Settings charts – Sulky Easydrill Fertisem User Manual

Page 75

Settings Charts

Practical recommendations

DEALING WITH WEEDS

Conservation tillage must exclusively be kept to clean fields.

Perennial weeds, in particular, must be kept under control during the previous seasons.

Weeds must be dealt with within the framework of crop rotation.

Alternate cereal and dicotyledonous plant crops (peas, rape, beetroot etc.) as well as winter and spring crops. Dicotyledonous crops

give an opportunity to efficiently get rid of graminae; on the other hand, cereal crops allow efficient action to be taken against

dicotyledonous plants.

Sow stale seed beds during catch-crop periods to get rid of yearly weeds and regrowths.

As soon as the combine harvester has harvested the crop, a homogeneous, superficial and rolled "bed" of seeds must be prepared,

using fine soil, so that the weed seeds emerge as regularly and completely as possible. One week before sowing, destroy the

emerged plants by means of mechanical tillage or total non carry-over herbicide, such as glyphosate or sulfosate. Aim to have no

weeds at all at the time of sowing.

Avoid sowing too early in order to improve the stale seed bed's efficiency.

The longer the catch-crop period, the more efficient weeding will be. Sow trashy fields last. Trust the quick efficiency and the

emergence quality of the E

ASYDRILL

to enable you to sow at the usual dates, without any risks.

As soon as the sowing is finished, keep clean and strong crops growing.

Use clean seeds that are free of weeds and have good viability. The seeds must be placed to obtain a fast and grouped growth, to

create a crop that will be able to compete with weeds.

Use a seed drill that causes little disturbance of the soil, such as the E

ASYDRILL

The E

ASYDRILL

works exclusively in the sowing line, which avoids seeds that escaped the stale seed bed emerging. Prefer wide

spacing between rows, such as that of the Easydrill (16.6 cm). Use the seed drill’s rear harrow only when necessary.

Monitor the growth of plant life in the crop during the growing period.

With conservation tillage, the usual weeds do not appear in the same quantities or at the same dates; additionally, new species may

appear. Prepare for this evolution by improving your botanical knowledge. Every week while the crops are growing, walk through the

fields, moving into plots of land in a continuous series of "Ws", identifying plants and their respective development; write any

observations down and trace the history of each plot of land.

Use herbicides of new chemical categories every year.

Clean borders, fallows and crops before the heading.

Cut or shred weeds on embankments, in ditches and in fallows rather than treating them with total herbicide: some perennial plants

might not react to the product, and may then become difficult to get rid of. Some find it preferable to grow rye-grass on borders: it

chokes weeds and can easily be kept under control using a mower. During the season, destroy the remaining localised weed growth

spots using localised treatments, your usual sprayer, or by hand.

Avoid scattering weed seeds when harvesting.

Start harvesting the cleanest plots of land. In weed-infested plots, harvest the cleanest parts first. Clean the combine harvester well

after harvesting weed-infested land.

Ploughing is a last resort if the techniques above are not efficient enough to get rid of annual grass or dicotyledones.