AT] was-Johnson CountyIndiana--now no-till

[john hall]

Al, have you ever seen a no-till subsoiler? Case-IH makes them (I think in 
partnership with DMI). I believe Deere makes them as well. I rented a 
Case-IH  version a couple years ago. The salesman told me a deere 4020 could 
pull 3 shanks. Our land was so tight I had to drop one of the shanks and 
just run 2. Even then I stopped the tractor a couple times with the front 
end 3 foot in the air. Not fun trying to back it down with 8" winged points 
in the ground. When I read the fine print on the brochure it said it could 
take up to 50 hp per shank. If I ever rent another one it will be with a big 
enough tractor to pull it with ease. I think these would work real good in 
the fall before you planted corn. Supposedly you can even run these across 
hay fields but if your land is really compacted, its going to leave ridges. 
I figure laying there over the winter would certainly help these settle. I 
planted wheat behind using it. We tried to drive at an angle across it to 
help maintain a more uniform planting depth. Fortunately it was a wet winter 
and the ground was almost flat by June.

John

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Al Jones" <farmallsupera at earthlink.net>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Friday, July 01, 2011 11:56 PM
Subject: Re: [AT] Johnson CountyIndiana tractorshow/DentonSEOld 
Threseher'sReunion


>I would love to try strip till, I think it would work well in our soils and 
>it combines the best parts of conventional tillage and no-till. We would 
>have to get a much bigger tractor though.
>
> I have seen some corn this spring planted in fields that have been 
> continuous no-till for several years, and it really looked bad.  I don't 
> think the roots can penetrate that sand.  I bet it would look better if it 
> had been strip tilled first.
>
> Al
>