Tryin to decide if I should till this fall or till in spring

I am taking over some very sloping/hilly ground next year. It is rolling hills. What I am trying to decided is if I should chisel it this fall then run the field cultivator through it next spring and risk erosion throughout the fall and winter? Or just chisel and cultivate it both next spring before I plant? I ran the chisel through a couple passes the other day and I am not getting very much shatter at all between the shanks. The ground is very dry, leaving large dry and hard humps between each shank. The previous farmer chopped the fields for corn silage for the last 10 years so I am left with very little trash on top. There are only standing corn stalks with no trash between the rows. What would be my best tillage plan for this type of situation? I have a chisel plow, moldboard plow, field cultivator and disk.

I should also add that the top of the ground is very very hard and dry probably making it tough for moisture to filter down into deeper soil.

Given those conditions, it behoves you to do what you can to increase water infiltration. Left "as is" over the winter will cause even further runoff and erosion.

You have to start sometime to improve those soil conditions. I say, get started with the chisel plow. Go over it two times in opposite directions, with the last pass "with the contour". Being a good steward of the land does NOT mean doing it the fastest way possible. It seems almost criminal to think that someone would continously harvest corn silage from the same field for 10 years straight. It's the old mentality of "well it's not my land, I'll mine this for all it's worth". The mineral, fertility, and organic matter depletion (with subsequent compaction) that has occurred is absolutely terrible. It is now your turn to prove you can add productivity to this land.

Another option is to disc this field now and sow a cover crop such as small grains and incorperate this into the soil next spring. You solve two problems this way, (runoff/errosion) and you start to build back organic matter into the soil.

Get started.

Yeah, get something planted in it ASAP, I'd think. Looks like concrete with corn stalk stubs...

What is your location and soil type? Here, primary tillage on clay needs to be done in the Fall. Spring tillage turns it into a brick. Light soils till ok in Spring. Freeze/thaw cycles impact condition. Ripping (deeper than chiseling) might be in order to break up hardpan.

I agree. Winter rye might be a good choice, depending on location.

I am from Indiana. In order to get the crop in I would have to get on it real fast. And if I was no tilling it would be at the top of my list. It would cost $30 an acre to put it in the ground and $15 an acre to burn it down. I may look into it further though. Got my soil tests lined up. Will be interesting to see the results.

If it freezes up and snows over where you are at, a poor job of heavy tillage in fall beats a good job of spring heavy tillage. The ground does not erode much if it is chunky and frozen down throughout the winter.

If you are south to where the dirt is exposed most of the winter, and you get freezing and thawing not a deep hard freeze, then an early heavy tillage works better I hear - you have time to do it and let it mellow out a bit in spring.

You are kinda on that middle area, I don't know which is right.

A cover crop as some suggest would have been great, but as you say time is getting late, is what it is.

Chisel plowing in dry conditions beats chisel plowing in too wet conditions, so don't wait until it gets soupy. You have a lighter chisel plow, I did/do too, got a 4 inch twisted chisel last fall. Wow much bigger deal, rips and covers much better. Takes more power too of course.

Nice color of tractor.

Do not use the finer tools in fall, the finishing disk or the field cultivator. That was the worst erosion I ever had.... Only did that once. Fall worked soil in my clay anyhow, it washes away if it isn't chunky and ridged.

Paul

I just have straight knives on mine. Would a twisted shovel or a sweep really make all that big of a difference chunking up the ground better? I might have to get out the moldboard plow...

I pulled a 12 shank chisel similar to yours with my TW20.

You could kinda see the bean rows yet, but it stirred the
ground up good.

We have had such dry falls here the past few years, couldn't
keep the molboard plow in the ground, the yellow clay here
was baked down like concrete, compaction from the wet
springs, then baked hard. Plow would skip out.

The above 12 shank chisel plow scratched the surface, but
really wasn't doing a whole lot for heavy tillage....

Got a 7 shank Glencoe Soil Saver and worked all the bean
ground. Man it pulled hard, but it sucked in below the plow pan
by an inch or 2, the 4 inch twisted shovels ridged and chunked
the dirt that you couldn't see anything of the stubble any more.

World of difference in my clay, in a dry year.

Paul

If I go over the ground twice with my chisel it is going to turn it into fine dirt that will erode away. The Chisel wont stay in deep either. It might for a bit but it jumps back out above the pan. Its not chunking the ground up at all. What is worked turns into loose dirt. I hate to say it but looks like I might have to explore other options...

Is it neccasary to break up the hard pan before winter? or could I chisel it as best as I can this fall then hope freezing and thawing will help loosen it up enough that it will break up when I cultivate it in the spring?

Do the winter cover crops, you won't be sorry.

How much an acre for seed then to burn it down do you think it will cost? I was quoted at about $45 an acre for the seed and the chemicals and application charge to burn it down.

Ohhh ,,, long drain pattern,,. if that were my field I would chisel on contour ,, and then broadcast cover crop on the ruf and let the frost and rain set the seed ,, ..next spring hit it with a disc ,and it will be great ,,.