Fall or Spring Tillage Question.

[G.Fields]

When do you guys usually do your ripping/subsoiling, in the fall or spring? Does it really matter or is it a six of one/ half dozen of the other?

 

[flying belgian]

Well here in so. Mn. we have to do it in the fall or it would just dry out and be all hard and lumpy if we did it in the spring.

 

[DiggerDick]

When it came to plowing Grandpa always said "a poor job in the fall is always better than a good job in the spring"

 

[fixerupper]

Here in Iowa ripping (10-12" deep) in the spring means overly loose, dried out soil for the rest of the summer unless we have higher than normal rains. The farmers who tried it in the spring years ago when ripping first gained popularity learned a hard lesson. Even chisel plowing 7-8" deep is a no-no.Back in the day when we moldboard plowed, we did some spring plowing of cornstalks that were winter grazed. It dried out the soil too but it didn't seem to have as much adverse affect as ripping. Jim

 

[Mike Aylward]

Like the others said, deep ripping is best done in the fall. You will need the ground to weather down over the winter. Also, when you do tillage in the spring that each successive trip should be shallower than the last pass. In other words, let your first pass be the deepest, otherwise you will bring up unworked dirt that can slab and cause you problems. Mike

 

[504]

you can work wet ground in the fall, but don t even try it in the spring.

 

[paul]

Here in my part of Minnesota, a poor job of fall tillage is much better than a good job of spring tillage....


--->Paul

 

[John A.]

G.Fields, The answer I have for you is....Depends!
Depends on what time of it is. What crop was the cover (last grown), last practice on that field.
When I was still in the Panhandle After we had cut our Silage, That ground was packed pretty hard, a good chiseling, let the winter Freeze/Thaw work for you and come spring prep on that field was cut to a minimum.
Or on corn stalks that have been grazed over the winter shred the stalks, then chisel once or twice then disc to get ready to plant.
Here in Central Texas I have seen guys chisel in early to mid or late summer to catch rain from a hurricane that comes into the Gulf and may land on the coast and bring a lot or rain to this area, to keep the rain from running off into the streams,rivers and lakes.
@ one time we would rip the middles in corn on our circles to help keep irrigation water on the field and not run off.
Hope this helps.
Later,
John A.

 

[willie in mn]

Grew up close to you, spent a few years north of Imogene. Anyhow, Dad always did as much plowing in fall as possible. If he had to do any spring plowing, would drop the plow when he saw the school bus go by, grab the spike tooth drag & hit what he had turned over that day. Never let it rest overnight, otherwise would end up hard & lumpy.
Willie

 

[thurlow]

Depends.......at least in part, on location; around 'here', almost no one does any Fall plowing. About half our county is hills w/some small creek bottoms and the other half is Mississippi River bottoms (Delta); if you plow the hills, the Winter rains will wash 'em away; if you plow the Delta, it's probably gonna have to be done again in the Spring. Plowing in the Spring is not a problem, as long as it's not done while the soil is too wet.

 

[just another old geezer]

I no longer do ANY fall tillage. if you can see any sign of water moving dirt, you are loosing about a half of a large dump truck full of topsoil per acre. spring tillage has no adverse effects on the crop or soil here in cent Wis.

 

[NY 986]

Around here I would not do it if the ground is on the wet side. Most years you will get lucky but every now and then you will have a winter where it does not fully freeze out and then there will be hell to pay in the spring. As others said the topsoil layer in the spring should not be ripped to full depth unless you can count on soil moisture migration from the subsoil to replace what was lost if it turns dry. One fellow here recommended one deep pass then progressively shallower. I would do that here only if we had an early spring (March) and anymore you see guys start shallow and progress deeper pulling thin layers to minimize large chunks of topsoil.

 

[Don-Wi]

We do fall tillage on every thing, but in the spring we normally take 1st crop off and then plow under the worst fields and put them in corn. Some years the soil works nice, others it comes up really chunky. Depends on the fields and the conditions that year. I would recommend fall tillage if you can help it.

Donovan from Wisconsin

 

[showcrop]

The years when the snow is not gone until early April and then it rains the whole month of May makes one glad to have done as much as possible in the fall.

 

[Leroy]

It is actually the opposite, shallow will bring up a bit of the wetter dirt and mix with the dry on top, next pass slightly deeper same way and on and on. Found it worked better in spring to just disk several more times and forget plowing in spring as that would only give crushed stone texture dirt.

 

[Mike Aylward]

Unless your soil is drastically different than it is around here if you go shallow the first pass then go deeper you will bring up slabs that will never work down. In this area you ALWAYS want your first tillage pass to be the deepest. Mike

 

[Leroy]

That would only produce slabs that you could not get busted up in any way, this is on clay ground.

 

[Mike Aylward]

Yes, Leroy, I understand. My livelihood depends on how I work my ground. Mine is clay and gumbo as well. If you are making multiple passes that tells me you are already fighting a mess. If you do what you suggest around here you have ruined the ground for that year. If you scratch, then dig, you have a mess. Period. Mike

 

[nickg]

In SW Indiana where i live we always rip in the fall. Mostly a lot of heavy clay around here. We always do our deepest tillage on fall and the disk or turbo till in spring. even if you bring up bigger slabs in fall if it has been dry usually by spring the weather has taken care of them and runin the disk over it once or twice and its ready to plant. For us rippin in the spring leads to trouble and field conditions are better in fall.