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Dry Soil and Wind - Are You Ready?

Odds are the soil will get dry shortly and the winds will blow - are you ready? There are a number of ways to reduce wind erosion and crop damage. Reduced till or no-till, windbreaks, cover crops, grass windstrips and strip cropping are all highly effective at controlling wind erosion and moving soil. Cover crops have grown well over the winter and will need careful management for good control this year. If your wind strips are getting ahead of you but you need them is place for planting later in the month - mowing has worked well for some growers. Leave at least 4-6 inches and a bit of time for regrowth and then spray out as usual.

Emergency wind control options - not my first choice but they can be highly effective in a pinch!

1. Cover the soil - A variety of materials can be used to cover the soil, old hay, straw, even corn cobs. Cover the whole field, just the wind prone area or spread it in strips across the field. This helps to cover the soil, roughen the soil surface and hold moisture. Note this material may pose a problem at harvest, especially in machine harvest vegetables. It also may introduce some weeds.
   
2. Create a barrier - Snowfence can work as an easily moveable barrier but may create problems with spraying. Straw bales can be laid in strips across a field to create a barrier. Wagons and other large objects are sometimes used but are not a good choice. The wind jets under the wagon and scours the soil nearby.
   
3. Irrigation - Overhead irrigation has only limited use in wind erosion prevention. The soil must be fully wetted well ahead of the wind event. This technique will only last for a very short windstorm. Similarly, growers will sometimes work soil to bring up moisture to hold the soil. Again this only works for a short, light blow and actually makes things worse under extreme wind conditions.

Every year there are products suggested for wind erosion control. Often these products come out of the US and usually cost about $100 per acre. Many of these products are sprayed on and the theory goes that they will create a skin or layer to hold the soil surface together. Latex, starch and sugar products have been tried in the past, with limited success. Most will last for a minor blow, but will not hold the soil through an extended or high wind. Repeated applications make these products very expensive.