Protect Erosive Field Areas

Protect Erosive Field Areas
The rains have slowed spring terrace building but hopefully, weather will change so much work can be accomplished. Terraces should be maintained on highly erodible land preventing gullies from cutting in area fields. If gullies are formed, one can use terraces to collect water and use tile lines or water ways to carry water off the field.
If field slopes continue to erode, it is sometimes best to place these areas into permanent vegetation. Other alternatives are to use no-till planting to keep crop residues in place to protect the soil from being loosened. Another option is to plant cover crops to protect the soil from being loosened until crops protect the soil.
Often gullies will form where water collects and forming small ditches in fields. Left unchecked, gullies will grow deeper. If small ditches are filled using a disk or field cultivator, the loose soil may wash out to the tillage depth of the implement used. One should use some type of winter rye or winter wheat to hold soil in place and give the soil a chance to develop soil structure. Field areas that have been severely eroded lack organic matter and are much more susceptible to erosion.
Also, if we continue to push soil into the gully, the area loses topsoil and what is left is low organic matter soils. Also, topsoil moves down the side slope and deposits at the toe of the hill or if water is moving quickly, it is carried into streams. Movement of topsoil contains valuable organic matter and other crop nutrients that are very expensive today.
End rows are especially susceptible to concentrated water. Often ammonia tracks will wash out and eventually take out corn stands leaving areas without growing plants making them more susceptible to creating small gullies. Winter annuals used as cover crops can help protect these sensitive areas of the field.
No-till continues to protect soil from erosion. The demonstrations at the Graves Chapple Farm continue to show that no-till corn and soybean yields have a slight advantage to any other tillage system. Also, no-till continues to develop soil structure and prevents crusting. More water can be infiltrated into the soil compared to other tillage systems even that of ripping. Ripping disturbs soil structure and the macro-pores so they are not continuous which slows infiltration rates.
For more information, contact Wayne Flanary at 660-446-3724 or Heather Benedict at 660-425-6434, Regional Agronomists, University of Missouri Extension.