Wet conditions are some of the more common excuses for conventional tillage in our area, however, the farmers who use this excuse are the same ones who usually complain the loudest later in the spring when things are so dry they are planting 4 inches deep to find moisture.

Being 100% no-till for 7 years on our farm has proven to us that most excuses for not no-tilling are poor excuses at best. Wet conditions can be very frustrating, especially in a late spring, however, on our farm, we now have less problems with wet fields than we did when we were conventional farming. We now crop many potholes and low spots that we were not able to farm before, due to the fact that runoff is almost nil.

Another problem we have eliminated is greasy and sticky soil surface. With more residue on the surface we are able to plant under higher moisture conditions. This benefit is not realized until after about 3 years of no-till.

We will have a couple of fields that always are a challenge on wetter years. Although we have eliminated the runoff problem, they are still wet, mainly because when the frost goes out, the moisture comes up. Our first option in dealing with this problem is seeding very early – before all the frost is out. If that doesn’t work, we wait until it either dries out on its own, or we make a few passes with a harrow or a rotary hoe. Two or three passes over a period of a few days usually does the trick. If we can just get the surface dry we can get it planted.

Wheel tracks are another problem our conventional neighbors seem to have difficulty with in wet areas. With all the wet fields we have planted over the years, I have yet to find wheel tracts in our zero till fields. This leads me to believe that just going over a wet spot once with a seeding operation and then leaving it alone is much better than mucking it up with tillage which leaves clods and mud balls which in turn result in very poor seed/soil contact.

In closing, considering all things mentioned in this paper, I believe that excessive moisture is not very often a problem on a well-managed zero-till farm. Keeping water in place where it falls improves yields on higher ground and greatly reduces the problems of standing water in low areas.