Rut Recommendations

In the past, I have talked and written about the potential for deeply tilled soils (in the range of 6 –14 inches via the chisel plow or disk-ripper) to be more susceptible to compaction when exposed to high axle loads, high inflation pressures and wet soils. In some cases these disturbed sub-soils may re-compact worse than they were in the first place. More recent research out of West Virginia has added some points to this discussion worth considering.

Compaction In No-till Fields

Heavy axle load compaction of no-till soils may indeed be less problematic than if the same axle load ran over tilled soils. However the potential for the following years beans or corn to be severely affected by fall compaction and rutting, even within the no-till system, is significant. Some shallow tillage to reduce fall soil compaction may be necessary. This tillage generally does not need to be very deep, as often the compaction within these soils will be confined to the soil surface. In many cases, where fall soil moistures remain high, this shallow tillage may be best left to the following spring.

Three other points should be made in the face of doing some tillage where no-till had been planned:

1. no-till soils, with the aid of some tillage may recover quite rapidly from a moderate compaction incident,
2. longer term soil benefits that had been developed because of no-till are not wiped out by a single tillage event and
3. the subsequent return to no-till is likely to be equally successful as where no-till was practiced continually.

Compaction In Tilled Fields

Where compaction and rutting has occurred on tilled soils it appears that the tillage required to improve soil conditions may need to be more intensive (deeper). In cases where compaction was severe, the recovery (from a crop yield perspective) may be longer than in reduced tillage scenarios that had higher load bearing capacities. In these cases, fall tillage to a depth close to what was traditionally used may be the best short term solution. In the longer term these fields should be monitored for soil compaction problems, as additional deep tillage may be required.