23.08.05 - AQUEEL ANSWERS PRESSING NEED
Few farmers dispute the importance of achieving the correct amount of consolidation when establishing crops. But there is often a slim window between failing to do an effective job and over-doing it and causing compaction.
It was a major problem for leek grower Mervyn Casey, but has ceased to be an issue since he discovered an effective solution in the form of Simba’s Aqueel roller, a revolutionary rubber press roll which presses a lattice of divots into cultivated soil and runs clean without needing to be scraped.
J & V Casey and Son Ltd runs 400 acres at Willow Farm, Dogsdyke, in Lincolnshire and rents extra land each year. Cropping includes sugar beet, winter wheat, linseed and around 170 acres of leaks grown for the supermarket trade.
His light soils need to be managed with skill and timing. He aims to make seedbeds in as few passes as possible, as repeated operations may cause the soil to slump and become tight, inhibiting water infiltration which can delay spring field work.
Cultivations for the leeks are completed in the spring and matched to soil type and conditions. Ploughing, a combination cultivator and power harrow all play their part – as does sub soiling where necessary. The key to success is achieving the right level of consolidation – something that had been a particular problem for growing leeks:
“The seeds are very small. You need to achieve effective consolidation without causing compaction to get the appropriate level of soil to seed contact, so the seed can access moisture and nutrients successfully.
“Inconsistent seedbeds had been very costly in terms of lost yield and compromised crop quality. But we are eliminating it by using the right tyre types and pressures (anything from 8psi in the field to 30psi for roadwork), combined with the right subsoiling techniques and using the Aqueel roller to finish off seedbeds”.
His main consolidation tool used to be a Flexicoil, but results could be inconsistent: “It never achieved exactly the amount of consolidation we required, even when we hung up to sixteen 50kg tractor weights off it. In dry conditions it tended to bull-doze and earth would build up inside it to the extent that we could not pull it at all”.
By contrast, Simba’s Aqueel roller is highly effective since it was fitted behind the cultivator. He decided to buy it after noticing the benefits that measured consolidation had on his crops:
“We had a contractor spreading lime using a Terragator, which spread to 12 metre widths and ran at 3m wide on big flotation tyres, running at an angle across the crop rows. In those 3m wide bands the crops looked much better developed and healthier. I phoned the contractor to check what pressure the wheels applied”.
Now he aims to provide the same measured degree of consolidation by using the Aqueel, which is made from a micro-cellular polyurethane material, which enables it to flex as it contacts and releases from the soil, making it unblockable and ensuring it does not need scrapers.
While Mr Casey has little need for them, the Aqueel is widely used in vegetable production systems to imprint a lattice of divots across the soil surface that hold rain and irrigation water where it falls, ensuring it is evenly spread across the crop and giving it time to percolate into the soil, which minimises water loss and erosion risks. The same divots also help prevent wind erosion as well.
When run behind cultivators and other machines, it applies a measured amount of pressure to the soil surface, the exact amount being accurately managed from the tractor and machine behind which it is mounted.
The model Mr Casey uses is a variation on the original version, featuring a thicker central core, so the height of the lugs is halved, which he believes provides the right degree of consolidation to work the entire depth of the seedbed:
“When you walk across land that has been treated with it, and compare it with land pressed in any other way, it feels much more stable and better consolidated”, he says.