Fall Tillage Tips for Spring Planting Success

Doing these essentials now can help ensure a healthy crop next growing season.

- By Karen Jones Machinery Executive Editor [e-mail]

Although harvest seems like the culmination of the year's work, completing fall tillage is key to setting your fields up for the next growing season. An even layer of residue means consistent moisture and temperature in spring when it's time to plant. That process starts with the combine.

“Every pass on the field needs to complement the planter for the following spring,” said CJ Parker, Case IH North America tillage marketing manager. “As headers get wider and wider, it’s more important than ever to make sure you don’t have pockets of residue that can affect how your plants get up and growing.”

Fall is also a good time to break up compaction layers and smooth out ruts that may have been left after harvest.

“We recommend taking a spade out to the field and digging up a hole about the size of a 5-gallon bucket,” Parker said. “If you run the tip of a pocketknife up from the bottom of the hole to the top, you'll find where your compaction layer is.

“We recommend that the best time and fuel spent is to run tillage about an inch to an inch and a half below that compaction layer,” he continued.

Relieving compaction works like using a skid loader to remove a sidewalk, he said. You don’t dig down underneath the concrete; you just take the lip of the bucket and pop it off.

Steps for Success

Regardless of the type of tillage you choose, completing as much preseason prep as you can helps ensure optimal performance. Avoiding repairs and delays during the available window of time available for tillage can add to your bottom line.

Daniel Stansbury, AgRevolution corporate service director, offered this checklist to help save time and money when it comes to fall tillage:

1. Complete a Thorough Inspection