More on that later. Most producers can live with a few weeds if the impact on yield is not significant. The most interesting finding was that yields with cultivation and reduced rates of herbicide were very similar to those where we used full recommended rates. We found only 21.2 tons with no cultivation and the full herbicide treatment. You might be wondering why this can work.
Cultivation does more than simply reduce weed populations.
The mixing process adds oxygen into the soil, improves water infiltration, and loosens up heavy soil. It can also stimulate nitrogen mineralization at a time when the crop can effectively utilize it. The soil used in the study was a fairly heavy silt loam. This could make the difference particularly in a wet early summer like we had last year. Tine cultivation can help control in-row weeds, but timing is critical Row cultivation may allow you to reduce herbicide rates with a year Row cultivation can loosen heavy soils, increase oxygen in the root system and stimulate mineralization at a time when plants can utilize the nitrogen This combined with good crop rotation could be a way to significantly reduce the cost of crop production.