Soil Science Part 2

With the warm weather things are beginning to speed up around the farm! Working the land makes me so happy and riding the tractor puts a stupid ol' smile on my face :) Yesterday, I started up the Massey Fergusson and subsoiled the field. What, you don't know what subsoiling is? Well let me explain...

"To forget how to dig the earth and tend the soil is to forget ourselves." - Mahatma Gandhi

Subsoiling is the act of breaking-up the compacted layers (pans) of the soil to create better drainage and root growth for the plants. 

With constant plowing or tillage of a field, the soil tends to get hard and compacted resulting in more water run off, erosion, and in the end, poor plant development. By using a subsoiler to breakup these hard packed pans (layers) between the top soil and subsoil layers you are creating a better environment for plants to thrive by loosening the actual layers. 

A subsoiler is a long shank approximately two feet long that can cut depths up to 20 inches, whereas regular tilling equipment would only go to a max depth of about twelve inches. The subsoiler we use is called a "one shank tooth" and you can see why it's so effective.

We make a complete pass every five to six feet, or tractor tire to tire, back and forth, until the field is complete.

Plow layer depth vs subsoil depth

Compacted soil, pan layer

Subsoiler

First pass

Subsoiler side view

Subsoiling complete

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