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

Address/Phone:
Sandhill Farm
RR 1 Box 155
Rutledge, MO 63563
(660)883-5543
sandhillfarm.org

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

The season began with the purchase of a used 50" Howard Rotavator tiller. Although somewhat expensive it appeared to be in good shape and very well constructed compared to other new[er] tillers. Since the tines of the tiller measured approximately 5" we decided to remove all but 3 tines on one side and 2 tines on the other leaving a 15" and 10" swath. Later in the season we chose to use 15" strips but may choose to vary this in the future.

Since we did not have cover crops such as we hope to use in this experiment already established we decided to go ahead and use fields that already had mixed covers established. These covers consisted of various legumes, wheat, and rye. In field 10B (.5 acre) we strip tilled and transplanted sweet sorghum. In part of field 7A (<.1 acre) we strip tilled and planted soybeans. As an alternation on the technique we tilled (fully) and planted sweet sorghum in 4 row swaths separated by 4 rows of untilled cover in fields 7BC (.6 acre) and 8BC (.6 acre). We also strip tilled and planted sweet sorghum directly into sod in an area adjacent to 10B (<.1 acre).

We experimented with field scale mulching in 10B using old hay. We made numerous measurements and observations. We established sandhillfarm.org as both a tool to share information about our community and disseminate information about research.

In preparation for the upcoming planting season we established Medicago sativa (alfalfa) in field 13A (.6 acres) and Trifolium repens (white clover) in part of field 2C (3 acres) and did soil tests on these fields and 3S (1 acre). We also seeded the uncropped swaths in 7BC and 8BC to cover.

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

We had an unforeseen problem with the tiller while creating the strips. Because we removed tines to create the strips, during use, much of the soil was thrown to the center of the tiller where there were no tines. It was not immediately apparent how much of a problem this was, so we where not compelled to resolve it at the time. In addition to creating a recessed area in the crop row (2" - 5" deep), it mounded soil in between rows impeding cover crop growth, mowing, mechanical weed control, and potentially harvesting.

By midsummer we decided the soybeans in 7A where a failure due to excessive weeds, worked it down, and planted a cover crop.

This recess was also problematic in transplanting the sweet sorghum in 10B because some of the plants were not planted deeply enough. In order to control the cover in 10B we mulched with old hay which seemed to work adequately and we observed that the weed pressure was noticeably higher than other fields. We also observed that during dry conditions in late summer there was more moisture under the mulch, than in the unmulched areas.

The sweet sorghum transplanted directly into sod adjacent to field 10B did poorly. It was not mulched and weed pressure was high. Other contributing factors to it's poor performance may include being newly established and being in an area of low fertility.

The sweet sorghum in 7BC and 8BC did adequately. 7BC and 8BC are both newly established fields on slopes greater than we would farm conventionally. There were noticeable variations in fertility which corresponded with our understanding of pre-existing fertility patterns. We were able to use mechanical weed control to keep weed pressure to a minimum.

Although we did not measure accurately, it is easy to observe that our current methods of strip tillage take more labour than our conventional methods. This may not be as true with an established and efficiently working system.

We did not measure a significant difference in compaction between crop or cover in field 10B or between 10B and other fields. Compaction was negligible (<200 psi) to a depth of 24". This could be in part to due to prior tillage programs (chisel plowing).

There are some aspects of our initial proposal that may not have been carefully thought out, or are a little unrealistic, primarily in the area of data collection. Although we may learn something surprising by conducting soil tests, fertility change in soil is a fairly slow process and three years is not an adequate time to observe trends accurately. Our moisture meter is not able to be calabrated to any existing scale; it only measures comparatively. Research into one that would accurately measure soil moisture indicated they would cost several thousand dollars.

One method of measurement and documentation that we neglected to include as part of our research proposal is that of photographing the research in progress. In retrospect this seems like an essential way to both document the work and disseminate the information.

No erosion damage was observed.

3. Describe your plan for next year.

Firstly we plan on modifying the tiller in order to alleviate it's tendency to recess the crop rows. One idea we have currently is to build and install baffles in the interior of the tiller to contain the soil within the row during tilling. Another idea and one possible to use in conjunction with the first is to modify the back of the tiller to work like a bed shaper by scraping the earth back into the row it originated from.

Because or the difficulties we experienced during our first season of strip tillage we are choosing to limit our experimentation to sweet sorghum in field 2C (1 acre) and continue the 4 row crop swaths with 4 row covers in field 7BC (.6 acre) and 8BC (.6 acre). If changes to the tiller appear to alleviate the problems that occurred earlier, we intend to increase the acreage tilled and strip till soybeans as well.

We also hope to begin documenting our work with photographs made available on our website.

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

Our website sandhillfarm.org became available in July of 2002, containing our grant proposal. Our web hosting provider went out of business at the end of the year and our website was down until we found a new provider during the first week of February 2003. We plan on continuing to make this information available indefinitely and will reference our website as an information resource in all future papers and presentations.

Partly due to the fact that we did not have any particularly outstanding results to report, we did not present at any conferences or hold a field day. We hope to both present at at least one conference this year and hold a field day.