SOIL MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS: IT'S MORE THAN JUST TILLAGE
Great Plains Ag
Preparing for next season’s crop begins with managing your entire soil profile. At Great Plains, we believe in a systems-based, year-round approach to soil management to support soil health and increased yield potential.
When it comes to the systems approach of managing the entire soil profile, vertical fracture of existing compaction layers is the ultimate goal of deep vertical tillage. Decades of previous tillage practices and equipment traffic often result in compacted soil, leaving defined layers in the soil profile. Compaction not only directly impacts crop yields through limiting root growth and development, but also reduces water infiltration and in turn, the soil’s ability to store water and absorb nutrients. This can have a negative environmental impact through increased soil erosion and nutrient runoff. For a growing crop, this can be devastating, producing plants that are less productive and lowering profitability.
To overcome challenges associated with managing compaction layers deep within the soil profile, the Great Plains VT1500 Sub-Soiler is designed specifically to lift the soil from below the compaction layer, completely shattering and resetting the soil profile vertically. Though the Sub-Soiler aggressively shatters compaction within the soil profile, it effectively leaves the soil surface and crop residue relatively undisturbed. The design and performance of the Inline Sub-Soiler are what make it a universal soil management solution, regardless of the crop rotation or tillage program the operation desires. The VT1500 Sub-Soiler is key to providing a positive impact for both the soil and the crop, and is equally effective for no-till operations. For operations focused on improving their soil health and managing compaction caused by equipment or livestock, the Sub-Soiler alleviates these agronomic challenges without the negative soil health consequences often associated with traditional tillage.
Most cropping systems and soil types do not require sub-soiling on an annual basis – rather it is done on a three- to four-year rotation. However, some operations face crop residue challenges or need to remove ruts or compaction from equipment traffic on a seasonal basis. With that in mind, Great Plains engineered the Max-Chisel™ to overcome such challenges. Optional parabolic shanks incorporate crop residue to aid decomposition while resetting the soil profile up to 12" deep. Shank points, offered as 7" winged or 2" narrow, provide operators flexibility in the amount of residue burial and soil uniformity following the tillage pass. A series of chopper wheels followed by a cast Max-Lift™ (ML) rear attachment effectively levels and consolidates the soil, leaving behind a superior finish. While the recommended vertical tillage systems approach is to complete a finishing pass with a Turbo-Max® for the ultimate seedbed, in certain circumstances and soil conditions, the opportunity exists to seed directly following the tillage pass made by a Max-Chisel fitted with an ML roller.
The real agronomic advantage of the Max-Chisel is its 15" shank spacing that removes compaction layers at depths up to eight inches deep. It is also critical to attain complete soil fracture and cut-out within the top four inches of the soil profile for uniform moisture distribution. A Max-Chisel can achieve this with the Samurai-edged Turbo-wave blades at the front of the tool, which chop, size, and mix residue with the soil ahead of the shanks and at shallower depths.