SOIL HEALTH

[Update--12/29/14]----A clarifying point for me:  Compost is a great product to add to our cropland for increasing O.M.  However, it is termed "very dead"meaning that it will not support the biological life in our soils.  It enters our soils as "humus" and supports soil structure and, hence, water holding capacity of the soil.  That's logical when you think about it.  All the energy is burned out in the composting process, making the "dead" into the "very dead".  Interesting terminology for plant and animal material -- living, dead, and very dead.

        "BUILDING SOIL for BETTER CROPS".  One needs to study this as a bible for soil health.  It is the best and most concise publication I have seen in relatively easy to understand language.  This is not a "HOW TO" direct seed book.  It's more basic than that.  Don't get caught up in the details.  Learn the concepts.  An understanding of the interrelationships of the soil fauna and flora will stimulate your thought process for designing a successful management plan to build soil, and reduce commercial fertilizer and pesticide input.  

          It appears evident to me that the first priority for us is to get more diversity, and more biomass on our cropland -- a lot of it.  For those of us that have been direct seeding for several years and have experienced some soil improvement, the time required to improve soil health to the point of sustaining crops will be quicker, than those starting from tilled ground.  

          Dirt is basically dead.   Soil is a live, breathing organism.  For most of our lifetime we have been tilling soil to dirt (death).  We have to have a "thought transplant", before our life sustaining organ (soil) completely stops providing.  As our hilltops and sides lose productivity, we will be left with bottoms, until they are farmed out in another generation or two. To continue down the tillage path means that our crops will eventually be grown with 100% commercial inputs.   Dirt will be for holding the plant upright in place.

           You can download the pdf. file at:   < http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Building+soils+for+better+crops&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 >   (copy and paste the URL, or google "Building Soils for Better Crops"        

       Below is a pic from a soil pit at the Aeschliman farm SW of Colfax, Wa. showing Carbon strings reaching deep (3-4 feet) in the soil profile following what appears to be root channels or worm holes.  To me this is amazing. [The white (washed out) area at the bottom is the surface vegetation of the near bank of the soil pit.]

TALL RESIDUE IN THE COLD & SNOW

[SUMMARY] -- I don't comprehend much of the dynamics surrounding stubble.  The literature is not consistent.  This is what I am observing and will update as time offers more experience.  1--The taller the stubble the slower the air movement along the ground surface.  This is more of a logical observation than measured.  2--The taller the stubble the more snow it will hold in place.  Most of my life I have observed that our fields with standing stubble held snow within 4-6" of the stubble height.  3--Snow melts faster along the stem and base of the stubble compared to row middles.

---------

 [DETAIL]-- Since the middle of November we have had below normal temperatures and occasionally a lot of wind.  Recently we have received a little snow (≈1-2").  Today, as well as last February I have observed, while walking the fields, that snow has melted away from the stems of the tall stubble where the short stem stubble and the flattened residue is maintaining the snow.

          The pic above is from last February.  This is a thaw event and water is moving slowly along the ground surface.  Notice that the snow is shrinking away from the base of the tall (≈36-40") winter wheat stubble more quickly than from the 10" row middles.   Most of the ground surface has a solid mat of residue.  

        This shows the snow having been swept off the winter wheat crop and redeposited in the tall grass of the CRP strip.  Our crop is obviously not able to utilize the moisture contained in this snow bank.

         The pic above is part of the thaw event of 2/14.  This shows snow relocated following a wind event leaving drifts.  In this case the drift is melting, adding to the fast moving water in the shallow valley.  Even though we have good armor on the field this is causing a rill to develop.  Our crop is also being denied moisture through redeposition and runoff.  Having standing stubble would have helped I'm sure.

         The pic above was taken 12/3/14.  It shows a thin layer of snow (≈1") where there is short stubble in the fore ground and the far background.  The middle area has stripper headed spring barley stubble (≈18"tall).  There is little or no snow left on the ground surface under the taller stubble.

          The pic shows a sample of the middle area in the pic above of the stripper headed barley.  There is very little snow left on the ground surface compared to an area a few feet to the left that had the stubble cut at near ground level.  Is this good or bad?  Is the tall stubble moderating the soil temperature?  Even the blackened (cultivated) fields show more snow retention than the pic above.  I would say that the ground surface shown is warmer than those surfaces of the short stubble, flat residue, or no residue covered fields.  Within this post you can find a contradiction and I can't explain why with more than a guess.

ULTRA-LOW-DISTURBANCE [ULD] IS THE FUTURE FOR OUR DRY LAND REGION !!!!

      We are only three years into ULD, but going over information this fall relating to climate, soil health, moisture savings, weed control, fertility issues, and what I am seeing by using the system, I am convinced that this is the way to go, and willing to step out and say so.  ULD has the potential to dramatically cut costs of fertilizer, chemical and seed.  ULD at the same time has the potential to maximize yields through better crop emergence and savings in moisture that normally would evaporate off the soil surface.  Any ULD system will have to incorporate a sophisticated seed depth control system to maximize it's effectiveness in the variable environment of soils and residue.  My reasoning for ULD is as follows, --by topic.
       CLIMATE:     Can anyone deny that the climate is dynamic and changing.  I have seen plenty of change in my 60+ years working in the field, swinging from cold winters with lots of snow and summers with thunderstorms and down pours, to milder winters with little snow and no summer storms.  In some ways I'm seeing events that appear to be reverting back to the 40's & 50's.  In other ways I'm seeing more extreme events, not only in intensity, but also timing.
        Several years ago I sat in on a UW and USGS presentation on expectations for Washington Climate in 50-80 years.  There was a presentation on what would happen to grain crops with a 2 degree average temperature rise.  As it turned out we have recent experience with that condition.  One year in the early 2000's, there was a persistent high pressure cell stationed over France that raised the average temperature in that region for the year, 2 degrees.  This temperature increase either created or was in conjunction with a shift in seasons which resulted in a disaster for small grains.  This shift caught much of the small grain crop blooming with high temperatures, leaving blank heads.  As farmers we have to adapt our operation, where we can, to accommodate this changing climate.   It may include extreme temperature, rainfall and wind events, shift in seasons, dry seeding conditions, and insects, and diseases that express themselves in cultivars under stress.  GMO and GE cultivars will likely play a role in plant growth habits, drought resistance, insect and disease resistance, but we as growers have to prepare our ground and protect our moisture as best we can.
       Climate change prediction for Washington State includes:  --2 degree average temperature increase.  --total moisture amount about the same.  --little or no snow pack in the Cascade mountains.  --rivers will peak one month earlier.  --winter wheat will be the crop in eastern Washington.  Nothing stated about moisture or season shift.
        RESIDUE--CROP AND OTHER:   Residue has a lot to offer.  The biomass helps support the soil fauna and decomposing roots leave channels for water infiltration.  Residue laying on the surface protects the surface from the destructive energy of falling rain drops. (see "Links" page for Rain Drop)   Residue is also an insulating blanket moderating soil temperature, and reducing the drying effect of air moving across the surface.  Surface residue is food for the vertical boring (nightcrawler) worms.  It's important that sufficient residue lay on the surface so that dirt is not visible.  Dirt showing will erode, and moisture loss will accelerate through evaporation.  Leave residue standing as tall as possible.  The taller the residue the less air movement along the soil surface.  Any cultivation, including direct seeding, destroys residue.  ULD minimizes this loss. I don't think you can get too much residue.  The trick is to seed into/through it!
      COVER CROPS:  Cover crops may be needed to supplement crop residue during fallow periods.  Seed depth moisture is an obvious concern any time cover crops are mentioned.  The fact that growing crops only transpire 12% of the available moisture (see earlier post on moisture, 8/19/12), different crops draw their high moisture use from different depths at different times, and timing for cover crop destruction can be variable, the seed depth moisture loss may not be the problem perceived.  It's not well understood, but there is a syngeneic effect from planting multi-specie cover crop helping all cultivars thrive in a drought compared to single species planting.  Will it work to interplant the cash crop?

