Apr 28 | 09:26 AM
South Dakota Soil Health Coalition
May 12 | 03:54 PM
Hi Leroy, great question! I’ve been actively involved in helping my dad transition his farm to soil health practices over the last 5 or so years and have been blessed to start my own transition as I begin farming. The biggest challenges have been no tilling corn, especially the wet springs of 18 and ‘19. We had issues getting the seed trench to close and have since remedied with spiked closing wheels. The fields that were easiest for my dad to transition to no till corn were fields that had a small grain in rotation followed by a cover crop. Building good soil structure takes some time, roots and diversity really help a lot! Planting is on my mind a lot lately, I think if you can commit X many acres to a soil health system and get planting done well (proper depth, seed/soil contact, extra N for no till corn), and add some diversity (small grain offers a lot of diversity and a big opportunity for cover crop growth, provided we have enough moisture), it seems like the ugly transition phase is reduced. We have found seeking advice from wise counsel from others who have gone down this journey has been very helpful in our transition! So you are definitely on the right path in reaching out! No tilling soybeans is a great start to no-till. A lot of people recommend no tilling into alfalfa as the alfalfa crop has been no tilled for a number of years. My dad has had good success transitioning to a no till system from alfalfa, I am trying this for the first time this year. We have not purchased any commercial biological products. I am interested in learning and experimenting more with composts like Jim and Van spoke of. I heard SDSU SE Research Farm was going to begin some trials with different products like that in the future.
Mentor
Apr 29 | 03:08 AM
Leroy, excite to hear about your decision to transition to soil health practices. I agree everyone else’s post are good. I would agree with you that the right biological should be beneficial my struggle is which one is the right one. Over the last 10 years I think I have tried 4 or 5 different commercial biologicals in strips trials of about 10 acres. I should have kept better records as far as what I tried but I never saw any plant health, soil health, or yield difference in any of them so didn’t even write down what I used. What I have seen as far as speeding the process is diversity. Adding something more than corn and beans. I plant spring wheat, occasionally winter wheat, and occasionally rye. I don’t think it really matters which one it’s just getting a cereal grain in the rotation. Oats would also be an excellent option. For 20 years I have had a 2 crop rotation compared to a three crop rotation on adjacent fields because my landlord didn’t want wheat because we could not make more money with corn and beans he said. I rent his on shares so I started sharing yield data, fertilizer cost, seed costs and chemicals used on all my fields six years ago. Last year he came to me and said you better start growing wheat on my ground. I am not against biological’s but I think there are many other things you can do that will speed up your soil health journey with some pretty solid results. It can be challenging the first few years but very rewarding and exciting when you see the results down the road. You can give me a call if you ever want to bounce ideas off me. 6052166931
SDSU Extension
Apr 28 | 09:56 PM
Hello Leroy, Great to hear about your decision to change your practices. Jim and Van's comments are great. I would add you should focus on soil health principles. You mentioned 3, the other two are crop rotation that includes all crop types if possible. Warm season broadleaf and grass (soybean and corn) others are available too, and cool season broadleaf and grass (flax and cereal grains). These crops are just examples, there are many others. The 5th principle is livestock. Corn stalk or cover crop grazing really can promote biological activity. Biological products are ok, but I believe propagation of native microbes from your farm area should be more beneficial than from tropical zones or somewhere else. Jim can confirm, I would stay away from any product containing trichoderma fungi. Hope this all helps!
Apr 28 | 08:14 PM
Hi Leroy, You are asking a very big question, but I'm glad to see your thinking in the right direction. For me I did it in steps, because each step was a learning process. Today I treat all seed with compost extract, including cover crop seed, or I'm applying it in the trench, this is made from compost I produce and is full of the right organisms for my farm. I do add endo mycorrhizal fungi wettable powder to the mix, also rhizobium bacteria for legumes. Be careful when buying products, you don't want to put something in your soil that you're trying to get out. If you're thinking about composting, get some started soon after planting so you'll have some to use next spring. Jim Williams
Mentor
Apr 28 | 06:07 PM