® Ontario ontario institute of pedology - Agriculture and Agri-Food ...

Soil Physical Properties and TillageMineral soilsThe inclusion of hay and pasture in crop rotations has resulted in far less deterioration ofsoil physical properties in Timiskaming than in more southerly parts of the province, where cornis continuously grown . Shrinkage and swelling is pronounced during drying and wetting of mostsoils . Tilth is also improved by the action of frost .Soils containing high silt contents (silt loam phase of Blanche, Pense, Falardeau, Evanturel,Earlton and Cane soils) are subject to rapid deterioration of structure when subjected to rotationsthat contain less than three years of perennial forage in a six-year rotation (remaining years incanola, barley, oats or wheat, in succession) .Primary tillage operations are normally carried out in the fall due to the reduced yieldpotential if seeding is delayed beyond mid-May. Moldboard plows are the most popular primarytillage implements for use on the soils of the Haileybury, Hanbury and New Liskeard soils . Chiselplowsand stubble-mulch tillers are being used, as well as moldboard plows, on the remainder of thesoils . Chisel plows and stubble-mulch tillers are the implements of choice for soils with high siltcontents.Secondary tillage may be performed in mid-to-late April in most years . Offset discs are stillthe most popular secondary tillage implements, with a minimum of two passes over the field usuallyrequired to obtain a suitable seed bed. Spring-toothed cultivator-basket harrow combinations aregaining popularity for use on virtually all soil types as a once-over in the spring type of secondarytillage .'No-till' systems of cereal production on fine-textured soils have been attempted inTimiskaming as part of the `Tillage 2000' demonstration program . Results to 1990 have beenrather dismal, with barley yields ranging from 260 to 1850 kg/ha .Organic SoilsThese soils should be worked as little as possible . Problems with -seed placement andmoisture retention occur if these soils are subjected to conventional tillage systems .Many sticks and roots may be found in the organic soils . Farmers prefer to use heavy discharrowsto cut up and push under sticks during the first few years of cultivation.area .Large-scale commercial extraction and sale of organic soils has not yet occurred in theDrainageLevel-to-depressional topography, fine-textured soils and the distribution of rainfall havemade drainage of much of the area a necessity, if barley or alfalfa are to be grown .Surface levelling and drainage are required on gently undulating topography . Poor drainage,due to inadequate surface drainage, is often mistakenly attributed to failures of underdrainagesystems .Prior to 1960, tile drainage was not readily available, and farmers resorted to changingsurface configurations by `Richard' plowing (turning furrows in the same direction each year,leaving dead furrows in the same place). There is currently (1990) a drainage contractor and aplastic tile manufacturing facility operating in the area . Approximately 737,000 m of drainage tilehad been installed by the end of 1980 . There is an extensive network of municipal drains, bothopen and buried, through the area .`29