       SOIL HEALTH:    Most farmers, including myself have shallow knowledge of soil health and it's real value.   This section will be statements with few comments.  Mostly things to ponder!
 ---- One frequently hears that the quantity living organisms living below the soil surface on an acre basis is staggering.  The healthier the soil the more organisms there are to feed.
----- Both, aerobic and anaerobic organisms are found in the soil profile.
----- Anaerobic organisms thrive under poorly aerated soil and cause many of the negative plant health issues.
---- Soils with good structure have low levels of anaerobic organisms.  There structure supports proper relationship of water and air for aerobic organism processes.
---- The higher the OM, the better the soil.
---- The improving OM also indicates that structure is improving.  Improving structure however, doesn't necessarily indicate improving OM.
---- Soils with good structure and high OM can manufacture and make available most fertility elements necessary for plant growth.
---- From what I am reading the capacity of OM to provide most of the nutrients for plants, if managed for that purpose, starts at 3% and above.
---- OM is slow to build.  It is easier to save than build.
---- Eroded soils are slow to recover OM because there is so little left of the soil biology to start up the rebuilding process.
---- Eroded soils erode faster.  As OM and structure collapses, soils seal allowing moisture to run off.
---- All cultivation, from any operation, degrades soils by collapsing structure, burning OM.  It's the nature of cultivation.
---- Recent designated categories for OM are "active" and "mature".  Active OM means it is biologically active.  Mature OM means it has little biological activity associated with it.  The crop residues we see are more of a pre-OM state termed litter.
---- Every year that our soils deteriorate puts us more than another year away from recovery.
---- Plants under stress are more prone for insect attack.
---- Insects that attack crop cultivars are color sensitive.
      SEEDING:
---- Less soil disturbance creates the condition for less weed germination.
---- Seed laying on residue struggle to germinate and compete with a growing crop.  The thicker the mat the better.
---- Seed planted in soil thrives, but seed planted in residue struggles.
----My opinion: -->any two pass is better than conventional tillage, any one pass is better than two pass, and any single disc opener is better than a hoe.  Currently the CrossSlot is the best technology today in single disc drills for our dryland, low moisture environment.

 

2014 FALL SEEDING with CROSS-SLOT

[Update 3/23/15] --All of our winter canola winter killed--big(timely emerged), little(emerged at freeze down), thin residue or very heavy residue. We have just sprayed the canola fields in preparation of going back with DNS and some garbs. We dumped a pint of Buctril in with the Rt3 to take out the rr canola.   It appeared that more of the non roundup ready canola cultivars survived than the roundup ready cultivars--like 0++ to 0+.  One interesting note: --on one bare soil spot, in a truck road, on a north facing slope where the full force of the November blast hit, one row (≈50' long) of late emerged canola looks perfect.  They look like soldiers in perfect alignment the size of a silver dollar.  Go Figure!!??
       Our winter wheat (Brundage 96) came through the winter in very good shape(99+% stand), and all big enough for Ospray or Power flex.  We need to get it sprayed NOW.  Several scouting trips have shown no crown, or visible root damage.  Burned leaf tips are the only sign of winter and they have mostly disappeared.   Later we'll see if we have diminished harvest results, like 2014.
[Update] 12 29/14---- The winter wheat is showing color improvement, and the large canola plants are also showing some activity; however, this morning we have no snow and temperatures in low 20's and wind from the ENE@ 20-35mph.  In the next day or two we are expected to have lows around zero. This is the second hit on this crop.  How many more before spring???  We did get a little snifter of snow in the early morning.  The cultivated ground that I see from the window is bare, and it's too miserable to walk the fields to observe the effects on the crop and in the tall stubble.
[Update] 12/16/14---- The winter wheat stand no longer looks spotty.   Many of the leaves are partially burned off but the crowns look good at this point in time.  Compared to other stands in the area, ours looks great.
      The winter canola stand is anyones guess at this point in time; however, I'm guessing that we will reseed most or all in the spring.  All the large leaves are colorless and laying on the ground with the leaves of the small plants gone. 
[Update]  11/13/14----Tuesday, the 11th Nov. temperatures dropped dramatically (+21F) and 12-35mph wind.  We are expecting lower temperatures and more wind.  These conditions are similar to the early December, 2013 event that damaged our winter crops (high winds, cold temperatures, and no snow cover). My concern is that this is even earlier and more events could follow prior to the end of February.  Come spring it will be interesting to see what, if any, of the canola survives, and what damage the wheat will have.  Our volume of residue should aid survival by moderating the effects of wind and cold temperatures.  I wish we would have seeded some winter wheat on 20" spacing to see if the standing stubble left with that spacing would improve survivability. 
      The winter wheat has all emerged.  The 0.25" rain received the 29th September brought up the remainder that didn't emerge when seeded.   The late emerged wheat is mostly in the 3-4 leaf stage.  The timely emerged wheat (seeded ≈ 6th Sept.) has many tillers.  
      The winter canola has mostly emerged.  The late emerged canola is very small, with some still emerging. The timely emerged canola (seeded 19th Aug.) is dinner plate size. These large size canola plants nestled in and around standing stubble two too three times their height is something I want to evaluate come spring.  If those plants are the only survivors, we may want to rethink tires and tracks on the combine, sprayer, and tractor to promote less stubble smash.
     This post sat in the "draft box" way too long, forgotten.  It still had some points that I want to remember.
     Our drill with the CrossSlot opener creates very little soil disturbance.  It momentarily cuts a narrow slot in the soil and deposits the seed with starter fertilizer, and also deep bands the nitrogen, then with two packer wheels mounted in a V configuration the slot is closed and firmed.   In a marginal moisture situation this opener, if it's not operated in a manner that compromises the technology by leaving the slot open, can maintain a high humidity environment at the seed site.  Baker Industries promotes this capability for better germination and emergence.  Dr. Stewart Wuest of OSU supports this concept.  He has a study titled "seed-soil contact and the role of vapor in germination".  The Abstract states:  ------Seed-soil contact has been assumed to be the most important factor for rapid transfer of water from soil to seed.  Recent research demonstrated that seeds are capable of geminating without soil contact, and that 85% or more of the water absorbed by seeds can be directly attributed to vapor.  A new appreciation for the capacity of soil atmosphere to supply water vapor to seeds will help in future efforts to improve seeding equipment.---  (See link page.)
      The dry condition encountered in the fall of 2014 is what this drill was designed for.  I'm sorry to say that we did not execute well.   I have stated before how important the ADF (auto down force) system is to this drill design. Inconsistent soils and variations in residue across the field are conditions that challenge disc drills. We can see in many areas where the seed was placed shallow.  With the ADF system out we used the manual mode which allowed us to pressure the system, but not allow the system to automatically adjust hydraulic pressure to ground conditions.
      One adage we have come to rely on for successful direct seeding is to seed into moisture.  With the dry conditions we are experiencing this fall, the end of the first week of September was at that limit.  We should have been able to get 85-90% up.  As it is we are more like 50-65% emerged.  It is a lost opportunity, and something we will have to address before another year.
   

DS meeting - Shelbourn Stripper Header

[Update - 11/2/14] Reflection -- The comments during and after the meeting expressed an understanding that techniques to keep the soil cool and the wind off the surface were important in saving moisture.  The presenters from low rainfall areas agree that surface protection (cover) is important, but are struggling to raise enough biomass to make that happen.  
      We have limited experience (3yr) with an ultra-low disturbance cropping system, but there is evidence that we can maintain residue derived from our winter wheat crop, when it is followed by a low residue mustard crop that is then followed by a fallow period.  Prior to moving to a ULD system, we had too much residue to establish a decent spring crop following winter wheat, and too little residue going into a fallow period.  This spring, using the cross-slot drill, we were able to punch through 12,000#/ac residue into cool damp soil, establish an excellent stand, and suppress weed emergence.    Residue manipulation (mowing, harrowing, mashing, scuffing.) and using a hoe or disc drill that kicks dirt on the residue accelerates decomposition and promotes weed germination.  Most of our weeds emerge in the wheel tracks mostly places where there is scuffing and thin residue.
       We feel that the stripper header should be used as part of a ULD system.  It's an expensive tool to use with seeding systems that require additional residue management techniques prior to drilling. 
      
