I don't often venture into the machinery forum, but wondered what you thought about Dick Neale's assertion that we need a cultivation equipment re-design? Dick is Hutchinsons' technical manager, and is conducting trials work on one of our FW Arable farmer of the year's farm into blackgrass control. He reckons that where growers have got good control of blackgrass this season you should only be shallow cultivating to avoid bringing up previous season's buried blackgrass seeds. But on heavy clays the machines being used, such as the Discordon, Simba Solos of this world, are not really designed to go as shallow as 4", and most growers don't alter the factory settings. He reckons that machinery manufacturers should be encouraged to design quick leg/tine change options that would allow shallow cultivation but still with the physical bulk of those machines. Good idea? http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2011/07/15/127825/Cultivation-depth-could-help-blackgrass-efficacy.htm

That won't work here, having a deep open soil allows the water to drain away and chemicals to work on the blackgrass. As soon as this clay is shallow cultivated the rain sits above the worked level making any blackgrass which has germinated almost indestructable, and the crop lacks root structure to compete.

Where I've spread muck and baled and cleared straw I probably wouldn't have a crop at all without going deep.

I have watched my neighbours get on well with top-downs and similar and thought that I would give up ploughing on my small area of arable land since I had almost a tilth on top, no ruts in he tramlines, no compaction from baling and no muckspreading that year either - actually that is as rare as all the planets lining up for me.

I disced the fields to the depth of 4 inches, mixed all the short stubble in, left it a bit, sprayed off the blackgrass, drillled it well and all looked super. I waxed lyrical on how easy this had all been.

Then winter came along, it rained, the top 4 inches turned into a porridge or pug as it is called round here, some plants rotted, some got eaten by slugs and most of the rest failed to beat the blackgrass which had not germinated before drilling which then went on to be indestructable. Drainage didn't happen, the top was waterproof and the soil started to be eroded even on flatish fields.

At harvest the results were poor, yields were barely half of what I had experienced in previous similar weather years.

I shall plough forever I think, shallow soil mixing does not work on this heavy land. Those trial results were on one field in one year. Since i am usually applying muck too 'deep min-till' won't work either.