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Strip-till provides the best of both worlds"The crop residue gets mixed up, pushed aside, and blended with the dirt," Thompson said. "As long as I have enough tank pressure to put it in the ground, I can run," Thompson said. By Doug Rich Farmers like to tinker. They are constantly fine-tuning their production systems to get the most out of their ground and the most out of every ounce of fertilizer. The same goes for equipment. They will buy a perfectly good piece of equipment and before you know it they have taken it completely apart, tweaking the design so it fits their soil and their production system. Rodney Thompson, Richmond, Mo., is guilty on both counts. A few years ago, Thompson read about the success farmers in the northern Corn Belt were having with strip-till. Strip-till producers till a narrow four to five inch wide strip while applying anhydrous ammonia creating a three to four inch mound. Thompson saw strip-till as the best of both worlds. In between the strips, he still has the erosion control of no-till. But in the strip where he plants, it is more like conventional tillage. Strip-till "Strip-till gives us a few more heat units, because we stir the ground," Thompson said. "The crop residue gets mixed up, pushed aside, and blended with the dirt." Up north, producers were strip-tilling in the fall then spraying and planting in the spring. Thompson took a hard look at his soil and the planting conditions he faces every year and decided to tinker with the system just a little bit. He does the strip-till operation when the winter breaks and ground conditions allow, then sprays and plants. "We can have warm winters and good moisture in this area," Thompson said. "The potential for losing fall applied nitrogen is there." He farms about 45 miles east of Kansas City. Thompson paid close to $750 a ton for fertilizer this year and there are rumors that it might go as high as $1,000 a ton next year. Losing any valuable commodity can cost. "I go in with the strip-till unit as early as possible and leave as much time as possible before I plant corn," Thompson said. "I try to plant after April 7." He prefers a good rain to seal the strips and lower the mound height made by the disk closers. "I prefer to have a good rain shower on the ground and seven days before planting if possible," Thompson said. "I have injected 190 pounds of ammonia and planted having good results with the soils in our area." Thompson said, "The research plots show we can reduce the ammonia rate and still get similar yields." In 2007 the strips with 190 pounds of nitrogen per acre had an average yield of 192 bushels per acre. The strips with 165 pounds of nitrogen per acre had an average yield of 191 bushels per acre. There was some variation across the field. If the field was larger, then a 140 pounds of nitrogen per acre would have been tested. Thompson wishes the field had been larger. He likes the placement of nitrogen to the position of the plant. Equipment Thompson built his own strip-till unit using the frame from a John Deere 7000 planter as the base. This design allows the knives to be in the same basic position as the units on his planter, to handle the added pull weight. Thompson beefed up the tongue on the 7000 planter frame with a quarter inch steel plate and made heavier pivots. He used the shaft from the planter assembly to run the Micro-Track NH3 automatic rate controller. Thompson used Yetter 25-wave coulters to open the slot and Yetter disks to pull dirt in behind the shanks to close the furrow. In between these, on the six-row unit, are DMI shanks and High-Pro B-33 mole knives. Thompson said the flat front on the High-Pro mole knives is beneficial. "Having a flat rather than tapered face on the knives helps pull the dirt up," Thompson said. "I want to stir the dirt up. The knife makes an easier path for the moisture and corn roots to go down." The units are set 30 inches apart and run seven inches deep. Another important component is the Raven Super Cooler, which is connected to the flow meter and a monitoring system. This makes it possible for Thompson to apply anhydrous ammonia as early in the season as possible. The cooler makes sure his flow meter is measuring liquid, not a liquid-vapor mix. Accuracy of application rate is very important. "If the ambient air temperature is 38 degrees, I would have around 55 psi in the anhydrous tank. I can get out there and start putting down anhydrous," Thompson said. ""If the ground conditions permit." Finding an anhydrous nurse tank that matches the system is very important. Thompson looks for one that tracks straight down the center of the rows without running over the mounds left by his strip-till unit. "I don't want something so wide that rows are getting smashed down by the wheels on the anhydrous trailer," Thompson said. Thompson and his cousin, Dwight Pettus, started using strip-till and are still the only farmers in their area to use this production system. Pettus switched from 100 percent no-till to strip-till in corn and has been very pleased with the results. Pettus and Thompson agree that the soil dries up and warms up quicker. The extra heat units are very helpful. Corn on corn Thompson said the only real problem he has had with the system was this year when he decided to go corn on corn in response to the market. The Yetter wave coulter had a difficult time cutting though the corn stalks. We had winds last fall that lodged some corn on a ridge that caused the problem. You need to get a good cut so the crop residue does not bunch up at the knife and at the closing disks. "Next year, I may go to a fluted coulter blade on the front, rather than the wavy blade, and increase the depth an inch," Thompson said. Sometimes during heavy rain the water can erode the soil in the strip. The mounds made by the closing disks can keep the rainwater in the no till portion of the field. Stay with the contour of the slope and this can help eliminate the problem. Another drawback has been response to killing the weeds because they spray so early. However, Thompson said they found out they could spray at lower temperatures most years and still have decent weed control. You need to watch your local weather forecast. In addition to a drier, warmer seedbed Thompson has noticed decreased compaction. Using a penetrometer, Thompson said the pressure to reach a depth of six inches in the strip-tilled area was 134 psi. In the area between the rows, it took 194 psi to reach a depth of six inches. The strip till system makes an easier route for the corn roots to go downwards. Tinkering with production systems and equipment is not always successful, but Rodney Thompson discovered a system and a piece of equipment that fit his farm. Doug Rich can be reached by phone at 785-749-5304 or by e-mail at richhpj@aol.com. 6/9/08 Date: 6/5/08
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