The Colfax, WA. Direct Seed Breakfast featured four speakers that reported on their experience using a stripper header.  WSU at Ralston, Wa. have 4 years experience, the Eriksen's at St. John have 3years, the Juris' at Bickleton have 2 years, and  DeWald's at Lind have one year of experience.
     All speakers had moisture saving as a primary reason for their use of the stripper header.
     Eriksen reported on a 1970-80's study by OSU and WSU, presented by Dr. Pappendick in 1989 where :  1-- moisture received is used in four ways: 1% goes below the root zone by hydraulic pressure, 4% runs off the soil surface, 12% is transpired through the plant, and 83% is lost from evaporation off of the soil surface.  2-- the closing comment by Dr. Pappendick at the time was that we could have some effect on moisture loss from evaporation by keeping the soil cool, and maintain a low air velocity across the surface.  Eriksen inferred that the stripper header is a big step toward meeting the the goal of lowering the air velocity.  Eriksen's have coupled the stripper header with an ultra low disturbance (ULD) drill to further  reduce moisture loss from evaporation.
      Although the Pappendick and Ramig study was never published, the WSU speaker made reference to studies that supported Pappendick's concluding statements about keeping soils cool and the surface calm. WSU's study with the stripper header involves temperatures, wind velocity and moisture differences.
      Both Eriksen and WSU stated that they were seeing a reduction of weed competition with the stripper header.  Eriksen stated that he thought they would be able, in time, reduce the number of chemical applications.
      Eriksen stated that he thought the stripper header would cut all crops that are raised in the area except canola and mustard and corn.   If canola and mustard crops have a short variety, they can also be cut.  The hood of the stripper header is the limitation.  It will not open wide enough to capture more than 24-30 inches of seed pods without significant crop loss.
     Juris commented that the header handled rocks quite will.  They experienced a number of strikes this year do to short crops left in the wake of the drought.  The header kicked them out with minimal damage to the rotor.  An adjustable plier works well to straighten out bent fingers resulting from striking the ground or foreign objects.

2014 Harvest with Shelbourn Stripper Header

The blog stats show that the stripper head is a topic that interests a number of people so I will add more harvest video and some commentary --- hopefully not redundant.

[SUMMARY]--We love the header!  We have used it for three harvests, cutting winter wheat, spring wheat, spring barley, and mustard.  I'm convinced that if the crop has seed heads confined to 24" or less on the stalk, it will do a good job.  With the drivers ability to adjust the height of the hood, the tilt of the header, and vary the rotor speed with the touch of a button, header loss can be kept very low whether you are harvesting 100+ bushel winter wheat or 600 pound mustard.  We haven't cut any peas, lentils, garbs, millet, or soybeans, but I don't think they would be a challenge.  Auto height and tilt control would probably be nice for low growing crops to further reduce crop loss and help with driver fatigue.  Of the crops I have raised over the years, sunflowers, corn, and canola are the only ones that I think would not work with the stripper head.  My understanding is that if we "push" the canola, then the stripper head would harvest it.  That is another $35K machine, and has to be used in a special way for a successful harvest.  If we farmed flat land it would be a good option.  My current thinking is that this money would be better spent on a good platform head configured for canola and tall mustard.

      Should you buy a Shelbourn Stripper Header ????????????  First question is ----> what do you want to accomplish with it.  Depending on how you intend on managing your fields it can be a godsend, or an absolute nightmare.  Long, standing stubble cannot be easily shredded and spread over the ground. The decision on how you will seed a crop back into that ground needs to be thought out before you purchase a Shelbourn.  From a practical standpoint, you will probably need to trade in your hoe or double disc drills for a new style, heavy single disc drill.  There are several companies with models to choose from, including the cross-slot from Baker .....company.

       In our case we had five goals we wished to achieve: 1--reduce moisture loss from evaporation.  2--improve survivability of our winter crops.  3--reduce weed competition, and 4--avoid buying a new model combine.  5--reduce the cost of growing a crop (improve our bottom line).  With only three seasons experience, all statements I make here may change in the future.  Being in a three year rotation, this is the first year that all our fields have had at least one crop harvested with the stripper head and seeded with the Cross-Slot drill. 

--It's too early to tell if we are seeing real moisture savings.  There is some indication that we are going in the right direction. 

 --Are we seeing improved crop surviability?   Maybe, it is questionable.  Our first opportunity was with the fall wheat seeded in Sept. 2013.  I think there was an influence by the residue mat that helped, although, we had serious winter damage from the December 2013 weather event.  There was no standing stubble, and the residue mat was not impressive.  Our August 2014 seeded winter canola will be the second opportunity to test crop survivability.  We seeded into very heavy residue with a lot of standing stubble.  Wheel tracks associated with harvesting, spraying and seeding all degrade the standing stubble, but we probably still have 30-40% standing.  

--Are we reducing weed competition?  We think this is a definite yes!  Broadleaf weed populations are falling dramatically.  Grassy weeds appear to be more persistent but there are signs that the population of these are falling.  We need to lengthen our rotation and include other crop types so we can employ different chemistry to effectively address this problem.  In general we find that fewer trips over the field means less surface disturbance and this seems to translate into fewer weeds germinating.  I now envision the possibility that an expensive chemical application may be skipped on occasion.  This will take a "mind adjustment" to allow a few weeds to grow in the crop, and it may not be field wide (possibly more spot spraying replacing field wide spraying).  This summer we only bordered the canola field with glyphosate -- come spring we'll see if that was a mistake.  In years past, not applying glyphosate prior to seeding was always a mistake regardless of whether you could see weeds or not at the time of spraying.

-- Can we avoid buying a newer model combine?  This is a YES!  Our 1985 Gleaner N7 has been a great machine for us over the years.  The one negative of this machine, is straw management.  The chaff spread is good, but straw management/spread is poor/horrible.  With our interest in building/maintaining surface residue, the amount of long straw on the surface from wheel smash and straw spread at harvest (straw choppers of this vintage machine, of any make, are ineffective for our purpose), the seeding operation became problematic.  We have shredded/chopped stubble for many years, starting with a 15' SunMaster flail, and progressing to a 26' 5026 Schulte rotory mower.  The amount of residue we were building overwhelmed this management tool.  The new micro-chop technology available on some brands of combines looked like an option.  That technology costs several 100k.  The Shelbourn Stripper head was another option.  We decided, after much discussion, the 32' Shelbourn offered us the best bang for the buck.  1--the header cost $70k including the machine conversion.  2-- it resolved our residue issues. We had already decided that the cross-slot drill would be the method of seeding whether it be owned, rented, or custom operated.  3--with the Gleaner history for supporting their older model machines we figure we can extend the useful life of the N7 another 10-20 years.  The N7 had plenty of capacity.  As it turns out we have gained ≈200 bu/hr in capacity with the Shelbourn.  Except for harvesting canola (specifically winter canola), this header is moving us to our goals of removing fallow from our crop rotation, less runoff from weather events, and better winter crop protection, better weed control, and a better bottom line.  The Shelbourn offers me the opportunity to scratch an itch I've had since listening to the report on research done in the late 70's about retaining moisture (post of 7/3/12).

Harvest video needs to be high quality but bloggers limit of 100mb per video limits quality.  High quality results in a very short video.

This video is of harvesting on flat, low ground, our late seeded Diva spring wheat in the 18-20" rainfall zone.  The flat, low ground yielded in the range of 80 to 100 bu/ac.  Once you left the low ground, yields plummeted.  We had three fields. 1--yield average was 50bu/ac, 2--46bu/ac, 3--43bu/ac.  The puff of black is where the fingers encountered a straw pile with some dirt mixed in.  See the 5/17/14 post to view drilling conditions in the area this video shows being harvested.

This video is of harvesting our winter wheat in the 15-17" rainfall zone.  The area shown (≈70ac) yielded a low of 100 bu/ac and a high of 140 bu/ac.  This area is frequently a disappointment to us -- not this year!  The field average was 78 bu/ac.  This area was apparently protected from the December event, being behind a higher ridge to the north.  Most of the field, which this area is a part of, is a long north facing slope that took the full brunt of the December cold, northeastern wind event that damaged all of the crops in the region.  I wish the field would have been seeded into standing stubble to see if that would have led to less crop damage.

