[cockney steve]

Daft question? I see no extra-wide furrows to accommodate the width of a tractor(or trailer) tyre-track so assume the tyres roll over at least one crop-row each. Is that so? do the plants recover?
no arable round here, just cattle and worried sheep.

[TheFarmer]

I have disconnected the tramlining unit in the seed drill, and I simply plant the whole field, and then travel the field in the same wheelings during the Spring using the GPS system. The crop eventually dies off in those tracks and by mid April the tramlines are really clear.

I do it to make planting easier. I can just pitch in and out with the seeder where I like, without having to count the runs, and then also have the risk of the tramlines appearing in the wrong place etc.

[nallen]

@TheFarmer Fascinating, as always. Thanks.

[Bill McCarthy]

I can see more clearly now how abrasive your land is on cultivating gear. What is the pH of your soil ?

[TheFarmer]

It’s very high. 7.9, and it locks up phosphate for a hobby

[kanga]

..locks up phosphate for a hobby

strange diet for a bird of prey ?

[TheFarmer]

Sorry, I don’t understand

[kanga]

Sorry, I don’t understand

typically feeble pun:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_(bird)

[TheFarmer]

Ah, I see it now.

[Nick]

What's the gross weight of tractor and sprayer and do you worry about compaction of the soil?

Nick

[Bill McCarthy]

pH in my area in in the order of 5.8 requiring lime rich additions (expensive) from time to time to raise it a bit. Oats don’t like high pH values which is why it’s a major crop here. How was you oats yield last harvest ?

[skydriller]

I have disconnected the tramlining unit in the seed drill, and I simply plant the whole field, and then travel the field in the same wheelings during the Spring using the GPS system. The crop eventually dies off in those tracks and by mid April the tramlines are really clear.

I do it to make planting easier. I can just pitch in and out with the seeder where I like, without having to count the runs, and then also have the risk of the tramlines appearing in the wrong place etc.

If you are using the GPS system to apply liquid fertilizer and spray, is is not possible to do the same for drilling w/Tramlines? Is there no saving to be made? (As an aside, I remember as a child tagging along with my father pretty much everywhere I could and overhearing locals discussing with my father about his "drill blockages" with his then new MF30 - he was one of the first in the area at the time to use tramlines at the time ... full circle!!)

Out of interest, do you vary the fertilizer application across each field with soil sample data? ISTR that my father was looking at this with GPS data a few years before he retired, so around 2010-2012ish? Did that idea/tech take off?

Regards, SD..

[Nick]

Snipped. How was you oats yield last harvest ?

About 2 Sproggs, I think.

Nick

[TheFarmer]

What's the gross weight of tractor and sprayer and do you worry about compaction of the soil?

Nick

Good question. I use the same tramline locations each year, so they’re basically permanent roads in the field.

[Nick]

In that case would it not be better, to not plant on the tramlines and therefore save a lot of seed? As alluded to by Skydriller above.

Nick