Probably every person who is interested in agriculture has heard such a term as pre-sowing tillage. This is a really important work that many people who are not interested in this issue have not even heard of. And it is completely in vain - the correct and timely processing allows you to achieve excellent results, therefore, to know about it at least briefly will be useful to everyone.
What it is?
Speaking about the technology of presowing tillage, specialists usually mean a complex set of work carried out some time before sowing crops. However, some of them are also carried out immediately after sowing, if circumstances so require.
In general, processing can include various stages of work: cultivation, mulching, rolling, harrowing and others. However, only experienced professionals can decide which stages of preparation should be carried out in a particular situation. It depends on many important factors: the type of soil, its moisture content, climate, crops grown and a number of others. An attempt to spell out all the rules for conducting in detail will lead to the fact that you have to write a whole book about various methods of presowing tillage. Therefore, we will try to describe this issue briefly and succinctly, referring only to the main points and rules.
Why is
To begin with, we’ll figure out why this rather complex and costly set of work is carried out. In fact, the goals of pre-sowing tillage are quite numerous - all of them can be achieved with proper implementation.
Of course, one of the main goals is weed control. They can cause a lot of problems when growing cultivated plants. In the best case, weeds will simply draw moisture and important trace elements from the soil necessary for the growth of potatoes, wheat, corn and other valuable crops. Because of this, their productivity will decrease, and their immunity will deteriorate, so the risk of a serious illness will increase. In the worst case, weeds will simply crush other plants due to the fact that they germinate earlier, are less whimsical and grow much faster. However, with timely cultivation of the soil, weeds are destroyed - both annual and perennial. If crops are planted shortly after completion of cultivation, then they have time to grow and strengthen before the weeds germinate again - from the roots or preserved seeds. Therefore, the probability of obtaining a rich result is significantly increased.
Another important goal that can be achieved through timely and proper soil preparation is moisture retention. Experienced specialists are well aware of how important it is to retain moisture remaining in the ground after snow melts. It is she who can give seeds the opportunity to germinate and strengthen, which provides a wonderful crop. However, in a hot, arid climate, moisture evaporates quickly, without even having the slightest benefit. The problem is further exacerbated if windy weather sets in - a dry place quickly dries the soil, blowing out the remaining moisture. If the soil is locked correctly (and it is an important element of pre-sowing treatment), moisture loss can be significantly reduced.
As practice shows, high-quality cultivation of fields can significantly increase productivity - from 0.15 to 0.25 tons per hectare. More accurate information depends on what kind of culture is grown here.
What technique is used
Of course, on a plot of tens and hundreds of hectares, it is simply impossible to carry out all the work manually. Therefore, special machines are used for pre-sowing tillage. They are quite diverse - each is used for a specific job. Some examples of equipment are used to carry out the same processing, but in different situations. So, to deal with this issue will not be superfluous.
However, today the same equipment can only be actively used in the fields, only with different equipment, which can significantly reduce costs, while maintaining high efficiency of the work. Often you need to choose the right one based on the features of the site.
For example, if you have to work in a light area where the soil contains a large amount of sand, then KPS-4A, KShP-8 and KShU-6 cultivators will be an excellent choice. Units for pre-sowing tillage can be equipped with spring and lancet cultivators, as well as tooth and barrow harrows. With good equipment, simple, inexpensive and not too powerful cultivators can cope with a rather complex job.
If there is work to be done in more complex areas - with loamy or even clay soils, low-power cultivators will not be able to cope with the treatment with high quality. The best choice here will be a more powerful technique, such as KPI-3.8. Usually it is equipped with a heavy disk harrow, which allows you to effectively cope with work even in such a problem area.
The most difficult to consider fields where for several years nothing was cultivated and, accordingly, the land was not cultivated, it simply grew grass. To cope with such quality work, especially powerful pre-sowing machines and specialized equipment will come in handy. A good choice will be the BDT-7 and BDT-10 disc harrows. They have the strength to loosen the soil qualitatively, while not removing the sod of perennial weeds to the surface. Processing is carried out using tooth harrows. In problem areas with a ridged surface, soil levelers can also be used, for example, VPN-5, VPN-6 or VIP-5. Weed control becomes more effective when using a KFG-3.6 milling cultivator. Then it will be possible in one single pass to loosen the soil, crumble blocks and level the surface. Thus, ideal conditions will be created for growing almost any crops.
Suitable time for processing
It is also very important to choose the time when pre-sowing tillage is carried out. It is dangerous both to hurry and to be late.
As an example, we consider harrowing as an integral part of the pre-sowing soil cultivation system. If it is carried out too early, when the soil is too wet, it will not loosen. Instead, it will become "smeared", after which it will be covered with a network of cracks, through which an increased amount of moisture will be lost during heating and not even a very strong wind. Therefore, the whole range of work will do more harm than good.
At the same time, one cannot be late with such work. If you plow a site and at the same time do not subject it to timely harrowing, the moisture loss will be huge. On average, on a warm windy day, up to 50 tons of moisture per day are evaporated from one hectare of arable land. Of course, this is also unacceptable.
Therefore, an experienced specialist in agriculture always carries out work at the right time.
Optimum working depth
Another important question that cannot be answered unequivocally. It depends on several factors. First, you need to consider the type of soil - sandy, chernozem or clay, and secondly - what kind of culture will be grown here. For greater clarity, we give some simple examples.
If the work is carried out on light soils containing a large amount of sand, then cultivation is carried out at a shallow depth of about 5-8 centimeters. Sandy soil allows seeds to take root quickly and grow, easily breaking through a layer of soil.