       This video is of harvesting our late seeded spring barley on CRP takeout in the 15-17" rainfall zone.  This was a very poor crop.  The average yield was 3/4 ton/ac.
        The volume of material going through the combine from using the stripper head is a fraction of that from a platform head.  Combine adjustments need to be made to preserve grain quality and threshing efficiency.  Head tips can be difficult to thresh with so little straw in the machine.  Aggressive thresh can skin the grain.

POST HARVEST REVIEW OF 2014

     SUMMARY:  This year started out as a great opportunity to see if heavy surface residue and standing stubble would hold moisture for crop development that normally would evaporate into the atmosphere.  Recognizing that spring crops would be insurance claims from the get-go, being late in their seeding was not a big concern.  As it turns out I can't make any real judgement about what heavy tall residue may have contributed to the crop.  (In short, a wasted year)   The abundant June rain skewed everything.  As we came out of winter I expected nothing for a spring crop, and got something.  Others, in some cases, did better.  If June had been like January through April I think the timely seeded spring crops would have been toast and we would still be where we are.  Having seeded close to the middle of May, we still had abundant stored moisture by mid June.  The June rain allowed our barley to stay in the vegetative stage longer, developing more tillers.  The main stem of our barley was hurt but did fairly well.  The first tiller contributed a little to yield.  The remaining tillers, for the most part, just used nutrients and moisture and slowed harvest with no contribution to yield.  The spring wheat is less determinable.  There were fewer tillers.  The main stem showed some damage as well as the first tiller.  The second through fourth tillers, in places, contributed to yield.   It's interesting to speculate what this SWSW crop would have yielded had it been seeded timely.
         Our winter wheat was very near WSU's trial average for the rainfall area.  48 sites.  From what I hear our SWWW was a little better than most of the fields around me.
         Our spring wheat was right at WSU's trial average for the rainfall area, even though it was planted a month later.  42 sites.  We appeared to be a little lower than neighboring fields near me.
         Our spring barley (no WSU data available now) was, I'm sure, low by any standard.  There was no barley raised near our field for comparison.
                                         CONCLUSIONS
         --- Delete this year from mental calculations for future crop planning.  I read this from several sources, and agree.
         --- High rainfall areas and associated soils are much more forgiving than the low rainfall areas to less optimal conditions including seeding date.
         --- Don't expect moisture, whether stored, or saved through the growing season, to recover potential yield loss from late seeding.  Plants can't draw moisture fast enough, regardless of availability, in high heat environment.  (an affirmation of past research and experience.)
        --- It appears that even in drought years, spring small grain crops will do better with high seed rates.  This deters tillering.  Each tiller takes about a week to develop, so every tiller potentially delays maturity a week.
        --- I think that if we would have had stubble left standing following last falls seeding of winter wheat, that would have given enough protection for the crop to have endured the December blast with less damage.

     BACKGROUND:
       --- The September 1, 2013 to August 31st, 2014 moisture was a total of just over 8" (that included the December/January snowfall that mostly went down the creek (check label titled moisture for details), and the nearly 2" received in mid May and the month of June.  That is a long ways off our 15-17" historical average.
       ---The fall of 2013 was dry, causing spotty emergence of the fall wheat in the area-- including ours.  We expected 100% and didn't get it.
       --- Mid December we experienced high winds from the northeast with temperatures dipping to single digits for several days, and no snow cover.
       --- There was very little moisture received over the winter and spring of 2014.
       --- In mid February we experienced a quick warmup on frozen ground with a thin (1-3") snow cover.   Within 2 hours, the snow cover was mostly gone, and nearly all the water left the fields causing creek rise and minor flooding in areas.
       --- Mid May provided ≈ 0.5" rain, and June provided us with 1.54" of moisture.  Most of it in three days mid month.
      --- Third week of June started very warm and quickly got hot that lasted well into August without any real break.  Wind accompanied the heat for many of those days.
      DETAIL:
       --- Winter Wheat: (15-17"rainfall area) Averaged 77 bu/ac. (Brundage 96)  Most of the field was a long north facing slope.  These slopes had fair residue, but very little was standing.  This condition limited protection for the December event and the growing crop showed significant burn.  Spring recovery and development was slow. We had an anomaly in one corner of the field.  It apparently received some protection, from the cold blast of wind, behind a north facing high ridge.  This  rectangular area (≈70ac) had a flat area broken up with three low hills.  This area averaged over 100 bu/ac and ranged as high as 140 bu/ac.
       --- Spring Barley: (15-17" rainfall area) Average 3/4 tn/ac.  Two fields.  Both with southern exposures.  Seeded at 100#/ac Lenetah a month later than optimal.
                CRP field had excellent stored moisture.  The field was clipped in 2013, so little standing residue, and some dirt showing.
                The barley on barley field had good moisture.  The previous yield was 1.5 tn/ac.  It had a lot of residue on the ground and the stubble (high density) was standing.  It yielded a 100#/ac more than the CRP.
                 We also had a separate small flat 12 ac CF field that was seeded to barley.  This area had a fantastic stand, seeded at 122#/ac.  It's yield was 1.25 tn/ac.
         ---Spring Wheat: (18-20"rainfall area)  These were seeded a month later than optimal at 100#/ac of Diva.
                Field-1 was embarrassing to watch the whole growing season but ended up yielding the best (50b/a).  Mustard was raised last year.  Poor residue cover, and little standing.  Field had balanced aspects of high/low, north south east west slopes.  Eroded areas got hard, so stand started out spotty.
                Field-2 was primarily a long south slope with a big flat.  Average yield of 46 bu/ac.  Tremendous surface residue on much of the flat with dense standing barley stubble.  There was some fallow ground where we did ditch work last year.  The high ground also had good surface residue and dense standing standing stubble. Areas of the flat went over 100 bu/ac, but dropped quickly with elevation.  The emergence looked good all over.
                 Field-2 was fairly well balanced with high/low, north south east west aspects.  Always considered this field the poorest of the three.  It yielded 43 bu/ac.  Good residue on the surface except on eroded ridges.  Good standing barley residue except on the eroded ridges.  The emergence looked good.

CROSS-SLOT DRILL KIT?

[Updated 9/19/14]  
I have received two questions about our drill.  I'll address them on this post.
                                   ---- Did our drill come as a kit?
                                   ---- Did Cross-slot help us with the design?
     No!--- the drill did not come as a kit.  You have the option of purchasing a complete drill unit from Baker No-Tillage Limited, or, buy a retrofit package with as many openers as you desire and put them on a locally made frame.  There are many options offered in a retrofit order.  Study the proposal sheet and understand the terms while working up an order.  AgPro of Lewiston, ID. currently builds frames for cross-slot openers.  They have their own suggested frame design, or will build to your specification.
       For info about our drill see post of 5/3/14.

     Yes!--- Baker No-Tillage Limited did help us with the design.  The basic design(look) is one they use -- we viewed pictures and copied the look.   They are very good about sharing component information.  The material type, size and dimensions associated with our drill is our design decision.  We sized the drill to fit our tractor.  That was only marginally successful.  I set a goal for a tare weight of 18K.  It went out of the shop at 24K.  This summer we added 1k on each wing making it 26k, --- and, maybe growing.
       Gavin Porter is the company representative for the US and is very accessible and helpful. His cell number is 509-595-5782

       

SEEDING WINTER CANOLA- AUGUST 19, 2014

 [Update 10/31/14] -- see updated to post titled "CHEMICAL FALLOW", 7/22/14
        This is our first serious attempt at seeding canola (winter or spring).  We have started out with Amanda.  With the new ultra slow seed transmission, we have easily accomplished 3 pounds per acre.         -----The crop is being seeded on 20" row spacing, using the front gang of openers.  The back gang is being locked in the high position with no product being put through them.
-----We have switched the deep band fertilizer tubes with the starter and are adding ≈ 25gpa of water in the area where the seed should be.  We are putting down some P in the deep band.  We probably should have added B as well.
-----I have yet to find one seed.  I wish the seed was dyed yellow.  The yellow mustard was not hard to find.  We are relying entirely on the opener position and what the electronics are telling us.  The seed roll is moving too slow, and the volume to low, to be seen easily with the mounted camera.
-----We are putting the seed at 2.5" depth.  The moisture is thinning out on the ridge lines.  We're hoping that the added water will help emergence.  The lower slopes have better moisture closer to the surface.
-----The residue is tall and heavy.  The openers are maintaining depth much better than I was expecting, even though the ADF system is not working properly.  Baker Ind. has to work on better reliability of that system.  It's getting irritating.  The residue is no problem to penetrate.  The hydraulic valves for the back gang have to be upgraded.  The openers slowly leak down and grab residue and quickly make an unsightly pile.  Kye has had very few working openers plug and drag.
-----With only one half of the openers in the ground, much of the stubble is left standing.  This should be helpful for winter survival of the winter canola crop.
-----We have divided our seed hopper into two 29bu bins.
-----We are seeding ≈ 30ac of canola (RR), on 20" spacing using the front row of openers.  The back row of openers will be seeding a spring pea on 20" rows at ≈ 75 pounds per acre.  The intent is to use the legume to produce N for the canola.  This, as it turns out, is more complex than I imagined.  It's not just growing peas to their maximum nodulation and killing them for later release of the N produced.  I'll do more research and make some decisions before the peas reach bloom this fall.  Right now we hope to get emergence along with the canola.
-----There will be upgrades to this post.
-----I will write another post on "GROWING NITROGEN" in the near future.

