Subsoiling

In modern agriculture, we primarily aim to improve soil structure. The fact is that loosened and well aerated soil creates much better conditions for the development of crops and retains more water. Deepening the field is particularly important on heavier soils, where there are stagnant water tables that prevent the proper development of the crop. Deepened soil is much more plump, and therefore much easier to cultivate later. Deepening of light soil, on the other hand, is carried out mainly to eliminate the so-called “plow sole”. This is an excessively compacted layer of soil located at a depth to which pre-sowing plowing is carried out every year. To carry out subsoiling, we recommend TYTAN PLOW PLUS 300 subsoiler equipped with hydraulic protection and MICHEL-type profiled ridges, which not only deeply loosen the soil, but thanks to the profiled ridges gently lift it, allowing more air to reach deep into the soil. To sum up. The main advantages of deep loosening are: loosened and aerated soil creating optimal conditions for the development of crop roots, improved water-air relations and broken “plow sole”.

Subsoiling is a complex agrotechnical procedure that must be done correctly to bring the intended benefits. When and how often to subsoil? How to deepen properly? To what depth? It is generally accepted that deepening should be carried out at least once every 4-5 years after harvesting a crop. While in the case of a grain harvest we have a long “window” to carry out the subsoiling procedure, in the case of harvesting corn for grain, after which winter wheat is to be sown, this window is much shorter, and it is definitely worth considering deepening the field before sowing. The working depth at which deepening should be done is about 15-20 centimeters below the depth of the deepest tillage (such as plowing). Averaging, we can assume that we deepen to about 50 centimeters while maintaining a working speed in the range of 6-10 km/h. Such speed and depth of work allows us to effectively tear and destroy the plow sole improving the plumpness and fertility of the soil.

In recent years, subsoiling, or field chiseling, has become increasingly popular not only on large farms, but also on smaller ones. In an era of high prices for fertilizers and crop protection products, farmers have begun to attach increasing importance to improving soil structure. The previously mentioned chiseling, which is the use of a chisel plow for deep tillage before sowing, is becoming increasingly popular. The AGROLAND MAHIT chisel plow performs excellently in this role. Thanks to long ploughshares equipped with undercuts and chisels with double-cutting rollers, we are able not only to sufficiently loosen the soil in deeper layers, but also to mix and compact it well enough to be able to sow directly later. For which crops to subsoil? Nothing prevents you from subsoiling under all crops. Thus, it is becoming increasingly popular to subsoil under cereals, such as wheat. When deepening under cereals, they have a much easier time developing a strong root system to take up nutrients from deeper layers of soil that were previously not available. Particularly noteworthy is subsoiling under potatoes. Due to the fact that potatoes are planted in specially formed ridges, the soil should be especially aerated so that the ridges are easily formed and do not have clods in them that hinder the development of potato tubers. After reading our article, it’s not hard to conclude that subsoiling has a lot of advantages but is not without disadvantages. The biggest of these is the power requirement. Subsoilers and chisel plows have a power requirement of about 200 km while they do the work necessary for the proper development of crops.