Sustainable Agriculture Demonstration Award  Annual Report 2003

Project Title:  Small Scale Conservation Tillage: Strip-till of select annuals intercropped with a continuous cover to improve soil health.

Producer/Project Leader: Stanley J. Hildebrand and Chadwick G. Knepp at Sandhill Farm. Contact: stan@sandhillfarm.org

1. Describe in detail your work activities and how you used your funds this year.

We decided to strip till only 1 acre of sorghum this year -due to the problems encountered last year – see the 2002 report. The field was 2C-E, which had been planted to dutch white clover the previous year. The field is bottom ground – adjoining the Sandhill branch(creek). The clover grew very well and was a thick mat. The spring was very wet and cool and we were not able to do any tillage until June.

We constructed baffles inside the tiller to keep the dirt from being thrown out of the tilled rows. The baffles consist of heavy grade plywood inside the tiller. The result was that most of the dirt stayed in the tilled strips – but not all (perhaps 80-90%).

The clover was mowed on May 20 and then it rained again and the strips were tilled on June 1 & 17. We allowed the time between tilling for the clover residue to decompose and weeds to germinate and then destroy prior to planting. The sorghum seed was planted into the 15” strips with a 2-row planter. The planting date was relatively late – in fact, it was the last sorghum that we planted this year. This was due to the cool wet spring and the fact that the clover kept the field moist.

The sorghum germinated well and grew fast. The other half of this field had sorghum transplants in it that had been transplanted on June 1. The direct seeded sorghum in the strips grew much faster than the transplants. The sorghum in the tilled strips was rotary hoed before the plants emerged and then again later (this is common practice for the rest of our fields). Weed control was moderately effective – comparable to fields that were not strip-tilled – that is, there were plenty of weeds, but they did not appear to hamper the growth of the crop.

The sorghum in the tilled strips was very late in maturing – due to the late planting and a cool summer. Then we had an early killing frost on October 2 (2-3 weeks earlier than usual). We guessed that we had about a week to process the sorghum crop before it would spoil – due to the frost. We harvested the rest of the sorghum first due to the fact that it was mature. By the time we got to the strip-tilled sorghum, it was too late – the stalks had soured. The sorghum was then destroyed by working it down with a disc.

In preparation for next year’s experiment, we established a stand of dutch white clover in field 12A and a cover crop mix of rye, wheat, buckwheat, and vetch in field 10A.

2. List the results of your project and what you have learned so far.

The results this year were very disappointing – mostly because we were not able to harvest the crop. Mother Nature prevailed over our careful plans and project. It is difficult to assess this year – since we had no yields to compare. The sorghum canes in the tilled strips were smaller (thinner) than in the rest of our fields, which could be due to the fact of late planting, which in turn was due to the thick mat of clover holding in moisture.

A totally unexpected result this year was that the clover between the rows of sorghum all died. By July 15, most of the clover was dead and weeds were taking over and so we  cultivated the area between the rows. A month later all of the clover had died. Possible factors are that the 15” tilled strips left only 20” of clover between the rows and some of that was covered by dirt from the tilling. Further, it was very dry in the middle of the summer and dutch white clover is quite susceptible to drought. On the other hand, the stand of mixed white clovers in field 2C-W (the adjoining field) survived the drought very well. Why the clover between the strips died is still a mystery.

We did not collect any data to compare soil moisture, compaction, or fertility. The area where the field was strip-tilled was quite different than the area next to it; the former was in clover and was direct seeded, while the latter was clean tilled and had no clover. A comparison was not possible given those circumstances.

Another unexpected result is that strip cropping this year was very successful. By strip cropping we mean that we till 12’ swaths in fields 7BC & 8BC and leave 12’ in between the strips in cover/green manure crops. Alternate swaths are then planted to 4 rows of crop and the alternating swaths are in green manure crops. The slope in these fields is too great to farm in the traditional way – but strip farming works well here. The tiller afforded us the capability to grow crops on this sloped land. The soybeans planted in these strips this year did very well.

3. Describe your plan for next year.

Due to the disappointing results of the last 2 years, we plan to plant only 12 rows of sorghum in tilled strips in each of fields 10A and 12A. The cover crop in 12A is dutch white clover and it is a good stand. The cover crop in 10A is a rye, wheat, buckwheat, and vetch mix. Planting 12 rows in each field will should  be enough for a comparison with the rest of the field in 2 different cover crops. We also plan to continue the strip farming in fields 7BC & 8 BC. Alternate strips will be planted to soybeans, as they grew considerably better than the sorghum that was planted there in 2002.

4. How did you share information from the project with other producers? What plans do you have for sharing information next year?

Stan Hildebrand gave an oral presentation on the challenges and results to this point at the Small Farm Conference in Columbia, MO on November 7, 2003. The discussion that followed the presentation was very helpful and encouraging. This report will be shared with the public on our website: www.sandhillfarm.org. Next year will be the final year of this project and we plan to have a demonstration/field day.