This scientist says the soil surface may appear barren and slick, with hard, fine-grained soil exposed, even though it may not have rained for months. Or rain puddles on the soil surface without soaking in. In these cases, rain has dislodged silt on areas with no mulch or litter. The silt follows the rain down into pores and clogs them up. Narrower spacings don't allow enough watershed between rips to give the water-harvesting effect here, but he says they would work on sites with more slope.
Some work says it's best to rip while the soil is a little moist and other, while it's dry.
The ripper may not penetrate deep enough if soils are too dry. Click here . We'd like to hear from you. Your message will be posted to our bulletin board.