Latest News - June 07
13.06.07 - SIMBA LEG’S DEEP-ROOTED BENEFITS
Simba Horsch is launching a new “low surface disturbance” leg for fitting to its Solo cultivators, Terrano FX range, and on the ST bar run with mounted X-Presses. It is designed to create the ideal seedbed conditions for oilseed rape in one pass.
The new leg performs considerable cultivation and soil restructuring in the root-zone, without disturbing or losing any weathered tilth from the surface. When paired with the Stocks seed distributors the company now offers for fitting to these cultivators, it offers users the optimum method of establishing oilseed rape in just one pass.
The leg has a slim profile (12mm wide) with a narrow carbide-tipped point. The sweep and pitch of its wings are carefully researched, so they completely restructure the root-zone working to 150mm to 220mm depth, without creating the excessive surface movement that can lift clods and causes tilth to drop into the soil profile.
Simba’s on-going programme of research into oilseed rape establishment techniques has helped both design and field test the new leg design, says Philip Wright, the company’s Technical Director:
“Oilseeds require a combination of a fine surface tilth to aid germination, with a well structured sub-structure in which they can establish a healthy root system to access both moisture and nutrients, and provide free drainage to avoid water-logging.
“But achieving that combination can be tricky, whether using conventional or reduced tillage systems because conventional cultivators cannot achieve the degree of sub-surface disturbance required to create effective rooting conditions without disrupting the surface.
“This leg solves that conundrum, and additionally has far lower draught than conventional legs because the leading carbide point is much narrower. The leading point is responsible for some 70% of total draft, partly because many designs optimise working life by increasing the volume of metal in the tip. But that increased wear is achieved at the cost of damaging clod formation and soil heave.
“Our new leg uses a durable carbide tip, so it is much thinner, but still achieves the desired cultivation. We completed thousands of acres field testing of sweep angles and widths, to ensure we achieve the correct intensity to properly restructure the soil without disrupting the soil surface. That work has under-pinned theoretical soil bin research to optimise sweep design.
“The sweep used guarantees the entire working width is cultivated, while the rearward wing sweep. The shape used means soil is not moved laterally, which avoids the need for remedial levelling after the operation.
“Wing height has also been carefully researched to ensure they cause enough disturbance to restructure the soil when it falls behind them, and creates the conditions that oilseed rape needs, as it is well known for struggling in wet conditions.
“For this reason we still use a significant lift angle, otherwise there is a risk that the disturbance caused will not be sufficient to restructure or rearrange the soil effectively, and it will then re-settle or be ‘closed-up’ into its original situation, so the cost of the operation would be wasted and the crop would suffer”.
