Ferrie: Your Fields May Need A Leveling Pass Now To Prepare For Spring Planting
Some parts of the Midwest are seeing abnormally dry weather conditions for early December, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday.
That’s a problem going into winter, says Ken Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist and owner of Crop-Tech Consulting, Inc., Heyworth, Ill.
“We’re about to freeze up here, so if we do get any moisture, it’s most likely going to run off,” he notes.
Furthermore, Ferrie says he’s concerned the current water shortage won’t be corrected by next spring as planting gets underway.
“We all breathe easier when our soil water reservoir is full at planting,” he says. “With a full reservoir of soil water, a lot of Illinois soils can make it to June in pretty good shape.”
Without good moisture levels at planting, seed emergence and stand establishments can quickly suffer.
While farmers can’t change the weather and moisture levels, Ferrie says you can take some proactive steps now to manage through them in preparation for spring.
His recommendation: If your conditions are currently dry, check tilled fields and evaluate how those fields will overwinter. In particular, check the depth of the “peaks and valleys” in those tilled fields.
“As a rule of thumb, I like to see those peaks and valleys here in Illinois to be no more than 3 inches after we go through the winter freezing-thawing cycles,” Ferrie says. “With less than 3-inch peaks and valleys in the spring, we can apply our herbicides before the spring tillage pass and not worry about herbicides streaking or burying that herbicide too deep.”
Fields that have peaks and valleys in the 3-inch to 6-inch range will need a leveling pass before you can apply any herbicide next spring. The timing of that pass can get tricky, Ferrie says.
“The top of that 6-inch peak will dry out quickly, as it's exposed to sun and wind,” he explains. “But the bottom of the valley is slow to dry out, and growers can be working the field and kicking up a good dust cloud from the peaks while putting in a compaction layer.”
Ferrie recommends digging down to 1 inch below the tillage depth to see if you can ball up the soil in your hand and ribbon it through your thumb and forefinger. “If you can do that, you’ll be putting in a compaction layer if you work the ground that wet,” he cautions.
There are potential problems at the other extreme as well. “In a dry spring, when you knock those dry peaks into the valleys, you need to wait for moisture to homogenize in those valleys,” Ferrie explains. “If we plant our crop into dry valleys and no (moisture) homogenization has taken place, you’ll have shoddy stands. We’ll be able to see streaks in how our corn emerges.”
In this week’s Boots In The Field report, you can hear Ferrie’s additional recommendations on how to plan now to get a good head start on spring 2021 planting:
