Whether you are a committed zero tiller, or contemplating moving into a low-disturbance seeding system because of this year’s dry conditions, harvest season is the most critical time for making decisions about next year’s cropping practices.
“For every step you take now, you will see benefits at the next stage,” said Scott Carson, who farms 2,500 acres with his father near Maidstone, Sask. The family moved 15 years ago from a five-pass-per-season, high-disturbance seeding and tilling operation into reduced tillage, and in the last five years, into a no-till system.
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Carson said there are three keys to laying the groundwork for one-pass seeding: controlling perennial weeds now; leaving stubble high at harvest; and having a vigorous straw and chaff management program after harvest.
Blair McClinton, Saskatchewan Soil Conservation Association executive manager, said controlling perennial weeds such as dandelion, Canada thistle and sow thistle is best achieved through a one-litre-per-acre, pre-harvest application of Roundup Transorb.
He said a herbicide application late in the growing season allows maximum uptake by perennial weeds because they are actively storing nutrients in their roots to survive winter.
McClinton said eliminating tillage will change a field’s weed spectrum, so farmers must be prepared to control plants that tillage might previously have suppressed.
“Producers who have direct seeded, for say five years, have seen a dramatic reduction in weeds such as millet and wild oats, but have seen the need to treat dandelions increase.”
A post-harvest application of glyphosate is another option for perennial weed control, if there are good growing conditions for weeds after harvest, McClinton said.
He advises one to two litres per acre when perennial weeds have three to four actively growing leaves, for maximum herbicide uptake.
If straw residue has not been spread evenly, it should be harrowed immediately after harvest, prior to spraying, so target weeds are not covered.
The association’s rule is to cut stubble as tall as the opener spacing on the direct-seeding unit, so it will pass through easily without plugging.
Carson leaves 12-14 inches of stubble on wheat and barley fields to catch snow and retain moisture in the spring. With this height, the seeder opener must be as narrow as possible, he said
Craig Gudmundson, who farms 2,700 zero-till acres near Foam Lake, Sask., said that height works best for his operation, too.
“We’ve had only one-and-a-half inches of rain this summer,” said Gudmundson at the end of July.
“And yet our crops have survived on the moisture created by snow melt that was caught in the stubble and didn’t run off.”
The final step in harvest preparation for reduced tillage is aggressive residue management. That requires a top-functioning straw chopper and chaff spreader to prevent the bunching and hairpinning at seeding that is caused by long straw.
In addition to his chopper and spreader, Gudmundson also goes over his fields with a heavy harrow to help distribute residue.
Carson straight combines with a rotary combine, which he believes provides better chopping power, and uses a chaff spreader that gives him a 25-30 foot-wide swath behind the combine. He believes he gets 90 to 95 percent coverage over the width of his cut.
Tim Nerbas, a conservation agrologist with the association, said the ideal spread would be 100 percent of the width of the cut, but straw at 80 percent and chaff at 60 percent are more realistic.
He suggests an alternative to spreading chaff is to blow it into a wagon pulled behind the combine and drop it in piles throughout the field for cattle feed.
Not only does this provide good feed, but it also removes many weed seeds from the field, he said.
