STUCK IN A RUT:
TIPS ON HOW TO DEAL WITH FIELD RUTS
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ROOKINGS — There is no easy fix for field ruts left over from last fall, however SDSU Extension Soils Field Specialist, Anthony Bly, said there are ways to mitigate the issues associated with ruts before planting begins. And, deep tillage is not the answer. “It’s often assumed deep tillage is the best fix for ruts and compaction, but in this case deep tillage may be more of the culprit than the cure,” Bly said. He explained that when soils experience compaction like we see in wheel tracks, a lasting impact is made, often resulting in a few inches to several feet of compaction in those areas. The degree of compaction depends on many factors, including how saturated the soils were when harvest occurred. “The percent of soil pores filled with water versus air can change the level of compaction,” Bly said. “Deep ruts are usually noticed first. But, keep in mind, even shallow ruts of a few inches can cause issues with optimal seed depth during planting if they exceed planting depth.” Before taking action, Sara Bauder, SDSU Extension Agronomy Field Specialist said it is best to survey your fields and determine if your
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rutted areas are severe enough to “Essentially, make the field plantable affect planting before taking action. without full-width tillage.” Ideally, Bly said farmers should Allow soils to dry shallowly fill in the areas where ruts Before hooking up tillage occurred, rather than disturbing the equipment, it is important to allow entire soil layer down to the bottom soils to dry. of the tire rut. “Attempting to repair ruts “Deep tillage will disturb the soil while soils are still wet may only at lower depths with excessive complicate matters,” Bauder said. moisture and may cause even more “The act of repairing ruts will work compaction damage,” Bly said. best after the top 2 to 4-inches of Keep in mind, when filling in ruts, top soil are dry. Otherwise, if soils there is likely nothing growing in the have not had the opportunity to dry soils, so farmers are solely relying properly, farmers could make issues on evaporation to dry out the soils. worse with smeared, compacted Therefore, pulling up additional moisture is not going to help. soil surfaces.” Bauder said simply using a light Another helpful option for some tillage pass, such as a vertical tillage growers, may be to allow winter tool, light disc, soil finisher or harrow annual cover crops or volunteer (in shallow rut cases) is going to be crops to grow until the ground is dry enough for planting. At that most ideal to fill in ruts and prevent further compaction. time, chemically burn down the In some cases, with very deep growing plants before no-tilling the ruts, multiple tillage passes may cash crop. be needed. Be sure to allow time “This can help producers looking (at least two weeks) in-between to dry out saturated soils prior to passes for drying before tilling planting this spring,” Bauder said. slightly deeper than the previous “However, careful management of pass. Just level the surface to make these types of practices is needed planting possible this spring and for success.” look towards dealing with any major compaction issues next fall. Choose target areas
can help avoid soil compaction and improve soil structure moving forward. “In many southeastern South Dakota fields last fall, it became apparent some producers with established no-till fields, who followed the main soil health principles, were able to enter fields earlier and had minimal, to no issue with field ruts, compared to conventionally tilled neighbors,” Bly said. In general, Bly explained, tillage practices result in poor soil structure and increased compaction due to the disruption of soil aggregates and good soil structure. “Moving in the direction of notill can help producers build soil structure, giving soils a stronger shear strength and structure,” she explained. “These properties allow producers to get out into fields faster during wet times.” However, Bauder explained, these changes do not happen overnight. “There are many additional soil health principles that, when added to minimal soil disturbance, can greatly improve the health and productivity of soils.” For more information on these Consider no-till and other to lightly till topics, visit the Resource page The key to repairing ruts, Bly said, preventative actions on the South Dakota Soil Health is targeting specific areas rather Although we cannot change what coalition webpage, https://www. than taking a pass at the entire field. happened last fall, some options sdsoilhealthcoalition.org/. April 2019 SOUTH DAKOTA FARM & RANCH 11
