No-Till Aerator Boosts Corn Yields Up To 48%

No-Till Aerator Boosts Corn Yields Up to 48% TILLAGE EUIPMENT New Tools 10-1-3 Mike Strohm's no-till corn yields went up 45 bu. per acre over corn grown on his "conventional no-till" acres when he worked the ground with his new deep-chiseling, winged "aerator". The new post-emergent tillage tool consists of 5 toolbar-mounted shanks that are so narrow ù 5/8-in. wide ù that they leave the surface virtually undisturbed even when working at depths of 15 in. A 4¢-in. wide horizontally-mounted winged knife is mounted just 2 in. up from the bottom of the shank. It's canted at a 30? angle toward the rear so that as it's worked through the field, it lifts the ground 3 to 4 in., creating a suction that draws oxygen down through the slot as it breaks up the hardpan. Strohm pulls it between rows of corn when plants are from 2 to 12-in. high. "At 5 mph. it lifts the corn rows 3 to 4 in. so you can see a wave action across the field. Cracks ¢ to 3/4 in. wide open across the surface due to the fracturing of the soil. Air drawn down under stimulates bacterial action and the breaking up of hardpan lets roots seek lower levels of moisture," explains Strohm, who has began manufacturing the innovative new tillage tool. Strohm has no-tilled his corn ground for 5 years but experienced an increase in compaction do to his shallow, silty loam soils with an impermeable clay layer beneath. Without conventional tillage, his unglaciated soils packed up, so moisture couldn't be absorbed and erosion increased. Running his new aerator through the soils has solved the problem, he says. Strohm first used the aerator in 1984. Last year he began injecting nitrogen into the slots made by the shanks at a depth of 2 to 3 in. below the surface. He says it's drawn down deeper into the slot by suction from below and forms a nitrogen "curtain" between rows. "I've found that the increased bacterial action due to increased oxygen levels below ground has actually decreased the need for nitrogen," Strohm says, noting that other tillage tools on the market slice through the hardpan or push it to one side or the other but that his is the first that not only slices through but also lifts the soil straight up, sucking in oxygen and fracturing the entire structure of the soil. He adds that the aerator can be used in both conventional or no-till ground and can also be used on ridged ground. Strohm says that since he switched to no-till in 1979, his per acre costs have been reduced $20 to $30 per acre and his tractor hrs. per acre have dropped from 2 to .98 hrs. Yields have increased 20 to 48% since he started using his new aerator compared to no-till ground. The aerator has 5 shanks, each with trash cutting coulter ahead of it. It requires about 30 hp. per shank to pull. For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Mike Strohm, Rt. 1, Box 48, West Union, Ill. 62477 (ph 217 279-3687).

To read the rest of this story, download this issue below or click here to register with your account number.