Jeff has taken advantage of 10 minutes when it’s not been raining to walk his crops. He is carrying out trials on winter wheat with different set-ups on the Hybrid drill – using a standard front tine and the Claydon LD low disturbance options. At this time of year, we are interested in seeing any differences in crop growth and water infiltration. The Claydon farm, like many others in the country, has seen a huge amount of rainfall over winter and the fields have been standing up remarkably well. The beauty of the Claydon drill’s front tine means that only the soil in the seeding and rooting zone is aerated so soil structure remains intact to absorb high rainfall, helped by the organic matter accumulated over the years. Loosening the soil in seeeding strips also helps drain water away. Having the option of fitting a LD low disturbance kit for drilling when conditions allow makes the drill a very versatile tool.
The different drilling scenarios Jeff is looking at are:
1) Winter wheat drilled after beans with the standard Claydon front tine
2) Winter wheat drilled with the standard set-up into a catch crop of bean volunteers drilled with the same standard set-up
3) Winter wheat drilled with the LD low disturbance kit into a catch crop drilled with the LD kit
4) Winter wheat drilled with the standard front tine into a LD kit catch crop
4) Winter wheat drilled with a standard front tine set up after straw harrowed stubbles
We also see how Jeff’s tramlines are holding up to his 500 litre sprayer in a very wet autumn and winter. Let’s take a look.