Pic above shows seeding winter canola on winter wheat stubble that was harvested with a stripper header.  

HOBO Temperature Sensors

[Update 4/8/16] --Removed sensors so Kye could drill the field yesterday and replaced them today at 1:30pm.  I'm down to 5 sensors in two locations.  The heavy mowed residue site has three (#6@ 3", #9@1", #4 in the air near surface).  The bare earth site has #7@1",  #8 in the air near surface. [#8 was in tall stubble but drilling dragged all material away.
[Update 2/24/16] --Launched two sensors for air temperature just above the soil surface, --#8 in the tall stubble, --#4 in mowed area.  Should have thought of this earlier, but the thought never surfaced until a farmer suggested that tall stubble may have trapped cold temperature to the point of reducing the survival of his winter canola.  I have my doubts but there is no reason not to check it out.  Another sensor (#11) was carried off by some animal.  I found it about 30' from its flagged location (that was luck).  I have no idea of how long it was on  the surface but I have put it back in the ground in the tall stubble, --which is mostly been flattened from winter weather of wind and a little snow.  The roots are rotting, or being eaten off and allowing the plant to tip over when the forces of wind, water, snow engulf them.  This sensor in the tall stubble has not been bothered in the past as those out in the open have.  Now that it is exposed it is experiencing similar attention from critters.  I'm going to have to stake and tie these sensors more securely in the future.
[Update 1/8/16] -- Relaunched sensors from being pulled out in November.  The sensors were set for readings every 2hrs instead of 1hr.  --#1 is located under #7(bare grnd) for temperature reading ≈3" deep.  # 8 was not relaunched (couldn't locate plank).  #6 is under #9 (under heavy mowed residue).  #3 under #10 (standing residue w light surface residue).  Replaced snow cover.  Soft frost found at (bare grnd) site.
[Update 7/27/15] -- #11 HOBO has disappeared.  It is being replaced today with #E7.  It appears that the crows/ravens are drawn by the bright fluttering flags used to mark the location of the HOBO's.  They haven't bothered the flag in the tall stubble, but all flags in the mowed areas are decimated, and I can only assume they packed off the small HOBO sensor.
[Update 6/14/15] -- placed four HOBO's (#8-9-10-11) (8am, 6/14/15), in Ee field.  #8 is placed under white board on grnd that had been bared.  #9 is placed in very heavy residue that was mowed.  #10 is placed in standing residue with little surface cover.  #11 is placed in bare grnd that had been scraped clean of residue.  All the sensors are placed near each other, and vertical at the surface.
     Intention is to pull them for readings on the 22nd prior to the drill demo,  then again this fall when the field is seeded.  We'll take moisture samples at that time as well.
[Update 6/4/15] -- pulled #1 through 7 to download.  No data was recovered.  A wasted 6m.
[Update 10/30/14] -- pulled and downloaded sensors ≈ Oct. 23 and replaced them on Oct 30th.  Units #6&7 were switched when placed back in the soil.
This past year I have been playing with temperature sensors with the intent of quantifying the impact that the stripper header, and residue on the soil surface has on seed zone temperatures.  Last year I played around with them to get an idea of what they were capable of.  These units can be left in the field to collect data for a lengthy period of time.  You can down-load the data on a computer and graph in many different ways.   This summer I'm starting over with all the HOBO's positioned vertically with the top of the unit at the soil surface.  Seven total.  At the time of placement I took the soil temperature of each location as a start point.  I will update this post when something of interest pops up or at season end.

    ------[field Es]-- Two units are in a chemical fallow field with heavy residue that is totally flat to the ground. One of these units is placed in an area of heavy residue(#7) where no dirt can be seen.  At 2" my soil thermometer indicated 82 degrees.  The other one was place where dirt could be seen at the surface(#6).  The temperature at that spot was 90 degrees. This field location has a slight slope to the north.

     ------[field Ee]--Three units were placed in a chemical fallow field that was stripper headed.  There is heavy residue with stubble standing approximately 36" tall.  One unit was placed in a combine wheel track where there was some dirt showing and the residue was pressed flat to the ground (#3).  The combine had duels mounted close together, so the track is wide.  The temperature at that site was 96 degrees.  A second unit was located in an area with tall standing stubble and no residue covering the ground surface (#1).  The temperature at that site was 80 degrees.  The third unit was placed in a location that had tall standing stubble and also had the ground surface covered with residue (#4).  The temperature at that site was 72 degrees.  This field location is flat

     ----- [field En]--Two units were placed in a growing spring barley field.  The barley is only around 22" tall and fairly thin.  One unit place in heavy residue (#2).  The temperature at that site was 82 degrees.  The other unit was placed whee there was no ground surface cover (#5).  The temperature at that site was 84 degrees.  This field location has a slight slope to the south.

        SUMMARY:

     --- In field Es I was surprised that there was so little difference in the temperature between the two sites.  Did the flattened residue have an impact???

     ---In field Ee I was surprised that the wheel track showed such a high temperature compared to the other two sites.  The wheel track was more compacted.  Did that influence the temperature???  The tall stubble seems to be impacting the temperature compared to the field with the flattened residue.

     ---In field En I was surprised that the temperature was so similar between the two sites.  Does a growing crop influence the surface temperature more than the surface residue???

CHEMICAL FALLOW

[Update 6/14/16] -- All of the winter canola died during the winter.  It didn't make any difference whether is was platter size or just emerging.  We planted SW on most of the acres and Billy Beans on the remainder.  Both crops received heavy damage from a June 12th, 28 degree night, --not a great year.  The spring peas was the only crop damaged to the extent that multi peril crop insurance kicked in. [Update 10/30/14] -- Finally all our WW has emerged.  It appears that we will get most of the canola out of the ground.  We had all the pieces in place for this kind of summer and fall, but we didn't execute very well.  We got about 40% of the canola emerged timely in mid-late August, and about 50-60% of the winter wheat emerged timely mid September.  We currently have 70-85% of the canola emerged, but other than the plants emerged timely in August, it's doubtful the remainder will survive the winter.  It is still emerging.  Post analysis:  The hot weather, lack of good early soil profile moisture allowed seed depth moisture to thin earlier than expected.  The "best" residue areas were OK, but "good" residue was not.   We should have seeded the canola at the end of July instead of mid August, and we should have seeded the winter wheat a week earlier (end of August instead of first part of September).  If the ADF system had been working consistently, we may have still got 80-90% of each crop emerged timely.  Weed pressure is low in both crops.  
        We may have an opportunity to see what the yield loss may be between timely emerged wheat and that which emerged 30+ days late.   Years ago when I was regularly seeding the second week of October, I estimated that I consistently lost 15-20 bushels per acre compared to some of the neighbors.
[Update 9/20/14]
       --- Soil that has cover is noticeably cooler, and moisture stays in the seed zone longer in the fall.  It appears to be proportionate from 0 to 100% cover as to where the moisture line is at any given point of time in the fall.  Observation this fall supports an earlier post about a 1970's unpublished research project (Soil Moisture posted 8/19/12).

