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Experiences with Direct Seed Cropping Systems High Precipitation RegionArt
Schultheis, Colton, Washington My wife Sue & I operate Diamond-S Farms, Inc., a 5th generation farm, at Colton in Whitman County Washington. I came home to farm with my dad, Carroll, in 1983 and we have been farming on our own since 1994. We have 2 children, Kyle 14 years old, and Kelsey 12 years old. We farm 1150 acres with a modified direct seed system in an 18-21 inch rainfall area. About half the land we farm is relatively flat, while the remainder has slopes up to 45%. The soils are generally deep (6 to 10 feet) except on some eroded hilltops. We raise winter wheat, spring wheat & barley, dry peas, lentils and garbanzo beans in a 3-year rotation, along with 15% of our crop acres in bluegrass. The whole reason we started direct seeing was to rotate our bluegrass. The last field of bluegrass we tore out conventionally was in 1975. My dad no-tilled lentils into chemically killed bluegrass sod in 1977, in our first attempt at reducing tillage. He rented several different drills until buying a Comfort King drill in 1980. Since then we have continued to adapt and expand our direct seed system to more crops and more acres. This past fall I planted our 24th winter wheat crop using a direct seed system. Our 10-year winter wheat average is 96 bushels/acre. Once we owned a drill, we started to look for ways to expand its' use and spread it over more acres. We looked at our pea ground and knew we could seed winter wheat directly into it. The seeding worked great, but the Comfort King drill did not have deep banding capability, instead it sprinkled dry fertilizer on top of the ground. That in combination with the 2-year wheat/pea rotation we were in created a tremendous downy brome problem. To help solve this we switched to a 2-pass system using a heavy-duty fertilizer machine ahead of the drill. In 1985, I put a disk and shank deep bander using NH3 on the Comfort King and went back to a one-pass system for winter wheat. Our 2-year wheat/pea rotation was the greater part of our downy brome problem. In 1986, we added spring wheat to our rotation, using conventional tillage…and only yielded 44 bu./acre. We figured we had to do something different. I saw this as an opportunity to use our no-till drill on more acres. We could save moisture and time by eliminating spring tillage, as well as place starter and deep-banded fertilizer at seeding to promote vigorous early growth. I soon realized that our Comfort King drill was not suited for spring seeding. It was too heavy for wet soil conditions and its 9-inch row spacing was too wide to adequately compete with wild oats. For several years I rented different drills for spring seeding. In 1998, I bought a John Deere 750 in partnership with a neighbor. My spring wheat yields have averaged 74 bushels since I started direct seeding it. Even though I direct seed all my crops, I am unable to completely eliminate tillage. I have yet to figure out a way to direct seed spring grain into 100 bu./acre plus winter wheat stubble and spring legumes into 70 bu./acre plus spring wheat and barley residue. Each time I try to direct seed spring crops into full residue load, the crop yields 20% less than crops direct seeded into fall-tilled ground. Early seeding is the key to raising high-yielding spring crops and the cool, damp environment in a high residue seedbed delays emergence and maturity that results in reduced yields. I am doing some fall tillage to reduce the residue load, and create some dark soil on the surface so the ground warms up faster in the spring. In preparation for seeding spring wheat into winter wheat stubble, I shred any winter wheat stubble over 8" tall following harvest. I use a disc-ripper to incorporate the residue and eliminate hard pans. In the late fall, I make a pass with a cultivator equipped with fertilizer tubes to apply liquid fertilizer and 5-bar flex harrow, putting down 60#N and 20#K. This tillage pass levels the ground for spring seeding. The fertilizer aids in residue decomposition and moves deeper in the profile for spring cereals. If we get volunteer green-up in the fall, I will make a glyphosate application to eliminate the green bridge. The spring starts with a glyphosate application followed with a harrow to level the ground and allow the topsoil to dry. I then direct seed with our JD 750 applying deep-band nitrogen and sulfur along with a seed row band of nitrogen and phosphorous. On limited acres, I leave the wheat stubble stand over the winter to trap snow and retain moisture. In the spring I burn the stubble, spray with glyphosate, and direct seed spring grain. While this practice works well and is economical, I understand that burning may have a limited future and will be restricted in its use. I have 60 acres that has not been tilled since 1985. This would not be possible without burning. One question I need to answer is whether it is better to due fall tillage or spring burning to reduce the residue load? The disc-ripper operation takes lots of horsepower and doesn't always