This morning root pit

[Hobbyfarmer]

Tiler is running in the swamp

in the open tile ditch... lots of soybean roots at this depth

also notice the cracks at this depth

[Shaggy98]

Hobby, I've always thought about digging a root pit here in a few years after I have the no-till practices going for about 5 years.  What all types of information are you trying to gain?

[Hobbyfarmer]

It is strickly a by product of tileing out a wet area of this field.

[Shaggy98]

OK, now I understand.

[Hobbyfarmer]

Didn't see a hard pan or anything like that. Obviously the roots went down looking for moisture, probably explains the yield in spite of the drought this summer. Planted this area of the field about the first of June and had to use the mfwd the whole time or would not have made it through. So it was mudded in but they did about as good as I could have expected with the limited rainfall when they needed it.

I'm betting if they hadn't have had to search for water so hard and expend the kind of resources they did to put that many roots that deep the yield might have been better. There were roots deeper but I didn't have anything to cave off the side wall to expose them.

[farmerguy89]

That's the simplest tile machine I've seen. Are you not worried about rubber bouncing and losing grade or are those tires full of concrete or something?

[Hobbyfarmer]

It is not controled with the wheels, they are there just for forward motion and transport.

The depth/grade is laser controled and controls the shoe and boot. Nothing simple about these machines. Here on this job he is running 2 tenths of 1% grade.

[Hobbyfarmer]

Rootball 20ft wide 24ft tall.

[farmerguy89]

yikes that is small grade. I have seen one job like that. It was done right, its just that the owner didn't put in enough headers to take the water. It used to be swampy all year, and it can grow crops now, its just always got a pond on it in the spring.

[Hobbyfarmer]

Working with the big toys to get er out of the hole

The little one waiting for the big one to help.. took both dozers to side it out of the field. last evening.

Just a few minutes later to the west these interesting clouds leading the weather front.

Just 100 or so yards upstream from the cleared field is a gray heron rookery.  Notice the main cloud front moving in, supposed to get frigid.