          I have started observing and digging in various fallow fields to see the differences that may show.        I have been in a limited number of fields to date, but what I am finding is what I have learned to expect.  "If you see dirt you don't have enough residue".  We have had, over the last two weeks, high temperatures (high 90's and a few over 100) accompanied with a lot of wind.
         Conventional fallow is hot and dried as deep as it is worked.  One field was worked shallow (≈2") and moisture was thinning below the worked area.  Another field was worked to 4"and to a finer texture and when moisture was reached it was good.  Powder dry and no (0%) residue, both of these fields will likely endure severe wind and water erosion before the crop is harvested in 2015.
         The chemical fallow fields in the area are either mowed short or have thin short stubble following harvest.  In both scenarios, they have insufficient residue to hold moisture in the seed zone.  The fields I checked were dry to ≈1.5" and thinning moisture below.  Without added moisture, it will be difficult to get a stand of winter canola, and by fall, it will be difficult to get a stand of winter wheat.
        In contrast, our field that will be seeded to winter canola, is in great shape.  We have a thick mat of residue on the soil surface, and standing stubble (36").  The soil is cool and the wind has not been whipping across the surface.  The combination of surface residue and tall stubble leaves us, currently, with moisture within 0.5", and much of the area has moisture at the soil surface.  There are holes in the field where the moisture is deeper, but 95% of the field is great at this point in time.
        We have another fallow field.   Part of the field was mustard in 2013, but the majority is CRP that we started the takeout process in July 2013.   I am including some pics with narrative to explain what I viewed.  It's notable that  the soil surface of this field whether crop or CRP is full of worm castings.

The pic above shows a lot of residue but there are significant holes in long narrow strips where dirt shows through.   A guestimate would be 90% coverage, maybe 95%.  The 2013 crop was mustard that yielded below average.  It was seeded into very dense 2012 standing winter wheat stubble with a cross-slot drill.   The area in this pic was over 120bu/a.  Without ground disturbance the winter wheat (Brundage 96) stubble has stayed pretty good.  There is no mustard residue to be seen by the casual eye.  The mustard stalks were mowed following harvest.  The operation was mainly cosmetic.  With all our residue from 2012 the mowing appears to not have hurt the moisture bank.

This pic shows one of the narrow strips mentioned above where dirt was visible.  There is residue in these spots, but you see dirt.  You can see the moisture line, and it is 1.5" below the soil surface.  You can also see what is probably the transition zone where moisture is thinning.  With no standing stubble, and inadequate residue, this spot took the full force of wind and sun.  1.5" below surface is where I found the moisture line in all the chem. fallow fields where I looked.  In all likely hood, the moisture line will continue to drop.  We are in the third week of July.  It's a long time to our normal seeding date.  Rain will be needed to start a crop this fall.  The dry looking crumble soil is all worm castings.

This pic shows the condition of most of the field.  It's included in the first pic above.  Heavy mat of residue, but no standing stubble.  The moisture line is at the surface, and it is good moisture --not thinned.  This demonstrates that residue can hold moisture and armor against high temperatures and high winds in Uhlig class soil.  The down side is, that this level of surface cover will be challenging to maintain.  

This pic is typical of the CRP/fallow that comprises most of this field.  Good residue; however, it's inadequate to hold moisture . The top 3-5" of soil  is made up almost entirely of worm castings.  They have been working without interruption for 26 years.  The moisture line on this hilltop is at 1.0".  That is better than standard chem fallow but not as good as heavy residue shown in pic above.  If you look closely, you can see dirt among the standing residue.  The standing residue is only about 12-16" tall, and much of the surface shows dirt.  

         This is a good piece of property and we are excited to start enhancement of the microbiological community that's underfoot.  This field is our best opportunity to develop a sustainable cropping system.  25 years of CRP is the kick start.  Now we have to gain the knowledge and wisdom to work out a crop rotation, and develop a plan to incorporate cover crops where practical, and possibly inter-seed an alternate crop with our cash crop, and hopefully in the not too distant future, remove fallow from the system in this 15-17" rainfall zone.

2014 WHEAT COLLEGE

 [update: 7/5/14]--Thanks to the July 2014 edition of Wheat Life magazine, along with my pic on the cover, I now have the names of the presenters.  They were all connected to Agri-Trend, a Canadian based consulting company.  Phil Thomas(Canola), Elston Solberg, Mike Dolinski, Markus Braaten(wheat).  Markus Braaten is a "master agri-coach" at Agri-Trend with farm clients in eastern Montana.
    
The 2014 Wheat College put on at the Whitman County Fairgrounds, by the Washington Association of Wheat Growers and a number of sponsors was a great success.  It was pretty much a full house.  I was also pleased to see a significant percentage of the participants were the younger generation of farmers in the region.  The meeting organization was not handled well.  Registration was slow, and the handouts were not included in the packet given participants so I didn't get most of them, including the names and bio's of the speakers.
      The following is a paraphrasing of statements, and observations that I found interesting.  This is not a comprehensive listing, and I may add to this post.  There was a lot of good material presented that you had to hear first hand to gain an understanding of how the pieces made the whole.  This was just a taste in a lengthy post.
     ---The information presented on canola was for a spring planting.
     ---When selecting seed, look for: pedigree seed, high % of sound seed, high germ, high 1000kernel weight, high vigor index(CSVI), and low weed content.
     ---In some locations canola is seeded in 3" row spacing.  (row spacing seems to be an individual preference with environmental consideration.)
     ---Canola grows best behind a cereal grain crop.
     ---Phil preferred 7 plants per square foot; however, 2 plants per square foot will make a decent crop of canola, but developing a canopy to capture light energy will be slow resulting in lower yield potential and more weeds. (On reflection, I'm not sure but Phil was using square yard.  Seven per foot is pretty dense.)
     ---Seed for stand count and not pounds per acre.
     ---Canola Seed Vigor Index (CSVI) for hybrids should be 3.5-4.5.   CSVI for open pollinators (OP's) around 3.0)

     ---CSVI = 1000 kernal wt.(grams) times germination divided by 100.  (I need to learn more about this.)

     ---Temperatures above 80 degrees hurts flowering.
     ---Seed early, but after ground temps rise above 34 degrees.  (flowering consideration, canola is quite cold tolerant.)
     ---N/S ratio should be about 6/1. (This ratio is for the form that is available to the crop.  If using elemental S than plan application accordingly)
     ---One square yard of ground needs two square yards of leaf surface for yield potential.
     ---Plant needs to have 80-90% of needed N in the plant by flowering.
     ---Isn't impressed with spodim(sp).  There are varieties that resist shatter.  Harvest timely to avoid shatter.
     ---Canola is a very expressive crop.  Easy to discover source of problem in plant development.

                               The following are wheat related from three presentations.