work well on the steeper slopes, so this past fall I also experimented by applying liquid fertilizer to shredded winter wheat stubble with a chisel/harrow combination to further eliminate passes. Spring grain stubble in the high yielding bottoms are shredded after harvest. In the late fall, I make one pass with a cultivator and 5-bar flex harrow. The following spring a glyphosate/pursuit combination is sprayed ahead of direct seeding legumes. Low prices of dry peas and lentils have really put a kink in my direct seed program. I like to raise afila-type peas because they stand up, can be harvested with a regular wheat header, which leaves standing stubble that holds the residue in place, and provides protection for winter wheat plants when the cold winter winds blow. This past year I experimented with small garbanzo beans that worked very well direct seeded and also had some standing stubble to plant winter wheat into. Due to the low prices of legumes, I have also gone to a winter wheat/spring wheat/spring wheat rotation on small acreages in the high producing bottom ground. I use the same limited fall tillage methods before the spring wheat crops and try to direct seed the winter wheat into the spring wheat stubble. The drill we are using currently is a John Deere 750 with some special adaptations. We eliminated the front dolly wheels and put on a solid hitch so as to transfer some of the weight from the drill to the tractor, providing better traction. Extra wheels were added in the back for hillside stability and better flotation in the spring. Stainless steel tubes were put inside the deep banders to apply liquid nitrogen, potash, sulfur and phosphate. We built a plastic seed firmer that we apply a liquid nitrogen/phosphate starter mix in the seed row. Several seed openers were also swapped side to side for better performance on steep slopes. Although our drill isn't perfect for every condition, it is doing a good job for us. I continue to raise bluegrass on 15% of our acres, with limited burning only on the steepest slopes. Due to the restricted use of burning, I have to rotate the bluegrass sooner than we have in the past. I am only getting 3 to 4 crops off before rotating back to small grain production. I follow the bluegrass with direct seeded lentils, then winter wheat. I spring burn the winter wheat stubble and direct seed spring wheat. Following the spring wheat harvest I once again spring burn the stubble to direct seed peas followed again by winter wheat. After these 5 crops I can go back to fall tillage ahead of spring grains without large sod chunks that can create problems. I really like the soil building characteristics of the bluegrass, but the lack of burning has reduced the erosion control benefits that the bluegrass provided. The shorter rotations and the increased costs of producing a pound of seed without burning is making it difficult to show a profit with bluegrass seed. Advantages Erosion control has been the driving force behind my motivation to reduce tillage and increase direct seeding on our farm. The low commodity prices and higher costs have also contributed to reducing trips across the field. I can plant 650 acres in the spring with less than 125 hours of tractor time. My winter wheat only requires 1-gallon fuel/acre to plant. I can start seeding the day my neighbors start cultivating in the spring. The seeding operation may be slower, but every time I make a pass I'm putting seed in the ground. Challenges Getting a good stand in heavy residue is my number one challenge. We can't learn fast enough. We've been direct seeding since 1977 and we've made a lot of mistakes and advances, but I still don't have all the answers. I think direct seeding takes more management and thinking ahead. What crops am I going to raise? What chemical can I use? It's a lot more critical when you don't have tillage as an option. The performance of the sprayer becomes even more important in the shift towards reducing tillage and greater reliance on herbicides. I can't stress the importance of owning your own sprayer to spray when conditions are right. Spraying should be your top priority. In my area, we sometimes have a short window each day that you can spray effectively and I like to take advantage of that. I don't want to mess up a glyphosate spray because that's my tillage operation. As I look to the future of direct seeding, I look forward to the time I can completely eliminate tillage. I read about farms that own just a sprayer and a drill and only hope that someday to reach that goal. I hope to add a winter legume to my rotation that can be direct seeded into spring grain stubble. I also believe that researchers can develop spring wheat that will germinate at lower temperatures to better perform in the high residue situations that we are confronted with. I am excited to see the changes that have taken place in the past decade. For better or worse, I believe farms will be forced towards more reduced tillage and hope that the lessons we have learned over the past 25 years will make that transition easier. |
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