Clay soils are less suitable for growing cultivated plants. On the one hand, the air penetrates deeper into the worse, and yet the ability to breathe is extremely important for the seeds. On the other hand, it is simply harder for plants to break through heavy clay. In addition, clay soils warm up worse, which is why crops are developing more slowly. To prevent this from happening, a deeper cultivation of the soil is applied - by 10-12 centimeters. This allows you to loosen heavy earth and improve aeration.
There is a direct dependence of the processing depth on the crop. For example, if pre-sowing cultivation of soil for potatoes is carried out, then the depth will be maximum - about 30-35 centimeters. After all, the plant must be well rooted in order to be able to develop tubers underground.
But in the case of corn, a minimum depth is possible - depending on the type of soil, it makes no sense to dig deeper. Corn has a superficial root system, which lies at a shallow depth. Much more important parameters are good soil aeration and warming.
Primary tillage
If you talk in detail about the system of pre-sowing tillage, then first of all you should talk about plowing, harrowing and cultivation.
Plowing is usually used in areas where cultivated plants have not been cultivated for a long time. It is also necessary, if not carried out in the fall. In general, experienced agricultural workers try to plow in the fall. Then in spring, water from melted snow will be easier to penetrate the soil. And at the same time, the volume of work, which is already enough in the spring, will significantly decrease, in contrast to high-quality equipment.
The next step is harrowing. This is a very important stage, allowing to achieve two goals at once. Firstly, large lumps of earth are broken, which can impede the growth of plants. Secondly, the field is aligned. Many underestimate the importance of this action. But it is quite obvious. From a flat field, much less moisture evaporates. After all, the surface area in this case will be significantly less than that of him with many irregularities. And every ton of water lost will reduce productivity.
Cultivation is another very important stage of pre-sowing tillage for spring crops. Thanks to her, the earth loosens to the required depth. It also allows you to kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, the soil is enriched with air. It is necessary not only to plants, but also to numerous bacteria living in the soil. But in many ways, productivity depends on them. Thanks to these microscopic workers, old foliage, manure and any other organics are gradually turning into valuable fertilizers that can be absorbed by plants. Secondly, the soil warms up faster. This is especially important for regions with harsh climates. After all, the sooner spring crops can be sown, the more time they will have to develop until the first frosts that can cause serious damage to the crop. Anyone understands that loose soil will warm up in the sun much faster than rammed and moist after snow melts.
Also, such treatment is an important tool in weed control. Some weeds germinate in the fall, after harvesting and plowing the field. Some of them die in the winter, but the strongest ones successfully winter, in order to shoot in the spring. Thanks to good loosening of the soil, you can destroy most of them. At a minimum, they are inverted with the root and partially removed during harrowing.
Finally, quite often pre-sowing cultivation is combined with fertilizing the soil. Immediately before the start of the process, the site undergoes dispersal of mineral or organic fertilizers. After cultivation, mixing the top layer of the earth, fertilizers fall into the soil, where they are actively decomposed, providing the culture with all the necessary substances.
Soil mulching
Another important step in preparing the soil for sowing is mulching. Usually when talking about mulch, experienced summer residents imagine a powder of needles, straw or sawdust on the beds. However, when it comes to areas of tens and hundreds of hectares, the use of such mulch, of course, becomes impossible. But still, a kind of mulching is done, and it allows you to achieve excellent results.
When the temperature rises in spring, the amount of moisture evaporating from the ground increases. The problem is seriously aggravated if a strong dry wind blows. In this case, a large amount of moisture is lost. Very important here is the destruction of soil capillaries. Due to this, moisture ceases to be pulled from depth to surface. This is achieved precisely thanks to the mulching layer. Moisture located in the lower layers of the soil is covered with a loose layer of earth, due to which it no longer evaporates through the soil capillaries and is stored until planting, providing the plants with a good start. At the same time, a thick loose mulching layer is not necessary - 4-5 centimeters are enough. This land dries out very much due to the fact that aeration in it improves. But lower moisture remains.
Soil rolling
If we talk about pre-sowing tillage, about post-sowing is also worth briefly telling. Usually, immediately after sowing, the soil is rolled up. For this, special ring-spur rollers are used. And this time, if the work is done efficiently and correctly, it is possible to achieve a double effect. Firstly, the soil is leveled, the smooth surface of which was disturbed during planting. This, as mentioned above, leads to a decrease in evaporation. In warm, dry and windy climates this is especially important. Secondly, a compacted layer is created in the upper soil layer, which prevents the diffuse loss of moisture. As the density of the layer increases, moisture can no longer pass through it so easily and is used by plants for successful growth and development.
By the way, in some farms such work is carried out not only in the fields, but also in meadows where grass is grown for harvesting hay. As practice shows, thanks to this, the amount of collected grass increases significantly.
Requirements for the treated area
As you can see, preparing the soil for sowing is a complex set of work. However, the time spent can be significantly reduced if during operation use special combined units for pre-sowing tillage. Moreover, thanks to this, not only the number of man-hours spent and fuel burned is reduced. Also, the equipment travels less on the field, once again without tamping the ground.
So, after completion of work, the soil must meet a number of agrotechnical requirements. Firstly, there should not be large lumps. Secondly, the soil should be sufficiently loose to a depth to which seeds will be sown. This provides easy access to heat, air and moisture to them. Thirdly, there should be a compacted bed, providing better contact of seeds with the ground, which contributes to their better germination and development of plants.
Conclusion
This concludes the article. Now you know more about pre-sowing cultivation of the soil - its purpose, methods of implementation and the technique used. It is possible that these data will provide a rich harvest, even in complex regions.