    ---Much of what we were teaching about how a plant functions ten years ago turns out to be not correct.  (This was a bit shocking to me!  The speakers asked us to think like a plant.  Several comparisons were made between plants and humans relating to health, growth, and nutrition.
     ---In fields, create zones for soil tests.  Don't test randomly and mix for average.
     ---Take complete soil tests, including micro's.  Later, take leaf tests to compare with soil test.
     ---Leaf tests, like blood tests, will tell a lot about the plants health, the soils health, what you did in the past, and should do for the future.  Not much is likely to be corrected for the current crop.
     ---The proper drying order of a plant is from the head down to the first leaf made by the plant.  If lower leaves are desiccated while upper leaves look ok, the plant has a health problem and will not reach it's potential.
      ---When the first node of a wheat plant can be felt(near or at the base of the plant), the head is formed and it's maximum potential is present.  Each spikelet can have up to 12 florets.  Environmental and nutritional factors start reducing that plant potential until the final yield is achieved.  If you can salvage four florets per mesh you are likely to have an outstanding crop.
     ---Melted Urea is softer on a plant than UAN.
     ---N is N!   There is no magic.  Timing of application makes a big difference in the plants ability to use N.
     ---Determining causes for plant symptoms is too extensive for this post.  It was a very interesting exercise and, a process that every grower should gain some knowledgeable.  Significant yield improvements can be gained in a short period of time if the grower scouts his fields regularly and map areas showing yield robbing symptoms to be addressed for this or the next crop.
     ---pH needs to looked at in terms of the Base Saturation of Calcium. (this should have more explanation.)
     ---The head pollinates, develops and ripens from the middle out.
     ---If lower leaves desiccate, it's probably related to N-P or K.
     ---When tissue testing, wait a week, or until a new leaf emerges, after spraying or an environmental event that effects the plant, to collect tissue.
     ---Leaf tissue should include the stem down to the lower leaf.
     ---If a wheat head drops meshes, it's probably due to issues around N-B or copper.
     ---Lightning creates 1/7-1/6 of the N that plants need world wide.
     ---One presenter calculated the dollar value of nutrients that is lost if the crop residue listed below is removed or burned.  These calculations are on an acre basis and using current fertilizer prices.  Wheat $42 and has a C/N ratio of (80/1), Barley $55 (60/1), Oats 57 (60/1), Peas $52 (25/1), Canola $82(30/1), Soybean $97 (25/1).  The bottom line: --the removal of crop residue is costly and robs the ground of OM.
     ---Our soils are very Carbon deficient and OM needs to be added at every opportunity provided and not treated as a problem to be removed.
     ---The McGregor plots showed a massive crop coming on but wasn't going to reach it's potential. Some plants had 8 tillers.  The seeding rate established 14-18 plants per square foot.  The Presenter would have like twice the population, which would have developed many fewer tillers.  When looking at the plants, the Presenter thought that three of the eight were going to make great kernels.  Some of the five remaining tillers will not develop completely, and others will produce small seed of less quality.  These five tillers were consuming water and nutrients that could be used by other plants that would have emerged at the time the parent plant emerged.
     ---It was suggested that growers seed strips for different plant populations and see which works best for them.
     ---High yield potential ground needs high seed populations.  35-40 plants per square foot, and strive for two tillers per plant in a crop that will yield 120-140 bu/ac.   Lower yield potential ground should be scaled back accordingly.
     ---Zink, P and Ca or immobile and need to be placed close to the seed.
     ---N-P-K relocate in the plant if the plant senses the need.
     ---A plant can sense a concentration of a specific nutrient and direct root development to intercept.  (a pic showing roots growing toward a mid-row band.)
     ---A lot of N-P leave the field with the seed, along with small amounts of many other nutrients.
     ---Phosphite is a good form of P to use for plant availability.
   
The older I get the less I know!  With the internets ability to access research from around the world from thousands, if not millions of researchers, it is providing a daunting amount of information for an individual to digest.   The information stream is exceeding the ability of a grower to do the field work and keep up to-date information on subjects that effect his bottom line.  Drones equipped with sensors for crop analysis are becoming part of the agriculture scene and will add to the information about how a crop is doing and what problems may exist.  We are probably past the point where we should hire a professional agronomist/crop specialist to regularly monitor our fields on foot and from above.  Discussion with him/her should include crop types and in what rotation, and recommendations for plant nutrition, and weed suppression, to maximize the return on our respective farms.  I'm getting the idea that our old system of relying on a company man to give herbicide and fertilizer recommendations is outdated and costing us dearly in unattained yield.  For several years I have thought that we are missing something that is costing us yield. Our direct seed system is providing us with more available moisture even if it may be for a short period of time compared to a cultivation based seed system.

PENDLETON,OR. -- LIND, WA. RESEARCH STATIONS

This week I attended two research stations annual tours and updates.  At Pendleton, OR, three topics held my interest.
       ---- Nematodes (Dr.Richard Smiley) appear to be causing yield loss in parts of Whitman County.  Two types attack wheat.  Management methods were presented.  A number of grass and broadleaf cultivars including weeds have been investigated for their tendency to build or not build populations.  Four labs were identified that do the tests.  You need to sample the top 18".  The best sampling is done in the spring when the soil is damp.
      ---- Great presentations were given by Dr.'s D. Long, K. Reardon, H. Gollany, S. Wuest, and S. Machado on soil health and value of residue.  Soil is a living organism that needs to be fed.  The better the diet, the more the soil provides for the cash crop.  Cultivation destroys soil aggregation, and organic matter, resulting in the loss of soil carbon, and reduced infiltration.  A simple demonstration showed a dramatic difference in infiltration rate between soils that had been cropped using cultivation for 70 years, and soils that had been direct seeded for the past 10 years.  OM is rebuilt very slowly.  It's easier to save OM than it is to build OM.   A small percentage increase (we're talking tenths) in OM is very helpful for soil health.
     ---- Dr. D. Wysocki gave report on growing biennial canola.  Seed canola into moisture.  Three seeding dates were studied.  If conditions allowed, early September would be his preferred seeding date. Timing for fertilizer application was studied.  100% at seeding did not work, 100% spring application did not work.  Best response was a split application (Either 50-50 or 75-25 fall and spring).  There was an inquiry about row spacing.  His thinking was that <30" was preferable.  He seeds at 14" because of the drill he uses.

The Lind WAResearch Station had several topics of interest.
     ---- Biological control of cheatgrass and goatgrass was listened to very intently.  Ann Kennedy stated that a bacterium found naturally in the soil has been isolated and found to make the roots of those cultivars less competitive.  The material has been submitted for registration and may be available to growers by 2016.  It is a one application fix that can be sprayed on the soil or attached to the seed.  A pelleted version is being looked at.  It may take 3 years to remove the pests.  Cost is expected to be $10/ac or less.  What a boon for those in a two or three year rotation of small grains and fallow.
        She talked about OM.  We currently have about one third remaining from when this was native prairie.  At Pendleton they indicated that less than a third of the OM remained.  In both regions it is a tremendous loss of carbon content in our soil.
     ----Bill Schillinger reported on growing alternative crops in the low rainfall areas  Camilina, safflower, canola, winter peas, winter triticale.  Camilina grows well in drought conditions, He prefers to plant in March to reduce weed population.  Safflower is an option but needs to be seeded late when soil temperature is warm.  Harvest is in late September.  There seems to be unlimited possibilities to market oil seeds.  Winter peas has shown promise.  He likes winter triticale because of its fast growth when soil temperatures warm and the residue it provides.  Except for triticale, none of the mentioned cultivars produced enough residue for any cultivation in the fallow year.  Wind erosion would be serious.
     ---- Several speakers spoke on wheat related subjects.  Falling Numbers:  Two causes-- a) temperature shock while kernel is filling.  Either a high or low temperature spike can be a cause.  Rain on a mature plant can be a cause.  There are cultivars that are more prone to falling numbers than others.
     ---- Sprinter is a good yielding and quality wheat.  There is confusion about its class, so notify your warehouseman and / or buyer prior to growing it.

