Dont be fooled by recent rain, the ground may not be as saturated as it seems
Is your soil water-logged? It might appear so on the surface, but dig down and there’s every chance you’ll find the ground isn’t as wet as you think. That was the main message to come out of a recent DairyCo Grass Group meeting.
The Somerset based group met to consider soil structure at this time of year, and to investigate how best to prepare and get soil in good condition for spring following the recent wet weather.
With Richard Smith of the Environment Agency, and Piers Badnell, DairyCo extension officer for the area, the group took a walk in several fields and dug down to see how far recent rains had penetrated the ground. Though the top few inches of soil was saturated, digging revealed that the rest of the top soil and the clay subsoil was relatively dry due to soil compaction at varying depths restricting vertical drainage of water through the soil.
The group agreed that subsoiling would help to improve the soil structure and drainage in the short-term, but Mr Smith suggested that in the long-term farmers may need to seriously consider improving drainage. Another way to improve soil structure in the clay soil would be to grow a crop such as red clover. "Red clover has long tap roots that can reach down into the subsoil. These will draw water out of the soil, drying it, which will help to create cracks and fissures later in season. This will improve soil structure and drainage" he explains.
The farmers were also keen to see which crops might improve the soil in the short-term, so as a trial, the lead farmer, Neil Darwent will be subsoiling one field to try and improve structure and drainage and will then drill the bottom half with turnips to see if the taproots will subsequently dry the soil out to further help improve soil structure. The top half will be drilled with a spring cereal for whole crop to provide a comparison of the effects of rooting and soil structure improvement. The site will then be revisited by the group at the end of August, early September and pits will be dug to see the results.
