So...
The problem of the week.
Unfortunately we have been short on moisture in our part of the world this year. Due to this you can see where wheat is suffering in the field and where it is holding on. We have noticed a "wave" in our wheat crop. By this I mean there will be 20 feet of wheat that is suffering then 20 feet of wheat which is doing well, making heads, and clearly healthier.
Naturally one would say the wheat is suffering right behind the wheel tracks due to compaction issues. However, after walking the fields and taking measurements of a dozen samples it turns out the wheat is doing best directly in the wheel tracks. Strange right?
In our spring crop rotation we plant yellow clover as a green manure and as a tap root to help with compaction issues. We have noticed that the clover mostly comes up in the tire tractes due to compaction which leads to the seeding shanks riding up and seeds being planted shallower. (The clover is mixed with our millet seed, so we seeded to the depth of millet germination not clover gemination). The clover is planted at 2lb/ acre.
With all this being said Im curious to see what thoughts everyone might have and how to remove these waves moving forward.
Our first approach is a more solid stand of clover by modify is our fertilizer tank to send clover seed at a shallower depth for a better stand.
Permalink Reply by Nick on Is the lines also a match with your harvest lines? That would start a new idea...because we had that, where we did not spread the mulch from the previous crop enough, the moisture levels was higher under the mulch/residue and thats where the good looking wheat is as it trapped/contained more moisture.
© 2013 Created by Jeff Caldwell.