COVER CROPS

I'm finding a lot of useful material about cover crops on the web.  I have always considered myself as an educated person where it comes to soils, and farming practices, but I find the subject of soil biology is way above me.  I am struggling with the terms, let alone understanding the interactions that go on in the soil profile and how this can be manipulated to replace our dependance on fossil fuel products, like fertilizer and pesticides.  With my lack of knowledge, I've concluded however, that cover crops, like direct seed, will work in ours, or any, environment -- the question is, how do we make it work.  Below I'm listing some points I found relevant and am also providing links to some info and videos that I found interesting.  I will add to these as my interest leads me.
---Use cover crops to solve a problem whether it is a need for biomass, to scavenge nutrients, add nutrients, or grow and feed the micro-biological community living below the soil surface.
---A five species mix tends to be optimal for building biomass.  However, it is not just any five species. Choose them for your environment and seasons.
---Multi species mixes tend to be synergetic and not competitive under environmental stress.  There is video showing fields/plots of multi-specie plantings doing well while single cultivar fields/plots are dead under drought conditions.  (amazing!!)
---Plant for diversity.  If your normal crop rotation does not include a cool season grass, or broadleaf, and a warm season grass, or broadleaf, then consider including them in a cover crop.  There is a good selection of all these types for the Palouse.
---In most years it has been shown that cover crops use no more water than what is normally lost through evaporation from fallow fields.  In a way these findings back up an old study done at OS and WSU.     (click on the label- "moisture" for an earlier post of an old study titled Soil Moisture)
---Different species of cultivars have different carbon nitrogen (C:N) ratios.  Young cultivars have lower C:N ratios than mature cultivars.
---High C:N ratio plants deteriorate more slowly than plants with low C:N ratios.   It's easy to find a listing of plants and their C:N ratios.
---High C:N ratio plants tend to be good at armoring the soil surface, increasing OM, capturing and recycling nutrients, and moderating soil temperatures.
---Low C:N ratio plants tend to be good, at fixing nitrogen (if legume), more efficient users of nutrients, better at breaking down pesticides, and better at breaking down high C:N cultivars.
---Simple soil test: a-scrape soil surface, b-take a plug(clod) from top 2"of the soil profile, c-dry completely, d-place plug(clod) on a screen in water, e-watch to see if soil plug(clod) remains intact or not, f-if plug stays intact then the soil aggregation is good.  Good aggregation means good soil porosity that allows water to enter the soil profile.  Poor aggregation means the soil will seal and the water will flush off the surface.
---Anhydrous Ammonia kills the microbiological communities that it comes in contact with.  It has a significant negative impact toward building soil health. --J.Clappington
---Use a minnimum of five species and a minimum of 20# total seed per acre.  Above 40# total seed per acre appears to be a waste.  Fewer than five species and less than 20#/ac tend to encourage more weed pressure.--J.Stika
               I have found the following links helpful.  Many of these links have a lot of repetition but each presenter has one or more important points not mentioned by others that will enhance our knowledge base on Cover Crops.
Basic Soil Health Principles-R Archuleta-24:04-"A MUST WATCH"
Biology of Soil Health-K.Nichols-27:12
Soil Health Principals-J. Clapperton-28:22
Cover Crop Calculator
Resource for Cover Crops
Integrating cover crops with notill- B. Fischer
Integrating notill with cover crops-D.Beck
Selecting Cover Crops-D.Robison
Handbook on cover crops
NRCS-undercover farmers
NRCS-CoverCropMixes-J.Stika-great overview of soil health-1:04:10
ATTRA-Inovative NoTill Using Multi-species CC - 1:11:12
Cover Crop Moisture Management-29:50
Terminating cover crops-M.Plumer 32:21

LATE SEASON DRILLING OF SMALL GRAINS

     This is the first time in my farming career that we have ever seeded this late into the season, and I doubt that we ever do it again.  However, with no landlords to worry about, crop insurance in place, and weather forecast of low moisture and hot temperatures,  we turned down a custom operator and waited until we finished constructing our drill.
      It may be a fools concept, but we believe we have the pieces put together for growing a small grain crop successfully on low moisture and warm temperatures. In general we have a lot of residue to protect the soil surface and, hopefully, that will reduce evaporation leaving more moisture for the crop.  We have the drill that allows us to do ultra-low disturbance seeding which, hopefully, will reduce moisture loss allowing more moisture for the crop.  I'll update this post after harvest.
    WHAT'S OUR THINKING:  The criteria is moisture, moisture, and more moisture.  We are not in an ideal moisture scenario for the 2014 crop.  The winter, early spring moisture was short of prediction. The prediction of dryer than normal summer and slightly higher temperatures appear to be a serious possibility -- so, where is the optimism in this scenario.  Maybe in part is being resigned to the idea that this will be a short crop regardless of seeding date.  We are already seeing some fields of winter wheat under moisture stress.  That is not a good sign.
      The back bone of my optimism though goes back to the 1970's unpublished 10 year research project done by WSU and OS on "where moisture goes". (click on the label of "moisture" for more detail)  I think it's time has come, but how to measure it????
       12% of our rainfall is what we grow our crop on.  83% of our rainfall is lost from evaporation off the soil surface.  I have known about this since 1989 and think about it, a lot, --- what could our crops yield if we could shave a few percentage points (1 or 3 or maybe 5%) off the evaporation column and add it to the production (transpiration) column.  Ohhhhh -- the possibilities are tantalizing.   Researchers of the day, Dr. Pappendick, being one of them, as well as being the presenter of the paper, lamented at the time, that there wasn't much they could do to change those numbers.
         Recent studies have shown how moisture is lost from the soil surface.  It is all about micro-climates and the balance of gases.  There is a micro-climate on the soil surface where humidity can achieve a balance and moisture is neither moving up or down.  In fact, it is probably out of balance most, if not all of the time, and moisture is moving into or off of the soil nearly constantly.  Don't bother looking for it, it's invisible to the naked eye.  Our challenge is to minimize the out bound.  That means, do everything possible to keep the top edge of the humidity layer intact.   When conditions deplete that layer, natural forces develop that draw moisture from the soil to replace that layer.  It may be micro-scopic, but it is a powerful force that will not be denied.  That is what robs us of our seed depth moisture.  Wind is an obvious culprit, but temperature differential will do the same thing by creating changes in air pressure which results in air movement.  Warm air rises and is a powerful force on the soil surface.  Dr. Pappendick's final words at that conference long ago are golden today.  "There is not much we can do other than keep the soil surface as cool and calm as possible."  We have the tools today that allows us to begin, and the future promises better tools.
       There was a time in my youth when I observed that snow stayed about 4-6" below the top of our stubble.  As I began my farming career I concluded that 4-6" of stubble was adequate to keep wind off the soil.  Well, that was obviously wrong.  It is better stated that the wind velocity slowed to the point that snow or dirt particles were not moving, but there was significant air velocity at that level.  For years I mowed the stubble attempting to seal the surface with residue.  That resulted in high wind velocity near the soil surface, and there was never enough stubble to completely cover the soil surface.  Sometimes the residue blew away, and it seemed  that seed depth moisture was leaving faster, and going deeper.  Mowed stubble gives the illusion of surface protection.  In recent years I have come to the conclusion that if you see dirt you don't have enough residue.  That attitude is becoming more strongly reinforced in me every year as I observe fields.
        This brings me to the stripper header.  I've come to believe that residue height is the best deterrent to wind.  The higher the residue the lower the wind velocity at the soil surface.  Its a shame that all crops can't be harvested with it.  It's also a shame that we have the put machine tracks through it.  Tall grain stubble leaves a nice visual effect; however, I have observed that even spindly mustard stalks standing knee to thigh high reduces wind velocities significantly at the soil surface.  Keep in mind that everything is relative.  Tall spindly mustard stalks is about the same or better than thin mowed grain stubble, but not nearly as good as standing wheat or barley stubble.  Tall grain stubble is better yet.  If you have a thin layer of residue laying on the soil surface along with tall stubble, that is even better.  If you can then add to that layer as time passes, that is even better.  You finally reach a point where your surface moisture loss is low enough that you will have good seed bed moisture whenever you need it, whether that be July, August, September or October.  This in itself expands your opportunities for crop diversity and the ability to build bio-mass.  The stripper header is a great tool to maximize residue height in the quest to capture soil moisture, but it has an inherent problem  --- how to get the cash crop seeded into good earth with all that residue on and above the soil surface.  Four years ago we hit the wall with residue when it came time to seed with our hoe type DS drill at Thornton.   It was time for a different drill, one that wouldn't leave piles, one that would cut through a heavy mat of residue, one that  would plant small and large seed, one that didn't destroy residue, one that minimized moisture loss during the planting process.
        The CrossSlot drill opener was our answer to this problem. (see the post by clicking on the CrossSlot label)  We had a custom operator seed for us while we came to the decision to build our own.  There have been opportunities to "seed for knowledge" but no drill was available for small acreage on short notice.  We are also looking at bringing a significant number of CRP acres back into production and, hands down, the CrossSlot is the drill of choice for that job.  There are several single disc drills available; however, I don't think they can match the CrossSlot in difficult seeding conditions.  The CrossSlot does not appear to require any land or residue preparation to seed and develop a satisfactory stand.  The future is with UltraLowDisturbance.  Hoe type DS drills will never meet the demands of the future; however, they are good starter drills and I encourage their use.   With the CrossSlot, Kye now has a drill that he can take that next leap of faith when the time comes.   Inter-crop seeding,cover crops to enhance bio-mass, and developing systems to grow crop nutrients and reduce commercial inputs are the future.  These are exciting fields of study.   Research supporting organic farming will likely to be the driver for breakthroughs in fertility.  This drill, I am confident will be able to accommodate that technology when it is developed, and that is probably not far off.